Reviews tagging Addiction
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty, by Patrick Radden Keefe
79 reviews
heytarajo's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
medium-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction
angelina41's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction and Drug abuse
butlerebecca's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
4.25
sad that succession was only mentioned once, 13 hours in
I want to rate this a four but I’m giving it more because I think it has to do with the fact that I have already watched Dopesick and prefer the pace and arc of that, but recognize the point of this book is more Sackler and less first-hand addiction experience
I want to rate this a four but I’m giving it more because I think it has to do with the fact that I have already watched Dopesick and prefer the pace and arc of that, but recognize the point of this book is more Sackler and less first-hand addiction experience
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Grief, and Suicide
Moderate: Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content
kryskross's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction
rheagoveas's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug abuse and Addiction
mondovertigo's review against another edition
dark
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Death
rosa_inverno's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.75
Would you like to feel angry? Or perhaps deeply frustrated?
Would you like to stare at a page in utter disbelief at the callousness of your fellow human beings toward other fellow human beings?
Would you like to be so angered so much by something you read that you slam a book shut and have to walk away for awhile before you finish reading?
Would you like to feel sympathy and then a hundred pages later feel so guilty for feeling that sympathy that you are forced to confront the complexities of reality and the true nature of good and evil?
Well then do I have a book for you!
I truly believe this to be a must read when it comes to understanding the last quarter century, the story of which is heavily entwined with the opioid crisis. That said, it is not a easy read. That is not because of Keefe's writing, which is thoughtful and engaging, but because the subject at hand is a gut punch.
Would you like to stare at a page in utter disbelief at the callousness of your fellow human beings toward other fellow human beings?
Would you like to be so angered so much by something you read that you slam a book shut and have to walk away for awhile before you finish reading?
Would you like to feel sympathy and then a hundred pages later feel so guilty for feeling that sympathy that you are forced to confront the complexities of reality and the true nature of good and evil?
Well then do I have a book for you!
I truly believe this to be a must read when it comes to understanding the last quarter century, the story of which is heavily entwined with the opioid crisis. That said, it is not a easy read. That is not because of Keefe's writing, which is thoughtful and engaging, but because the subject at hand is a gut punch.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction and Drug abuse
Moderate: Suicide
dancingdugongs's review against another edition
dark
informative
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug abuse, Addiction, and Drug use
Minor: Antisemitism and Suicide
hilaryreadsbooks's review against another edition
5.0
[Thank you Anchor Books for the gifted copy]
Many of us know that powerful people are capable of terrible things, but many of us do not know what those terrible things often are. Patrick Radden Keefe’s EMPIRE OF PAIN: THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE SACKLER DYNASTY is an incredible tome of research and investigation that exposes just a part of this terrible world. Focused less on the actual opioid epidemic, EMPIRE OF PAIN hones in on this powerful family and how greed, ambition, and power led to this crisis. Keefe writes with empathy and clarity, and his storytelling, as it was with SAY NOTHING, was phenomenal. Even at 500 pages, I finished this book in just two nights.
What stood out to me the most was the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma’s manipulation of pain patients (and I appreciate Keefe’s note at the end explaining his intention to not contribute to stigmatization of those who use opioids, but rather to demonstrate that the Sacklers and Purdue “have for decades invoked the interests of pain patients as a fig leaf for their own avarice.” The facts that Keefe presents behind this are sobering—there were multiple instances where the Sacklers and other Purdue executives ignored addiction data that foresaw the crisis; instead, they would deny any links and continue to sell Oxy, even using pain patients as examples of Oxy’s effectiveness in their ads. There was, as well, Purdue Pharma’s intention to start selling addiction treatment drugs that target the very market of addiction they created (a business model used by many big pharma companies).
EMPIRE OF PAIN will stay with me for a long time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Drug abuse, Grief, Medical trauma, and Death
Moderate: Suicide and Self harm
mc235's review against another edition
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
5.0
I listened to the audiobook of this and was gripped throughout. I think I might have struggled with the first section of the book had I been reading it, but overall for such an enormous book it was very well paced. Incredibly thorough indictment of the Sacklers and the pharmaceutical industry.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Antisemitism