575 words would never do this book justice. But I will attempt to convey its simple honesty and soul-ringing truths within the space of a few pages. David Sheff gives a sincere account of his experience with his son’s addiction, beginning with his son’s childhood, then his descent into abuse, his recovery, his relapses, and Sheff’s own discoveries throughout. The book opens with a narrative as Sheff describes Nic, his son, arriving home from a semester of college. Nic shows concerning behavior, and Sheff goes through torturous anxiety, only to find that his son has been on drugs, again. With this dramatic opening, Sheff returns to the very beginning: Nic’s birth. Sheff recounts the divorce when Nic was four years old, his split between two households, his childhood, music tastes, surfing talent, and experimentation with drugs during high school.…show more content… Sheff clings to his belief in Nic’s goodness, his raw talent, intelligence, and compassion will triumph. Sheff returns to the moment he realized Nic is on meth, then interludes with a look into Sheff’s past and his own dance with drugs. Laced through the book, Sheff spends time analyzing meth, drug use in America, and what is available to combat the disease that is addiction. With a drowning amount of advice, much of it contradicting, Sheff is caught in a cycle of worry, fear, and anger when Nic is sleeping off meth. Sheff worries about his two young children who idolize Nic, Jasper and Daisy. He struggles to love his wife, Karen. He gets Nic into rehab, but after a few months, he disappears again. Sheff writes of the back and forth, the rehab, the relapse, the pain, the terror, the anger, the guilt, the frustration, but mostly the