Beautiful Things: A Memoir
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Average rating3.7
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “I come from a family forged by tragedies and bound by a remarkable, unbreakable love,” Hunter Biden writes in this deeply moving and “unflinchingly honest” (Entertainment Weekly) memoir of addiction, loss, and survival. When he was two years old, Hunter Biden was badly injured in a car accident that killed his mother and baby sister. In 2015, he suffered the devastating loss of his beloved big brother, Beau, who died of brain cancer at the age of forty-six. These hardships were compounded by the collapse of his marriage and a years-long battle with drug and alcohol addiction. In Beautiful Things—“an astonishingly candid and brave book about loss, human frailty, wayward souls, and hard-fought redemption” (Dave Eggers, New York Times bestselling author)—Hunter recounts his descent into substance abuse and his tortuous path to sobriety. The story ends with where Hunter is today—a sober married man with a new baby, finally able to appreciate the beautiful things in life.
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Is it possible to have a whitewashed memoir about being a drug addict? Hunter Biden is unsparing about the depths to which he plunged after his beloved brother Beau died from cancer, when his lifelong struggle with alcohol use turned into an even more dangerous crack addition. I give him a lot of credit for grabbing the narrative and telling his own story, and maybe there are others with similar issues who will be inspired by his honesty. But the rest of his family is portrayed as completely saintly and heroic, with nary a flaw. I mean, I get that his dad is the current President of the United States, but surely he lost his patience with Hunter occasionally, and even though Beau was the Golden Child, he and Hunter must have fought sometimes like all brothers do. I guess Hunter didn't want to write anything that could be used against Joe or besmirch Beau's legacy, but it made the book feel less than completely candid. Still a worthwhile read and a lesson that addiction can happen to anyone.
