Lantern Waste

Beautiful Boy:
A father's journey through his son's meth addiction by David Sheff
Non-fiction

This book was hard to read, content wise. The writing style was unique-often a sort of peek into the brain of the author--listening in to the mantras he repeats in his head. I enjoyed the format--personal story laced with facts and research.
The personal story is that of a disastrous slide into addiction and a father's agonizing struggle to deal with the pain, fear, anger and blame that accompanies it.
The subject was painful, and there was a tendency for me, a completely anonymous bystander, to hope (wish, pray) the son would not make bad choices (early on) and later that he would not relapse. The book chronicles the catastrophic results of drug use and dispels some myths, too.
I also found myself early on in the story clearly able to identify choices the father made that could have contributed to his son's messed up life--not that the father is responsible, that must be the son's ownership--but there were definite life choices the father/parents made which hindsight shows to have been wrong. This is not a judgemental attitude on my part, as the author himself acknowledges this. In the end I find myself full of great compassion for this father. I pray that both he and his son find healing.