Reviews tagging 'Death'

Smärtans imperium : berättelsen om familjen Sackler och opioidkrisen, by Patrick Radden Keefe

39 reviews

readandfindout's review against another edition

dark informative slow-paced

4.5

Style/writing: 4 stars
Themes: 4.5 stars
Perspective: 5 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Mental illness, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Death, Child death, and Addiction

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Antisemitism

isaarusilor's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

katiecentabar's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Drug abuse, Addiction, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Suicide

kelly_ddd's review against another edition

challenging informative slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Drug use

Moderate: Death and Suicide

brinnet's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Very interesting look into a wealthy American family and their role in modern drug addiction.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting, Drug use, Drug abuse, Medical content, Child death, Addiction, Grief, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Toxic relationship, Antisemitism, and Racism

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

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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

mondovertigo's review against another edition

dark informative reflective slow-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Death

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Drug abuse, Grief, Medical trauma, and Death

Moderate: Suicide and Self harm

stephaniezd's review against another edition

dark informative reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

Impeccably researched and compelling in it's telling. Easily the best non-fiction I have read this year. I have already recommended to several people. Jaw-dropping at times in the unabashed ridiculousness that the focuses of the tale engaged in. Just an incredible story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Addiction, Classism, Drug use, Gaslighting, and Chronic illness

oyveyori's review against another edition

challenging dark informative slow-paced

5.0

luv u patrick radden keefe <3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Death