Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

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

8 reviews

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

linneak's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Minor: Cursing, Terminal illness, Antisemitism, Grief, Stalking, and Alcohol

mariawie's review against another edition

challenging dark informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Medical content

Minor: Cancer, Death, Mental illness, Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Alcohol, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

laurenleigh's review

emotional informative inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0

I am telling everyone to read this, especially when read alongside Demon Copperhead!! This was exactly what I want out of nonfiction. I want to learn, but while being engaged in a cohesive narrative. The amount of research Keefe has done is staggering, but he has communicated his findings so clearly. I was so hooked the whole time, even when I was enraged. (Greed is one hell of a drug.) After reading this and Kingsolver’s aforementioned novel, I feel so much more informed on the opioid crisis. It’s terrifying, depressing, and fascinating to see the similarities between the pharmaceutical, tobacco, and firearms industries. Radden doesn’t necessarily make his stance on the subject a secret, but he also doesn’t throw it constantly in your face.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Drug use

Moderate: Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, and Classism

nassuada's review

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Terminal illness, Antisemitism, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Mental illness, Suicide, Terminal illness, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Forced institutionalization

idun_aurora's review

dark informative medium-paced

5.0

The amount of work that has gone into this book is commendable. It's packed with information without ever getting trudgy, shedding light on not just the Sacklers and the opioid crisis, but many parts of the (ridiculous) American health care system and the marketing of prescription drugs.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Medical trauma

maarsargo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Drug use

Moderate: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide, and Gaslighting

Minor: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

drollgorg's review

dark informative slow-paced

4.25

Reading nonfiction books I tend to think about all the work that was involved in getting all these details on the page, and I have to hand it to Patrick Radden Keefe, the guy has done what must have been an insane amount of work tying together the actions of so many nasty people, and you have to imagine the process of double-checking that work as backbreaking too when you consider how fond the Sacklers seem to be of litigating their critics into silence. 
Even past the achievement of the book itself, it makes for a gripping story about particular people at the center of not just the opioid crisis, but the shaping of the modern pharmaceutical industry. This book kind of made me want to return to my ideas of being a lawyer, because it got under my skin with the thought that people need to be able to stand up to the Sacklers of the world, and standing on the street with a protest sign isn't going to cut it once you're past a certain level of wealth and non-elected status. 
If there is a main critique I have of the book, it seems like there are kind of two stories here- the story of Arthur Sackler, who established the family along with their traditions, businesses, and a lot of modern pharma advertising, and then of the succeeding family members who took the business, ran with it, and their specific choices that led to OxyContin's foundational role in the opioid crisis. The two stories are strongly connected, but they are separate stories, and I would probably have found a greater proportion of the book being spent on the modern Sacklers and Purdue Pharma to be a better balance of Keefe's attention. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction

Moderate: Suicide, Terminal illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis