Beautiful Things

A Memoir

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Beautiful Things

By: Hunter Biden

Narrated by: Hunter Biden

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Summary

A deeply moving memoir of addiction, loss, and survival. This is Hunter Biden’s story of tragedy and trauma, and his journey to overcome it all.

'In his harrowing and compulsively readable memoir, Hunter Biden 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

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 46. These hardships were compounded by the collapse of his marriage and a years-long battle with drug and alcohol addiction.

In Beautiful Things, 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.

Hunter BidenHunter BidenSimon & Schuster Audio UK

Politicians

Politics & Activism

Memoir

Thought-Provoking

Inspiring

Politicians Politics & Activism Memoir Thought-Provoking Inspiring

Critic reviews

'A beautiful book by Biden. It is a sharply written account of what it is like to be at the same time enormously privileged and utterly wretched.'

'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)

'Hunter writes honestly and with courage about the collapse of his marriage, hurting his father, squandering cash and going on a “crack-fuelled, cross-country odyssey."'

'With disarming humility, Hunter’s unflinching account lays bare both the sustaining power and hard limits of love and family.' (Bill Clegg)

'Mesmerising. A sizzling mess of grief, addiction, self-justification and misdirection. It’s admirable – and also abominable.’

'Hunter Biden writes beautifully of almost unsurvivable loss, and the amazing grace of family love. 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)

‘Devastating loss, an all-consuming crack addiction and what he really thinks of his father Joe – Hunter Biden doesn’t hold back.’

'Biden transforms the Hollywood hills into a gothic wilderness, a suburb of hell where coyotes howl and nocturnal birds screech maledictions.’

‘A moving addiction memoir in its reflections on pain and grief, both poignant and sad.’

Most relevant

During the 2020 US election campaign, President Trump rallied his supporters to cruelly chant "Where's Hunter" in a similar fashion to his "lock her up" mantra aimed at Hilary Clinton four years before. "Where's Hunter" seems innocuous enough until you hear the tragic back story to Joe Biden's son, bravely recounted here in a melancholy tone by Hunter Biden himself.

Damaged by the death of his mother at an early age and his close relationship with his brother Beau, "Beautiful Things" were what Hunter promised his brother while he was undertaking treatment as an incentive to get better before he dies of a brain tumour. Hunter was brought up with his father in the public spotlight and lived around the Senate from the age of three. His ambitious father dreamt of being president of the US pulling out of the 1987 race as a result of being accused of plagiarizing one of Neil Kinnock's speeches. Having a successful career of his own as a lawyer, Hunter struggled to live up the expectations on him.

With hindsight, he accepts that it was inadvisable to take a seat on the board of a Ukrainian energy company that resulted in his father's political opponents questioning his judgement. Pressures resulted in Hunter Biden seeking solace first in alcohol and later in drugs, spiraling into a cycle of self loathing and depravity caused the breakdown of his marriage and the relationship with his daughters. Hunter Biden approaches this time in his life honestly and bravely and some of the details of his darkest years as a "hard" crack user make for unforgettable listening. He claims that an addict never chooses addiction, addiction chooses the addict. This is a shockingly sad story. Biden family motto is, apparently, that if you need to ask for help, it's too late. Maybe he really was let down by those around him but it is heartwarming that he seems to have found positively in his life again now.