OH wow! I just started reading this myself. You are right, it is phenomenal. I was thinking about giving the book to my mother in law as her 2 sons (one of which is my husband) are "recovering" addicts. I say that because although they gave up meth and heroine, they have switched to drinking.

Good to hear that someone else is reading the book.

Where can I get my hands on these books? Can you tell mw what book stores carry them?

I got my books at Borders, but I'm sure any book store carries them. Both "beautiful boy" and "Tweak" are rather new so you shouldn't have a problem getting them right away, unless they're sold out, of course.

A friend of mine just called a couple of days ago recommending these books to me. I wrote them down but haven't gotten them yet. Thanks for sharing!

Starbucks sells "beautiful boy" also. Someone told me it's at the counter.

I'm sorry to disagree. As a mother of a daughter who is 20 and just beginning her drug addiction, I found this book to be so depressing and it left me completely hopeless. I agree, the feelings of the father I definitely can relate to, but I just absolutely hated the book. In fact, it gave me nightmares and I woke up the next morning literally crying uncontrollably. I know I am knew as a mother of an addict and everything is so new to me, but I won't give up on my daughter. I just can't. In that, I relate to the father. If anyone has any words of .... I don't even know what we call them...just words...helpful words?... I welcome anything. I feel as if I am dead having to live in this hell. All I want is for her to get help.

I'm so sorry for your pain. So sorry. Perhaps if I read this book in the middle of my son's using...maybe I would have felt differently about it. All I know is that I felt as helpless as you a few short months ago, so I completely understand what you're going through...it's hell. As far as words of encouragement...prayer. Keep praying. Get down on your knees and pray. If you're going to Al Anon...keep going. If you need something extra....go talk to a drug counselor for extra support. I know the book "Codependency No More" has been recommended on this site. Maybe that book will be better suited for you. Again....I am sorry so for your pain. I will pray hard for you.

The books can also be found at Booksamillion - I just started the father's book and haven' gotten too far. CinWi I am so sorry. My soon got into drugs later also - and all I could do is just love him and never stop. He had to go his own way and ended up in a lot of trouble but I never once gave up and never ever stopped telling him that I loved him and knew he would find himself again. He is now one year in Rehab and about to graduate. Now I have the fears of what if - after. I know he is scared too.Sharon

I read the book earlier this week. My son is now 20 and not sober despite many rehabs, and this is in its 8th year. I too have been in AlAnon for close to a year, and appreciate the hope I get there,and learning the recovery principles has been a great help. But at the time I read the book, I was right back pre-AlAnon, hopeless and helpless and mired in fear. Caught in the drama-the author's and mine. Had to put it down, then I later skimmed the last third of the book to see how it 'turned out', which there is no real end to a story about addiction and recovery, I know.
The best idea I got out of it is that as a parent, you are sort of automatically codependent. Raising them from little babies, you smile and they do, feel the pain of skinned knees right with them, and before you know it, you are enmeshed with an addicted teenager who knows best how to turn that around to steal from you and lie to you, and OD, and all the rest. However my story goes, it's similar but not the same as anyone else's. So I made sure to get to my meeting, and felt so much better. I thought David Sheff did an all-too-real job of portraying the kaleidoscope of emotions we parents go throuh. Good discussion of guilt, which I'm trying to move from, so it was hard to see his guilt, esp. around the shared custody issue.
I don't know how he held the marriage together; his wife must be a saint thru all those crises.
I guess it was a relief to know that the roller coaster of feelings is something we all share. He seemed to have friends around and some family; my family is not close and i've not returned friends' calls starting around 3 years ago, so have a pretty isolated life with my husband. Thinking of getting a sponsor in AlAnon to make the connection better for me.......... So I guess the book did give me a story to 'compare and contrast" what worked for him vs. what I'm doing for me and our family.
I'm not working right now--stopped grad school because I was too distressed to continue--so I am not sure what I'm supposed to be doing right now with myself. I'm here for crises and times when son needs a ride somewhere, etc., but I sort of feel useless otherwise.