My mother was a severe alcoholic my entire life, so I was interested right off the bat and someone had recommended this book. I can appreciate the heart wrenching, exhausting pain that goes along with a family member having addiction problems. But in all honesty, this book fell flat, just being critical of the actual writing and the way the story is told. The endless descriptions, by the mid 200's of the book, he's describing the color of the grass in his backyard and what kind of flowers that were being planted in some scenes. Nic's story and how his family deals with it, is very interesting and kept me looped in the entire time. But I feel like at times, there are thse 10-15 page bursts worth of over descriptive stream of consciousness style writing that made me frustrated as a I read it (get to the point type of stuff). I would say pick it up if you're in need in some of some connection to those of us who have dealt with addiction or have family members that do. I wasn't the biggest fan of how the book read.

For all those who choose to judge this parent, or his decisions, I can only say you must never have gone through addiction of a child. May you never have to. I have and am, and can only say that this parent at least had the resources to pay for multiple times of inpatient rehab - most don't. While our government puts energy into gun control, mental illness and addiction receive virtually no emphasis. For those who have to rely on insurance to pay for addiction help, 5 day treatment programs are all they can get - basically, detox. This is the sorry state of our response to mental illness and addiction.That said, the author finally came to the realization that he couldn't cure the son - the journey to this place is different for everyone. And the journey, no matter who takes it, is long and painful beyond words. So please stop judging and criticizing - it is not helpful.

Everyone that has a loved one struggling with addiction should read this. Even though I've been through numerous seminars about the disease, this still helped me to understand my addict and myself better. I am reading the son's book now and would love to see a book from the author's wife's perspective. My husband being the step-parent, I'm sure there are issues/feelings there that could be very insightful as well.

I heard this was an excellent book, but for me personally I just got bored and couldn't finish it. I tried to read it 2 different times. I have addiction in my family and really thought I would identify with this book but I just couldn't get interested.

A riveting story though painful. It's written honestly from the fathers point of view. It was difficult sometimes to continue to read it because I felt I was going through it too. Sometimes hearing someone is living through similar circumstances helps you to feel hope that maybe I should try this or that or if it hasn't killed him maybe I can keep going too.