Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe

21 reviews

kathrynshields's review against another edition

challenging dark informative tense medium-paced

5.0

My spooky season reading started a little early with this absolute horror story. I was familiar with the Sackler family’s connection to the opioid epidemic, but Patrick Radden Keefe expertly untangles a complex and complicated history spanning three generations. The material is dense at times, but the story is captivating. This is an important work of journalism and storytelling that everyone, directly or indirectly affected by opioids, should read. 

*Extra points to the author for a consistently correct pronunciation of “Appalachia” in the audiobook.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Suicide, and Antisemitism

Moderate: Medical trauma and Classism

Minor: Cancer

rhubarbpi3's review

challenging dark informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

This was absolutely riveting!!! I listened to the audiobook and it was wonderfully researched. I loved the way that the story built on the idea of dynasty and legacy — I think it really set up the later questions about responsibility and culpability very well. Fuck the Sacklers obvi. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Classism

annikathereader's review

challenging dark informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Chronic illness, Mental illness, Grief, and Medical trauma

abigail_lo's review

challenging dark informative sad medium-paced

5.0

the only reason it took me so long to read this book is how goddamn infuriating it is. multiple times, i had to close the book before i became overpowered by sheer rage at the fucking nerve of the sacklers + everyone else they bought off. in terms of my takeaways: immense wealth and nepotism will be the literal death of our society. when corporations are allowed to buy their way through all the regulations in place in what amounts to a caricature of free-market capitalism, real people will always suffer. like he says in the afterword: while pain management is a very complex question and opioids are helpful to many people, my heart aches for those who lost their lives due to big pharma's (and specifically purdue's) lust for money. fuck capitalism -- eat the rich <3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Suicide

Moderate: Mental illness and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Cancer, Chronic illness, and Pandemic/Epidemic

jhbandcats's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

The first section of Empire of Pain is background on the three brothers who started what became Perdue Pharma; the rest of the book is about how OxyContin came to destroy so many lives. The whole experience of reading the second and third sections of this book is one of deep frustration and often anger. 

Keefe’s dense, heavily researched account of the rise of the Sackler family (they developed Valium so they were knew about addiction from early on) and the way they created the opioid epidemic is absolutely maddening. To see them literally getting away with murder is, well, criminal. 

Keefe interviewed two hundred people and had access to hundreds of thousands of pages of correspondence and depositions. He’s able to wade through this mass of information and create a cohesive, easily understood narrative. I know little about medicine and even less about business but the story he details was accessible even to a layman. 

Literally more than half the book includes references, footnotes, an index - this is a phenomenally well-documented work. Everyone should read it. It’s a testament to how the rich control the lives of the rest of us. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide, Medical content, Trafficking, Gaslighting, and Classism

eelizard's review

challenging dark informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Colonisation, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

luckyone's review

challenging informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Ableism, Chronic illness, Suicide, Antisemitism, and Stalking

bennyfelds's review

challenging dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction

Moderate: Drug abuse

Minor: Cancer, Chronic illness, and Medical content

ksuazo94's review

challenging dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Chronic illness, Death, and Grief

Minor: Medical trauma

matildak28's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

this is an incredible piece of non fiction writing — Patrick Redden Keefe is sharp and reflective, presents the facts through a deeply engaging narrative and I literally couldn’t stop listening - I listened to this non stop over the course of 3 days. This may be one of the most precise, excellent non fiction books I’ve ever read. I’ve watched a lot of documentaries about the opioid crisis in America (I’m from the UK and have no personal connection), and all of them have very limited details about the family — I feel like I have learned a lot despite already knowing a fair deal. 

Quite simply, this is incredible and this writer is nothing short of brilliant. I will be seeking out his other works immediately. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Grief, Medical trauma, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic