This book helped create a great discussion between all of the group members. We shared stories of people we've know that have struggled with addiction. It also got us talking about what we think about the disease model and other ideas associated with addiction. This is the best book I think our group has read.

I really enjoyed the book and found it an easy read. I was eye-opening and heart -wrenching to her this account. Provided lots of discussion for our group of Moms.

Although most us didn't finish the book the topic of this book provided a very interesting discussion. Divorce, religion, parenting, and drugs all provided the backbone of the conversations.
We felt that the author's article in the New York Times was sufficient in getting the overall story.

It was very repetitive and boring to read once you got past the initial understanding of the subject matter. Was informative, but I wonder how much material was fiction.

An exhausting book to read, with not much letup. A lot of the same thing over and over. Leaves you with good idea of what dealing with drug addiction in a family is like, but author completely ignores the rest of his family in the story, including the ex-wife's side of things.
Obviously much to discuss, as the presence of drugs in our lives is a constant these days, not matter what the economic level of a family. Everyone found the book a struggle to complete.

This was a depressing book. It is an account of a father's determination to help his son during his addiction to drugs and his process of recovery. It promted me to relect on how best to prevent this tragedy from happening to my children. Even though this book is in their middle school library, I am not encouraging them to read it until they are in high school. The book contained some technical information that supports the author's view about the permanance of meth addiction that my children might not understand yet. I feel that the book was redundant and could have been shorter.

The story of David Sheff's son is heartbreaking. No one denied that. But the story could really be told in about half the space that Sheff uses. The first third of the book is about Sheff's son Nic's childhood. The last two thirds cover tons of research into the effects of methamphetamine on the human brain and Nic's numerous relapses and tries at rehab. Sheff will spend pages describing one single emotion. And while I can empathize with his heart ache, I don't need to read five pages to understand the despair he feels, repeating basically the same thing over and over but rewording it. Most people have encountered someone who retells the same story over and over again but paraphrases because they seem convinced that you weren't smart enough to pick up what they were saying the first time around. That's how this book felt. Because it became so predictable, it was difficult to continue through the entire book. You knew what was coming, so what is the point? And while everyone in my book club could relate to at least one aspect of the story, we were left with little to talk about other than agreeing that it would be horrible to have to deal with that in your own life. I would not recommend this book to other book clubs. Though we all thought that it would be interesting to read the son Nic's memoir which has also been released and is probably much more interesting.

Great discussion on the specifics in this book and of addiction in general. Our book club is reading "Tweak" next month - good to get both the father and son perspective on the same events. Sad, put insightful look at drug addiction. Makes you feel lucky/apprehensive as a parent.

Very well written on a mental health issue which brings about awareness to the issue. What unconditional love the parents have for their son.

As a parent, the fact that this book was written from a parent's point of view, made it infinitely more interesting, relatable...and scary. Our book club used this book to learn about and discuss all the various addictive substances and what we might do if faced with the nightmarish idea of having one of our children addicted to drugs. A lively discussion and a topic we all learned more about.

In two words: High anxiety (pun intended). The level of anxiety this book gives the reader is unprecedented. It really does put you in the life and state of mind of a person coping with a loved one's battle with addiction. You feel the depression, the hopelessness and the fury that a family endures. It delved a little too long in certain personal history reflections and small memories that seemed like filler in some places. What I enjoyed most is that it wasn't just about portraying the horrors of addiction (like many reality shows or movies give a minute glimpse of) but also trying to understand some, or any, aspect of addiction. I learned much more than expected about the by-products of meth and the environment, about the "industry of recovery," the function of the brain, and statistics of current use. Even more alarming, or rather how you are forced to admit, is that for all we know, we still don't know much. The whys and hows are overwhelming. This book reaffirms life, and especially parenting, should come with a manual.

This book gave us a bird's eye view into the challenges a parent faces when one of their children is a drug addict. Sheff was revealing and genuine throughout, allowing the reader to see his insecurities, frustrations, and perceived failures. Any parent would struggle reading this, yet connect with his story.