-57% $11.99$11.99
FREE delivery May 7 - 14
Ships from: We.Live.To.Read Sold by: We.Live.To.Read
$8.32$8.32
Ships from: Amazon Sold by: RNA TRADE LLC
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Audible sample Sample
Beautiful Things: A Memoir Hardcover – April 6, 2021
Purchase options and add-ons
“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.
- Print length272 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherGallery Books
- Publication dateApril 6, 2021
- Dimensions6 x 1 x 9 inches
- ISBN-101982151110
- ISBN-13978-1982151119
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.
Frequently bought together
Similar items that may deliver to you quickly
- That kind of insecurity is almost universal among those with real addiction issues—a feeling of being alone in a crowd.Highlighted by 161 Kindle readers
- “The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places.”Highlighted by 157 Kindle readers
- Disappearing was the most profound betrayal of the love that existed between us. It’s what I tried instead of suicide.Highlighted by 124 Kindle readers
From the Publisher
|
|
|
---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
---|---|---|
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews
Review
—The New York Times
“An unflinchingly honest look inside the First Family.”
—EW
“His journey is…deeply relatable for others living with addiction.”
—USA Today
"A gritty and shocking Biden family portrait that proves you never really know the burdens another person carries."
—People
“…a memoir at once harrowing, relentless and a determined exercise in trying to seize his own narrative from the clutches of the Republicans and the press.”
—The Washington Post
“I’ve never read a memoir like this before … it is extraordinary … you think you know his story … but this book, about addiction, about how many times Hunter Biden could have died, the President’s son, it’s breathtaking.”
—Brian Stelter, CNN's Reliable Sources
"...ineffably sad and beautifully written, tears the tabloid face off the story about an American family that has experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows."
—Maureen Dowd, The New York Times
"Grounded and gritty and self-realized, Beautiful Things ... is, at its core, as honest an account of addiction and grief as is possible to clearly see either of those two things ... The book operates on a Biden-esque strategy of underpromise, over-deliver ... it’s one we can all, in some way, see ourselves or our families or our hearts in at the same time."
—Vanity Fair
“I did not have high expectations for Beautiful Things …. I was wrong. Tears were flowing even before page 10. No one who has spent the better part of the last six years burning out the neural circuits of his brain with crack and drowning his grief over his brother’s death with booze has a right to be this vivid and effective a writer. I was stunned into submission … After a few pages I was wondering if I was reading the late Rolling Stone scribe Hunter S. Thompson, who turned his drug-induced adventures into stories, and not Hunter Biden … Beautiful Things is a heart-rending, but surprisingly tender account of one man’s remarkable journey to redemption and self-acceptance.”
—Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"In an era of indulgent political memoirs that seek to promote a candidate’s platform and cast the family as picture-perfect, Beautiful Things stands out for its raw truths ... Hunter Biden has published a book worthy of that MFA he skipped to pay the bills. Maybe America has a first son’s story of addiction to help it finally confront this deep problem that has haunted so many families across the nation."
—Time.com
"Hunter Biden has experienced some harrowing shit. But his willingness to look back on his ugliest moments without blinking is a genuine achievement. In the past 4 years, we’ve seen plenty of political memoirs with lurid details and wild accusations from those close to the Oval Office. But few have been so honest about their most humiliating moments and open about the hard, slow work of healing and reconciliation."
—GQ
"Sometimes moving, sometimes funny, often horrifying, thoroughly heartfelt, and believable."
—Kirkus Reviews
“In AA we say it doesn’t matter if you come from Yale or jail, all addicts are the same. In his harrowing and compulsively readable memoir, Hunter Biden proves again that anybody—even the son of a United States president—can take a ride on the pink horse down nightmare alley. There are plenty of memoirs about the Three Rs (rum, ruin, and redemption), but there are sections in this one that stand out with haunting clarity. Biden remembers it all and tells it all with a bravery that is both heartbreaking and quite gorgeous. He starts with a question: Where’s Hunter? The answer is he’s in this book, the good, the bad, and the beautiful.”
