emily’s Reviews > Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction > Status Update

“When I was twenty-four, I interviewed John Lennon. I asked him about this sentiment, one that pervades rock and roll. He took strong, outraged exception to it. "It’s better to fade away like an old soldier than to burn out, he said. "I worship the people who survive. I'll take the living and the healthy?"”

Drug stories are sinister. Like some war stories, they focus on adventure and escape. In the tradition of a long line of famous and infamous carousers and their chroniclers, even hangovers and near-death experiences and visits to the emergency room can be made to seem glamorous. But often the storytellers omit the slow degenera-tion, psychic trauma, and, finally, the casualties.

“Nic claimed that he was searching for meth his entire life.”