—Stephen King
“This is an astonishingly candid and brave book about loss, human frailty, wayward souls and hard-fought redemption. Beautiful Things is so concise, so unflinching and propulsive, that outside of turning the pages and occasionally picking my jaw off the ground, I didn’t move between the first page and the last.”
—Dave Eggers, New York Times bestselling author of The Circle and The Captain and the Glory
“Hunter Biden writes beautifully of almost unsurvivable loss, and the amazing grace of family love. His mom and dad, Jill and Joe; his baby sister and mommy, who died when he was young; his cherished daughters and the love of his life, Beau—they are all here, fully alive. He writes about growing up Biden, his marriages, his father’s years with Obama, his own successes and failures, his work with the World Food Program and Burisma, his visits to refugee camps and crack houses. He writes of his savage alcoholism and addiction with rare honesty, of his recovery with stunned gratitude, of broken hearts, resurrection, beautiful things.”
—Anne Lamott, New York Times bestselling author of Bird by Bird and Almost Everything
“Beautiful Things, Hunter Biden’s devastating memoir, covers much ground, but at its core is an addict’s journey—from the first stolen sips of alcohol in a childhood marked by great loss, to the grim purgatory and lethal despair of late-stage crack addiction. With disarming humility and candor, Hunter’s unflinching account lays bare both the sustaining power and hard limits of love and family.”
—Bill Clegg, New York Times bestselling author of The End of the Day and Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Gallery Books; First Edition (April 6, 2021)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 272 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1982151110
- ISBN-13 : 978-1982151119
- Item Weight : 15.1 ounces
- Dimensions : 6 x 1 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #97,383 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #291 in US Presidents
- #492 in Political Leader Biographies
- #3,199 in Memoirs (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonReviews with images
-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
This is a book I highly recommend to all those I know in recovery and those struggling with substance use disorder, as well as their families. It is the first book I have read that not only explores the slow, cunning descent into the bleak world of dependence, but also explores triggers, automatic thoughts, and self-medicating. While I found the more factual chapters to be dry, I understand why they were necessary. My only criticism of the book is that it somewhat promotes codependence, but I feel he does a good job at addressing that, and clearly has done extensive work on his mental health.
The book is written from the heart and the reader feels the author's pain throughout the chapters. Starting with Beau and the effect his death had on you, it delves deeply into the mind of a functional addict. What a journey to go on...and for such a lengthy time...Rehab after rehab and presumed recovery only to enter rehab again.
Lots of topics are covered including the following:
Life at the Biden's house from early years to HS graduation and after; life with Beau, your beloved brother, the trials and tribulations of being a crack addict; the multiple trips in and out of rehab; your involvement with Burisma, many details about your education and professional life. and your eventual recovery.
There are also omissions that could have been written for a more complete memoir. Some of the items are
The purpose of the flights you took on AF 2 when your Dad was VP Biden., your laptop, what position you held as an Officer n the US Navy? The book states you were in the Reserves and received an Administrative Discharge So unusual for an officer to be discharged for drug usage. (In my 20 + years of USN service, I never heard of an Officer being discharged for drugs..)
I didn't expect to see any information about other allegations such as taxes and any other other influences as US Attorney, John Durham CT, and US Attorney General, David Weiss, Delaware, are still investigating.
Concerning the deaths of family members and the grief that it causes individuals, Paul comes to mind and the One he followed said this and is a paraphrase ....We will have hard times in this world for without them we will not grow or develop perseverance...I do believer that all of us have truly difficult times in our lives and it is how we handle them that makes or breaks us...(In my own life, I have lost two siblings at early ages from alcohol addiction...One from suicide and the other from cirrhosis). My personal belief is that the death of a loved one does not cause addiction as there are other underlying issues involved but addiction can lead to loss of life.
This must have been a cathartic journey for Mr. Biden to write his memoir. And, am in hopes that it helps in his ongoing recovery efforts.
Well written and highly recommended.
Top reviews from other countries
It’s raw. It’s real. Well written. Could not put it down.
The Biden family story of tragedies and strength comes out