Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

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

6 reviews

tiernanhunter's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicide, Antisemitism, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

amyvl93's review against another edition

challenging informative medium-paced

4.5

 An excellent narrative non-fiction look at the Sackler family, their rise and purchase of Purdue pharmaceuticals, extensive donations, and the invention of oxycontin, leading to a rapid rise and fall as the drug becomes a leading culprit for the opiod crisis in the United States.

Reading this in the same year as Demon Copperhead has really given me further understanding of the opiod crisis, and this made me absolutely rage. You can understand how the Sacklers captured something of the American vibe during their rise - Arthur, Raymond and Mortimer were children of migrants to the USA who lost most of their wealth during the 1929 Wall Street crash and were able (particularly led by the frightingly singular Arthur) to gain huge wealth, power and influence which then enabled them and their children to avoid being held accountable for their actions for years, and who per a recent court judgement, will never face criminal charges for what they did.

 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Infidelity

megang519's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Grief

Moderate: Cancer and Chronic illness

Minor: Suicide, Antisemitism, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

allisonwonderlandreads's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

This meticulous, damning work of non-fiction is worth all the hype. The opioid epidemic was a topic completely outside my sphere of understanding before picking this book up. I was unaware of all the legal battles raging to bring a particular company and its scions to account for a public health disaster of epic proportions. I was horrified by the influence of one powerful family over an entire industry, and through that, the country at large. The Sacklers' inability to empathize, to accept any level of responsibility for the opioid crisis through the aggressive marketing of their drugs, is more astounding than it ought to be given our society, fueled by capitalistic fever dreams and cold ambition. Here, we have a family ostensibly offering a compassionate product, a drug that can help many suffering from pain of all sorts. However, the tactics revealed in this book tell a different story, the calculating minds of a family willing to do anything to increase their net worth with no concept that there could be negative, lasting consequences to answer for. That misleading the medical establishment could lead to dangerous prescription practices. That data indicating where pill mills are located could necessitate corrective action rather than representing a welcome source of income. That influencing government agencies and public perception is anything less than their right as the ultra-wealthy. That willful ignorance is somehow less harmful than intentional malice when the result is the same: over a million dead and many more affected in the US alone.

I'm not really sure how to review such an impactful work. I think everyone can benefit from a closer look at how the pharmaceutical industry works and how wealth is accrued and kept more broadly. It leaves me with a lot to ponder and with a lot more information at my disposal to see things clearly. Highly recommend.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Infidelity

Minor: Chronic illness, Suicide, and Antisemitism

horizonous's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicide, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Minor: Animal cruelty, Sexism, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, and Sexual harassment

◦ Mental illness = addiction, descriptions of asylums in the early 20th century and treatments like electroshock therapy and lobotomy

caseythereader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

5.0

 - Pretty sure no one needs my endorsement to pick up EMPIRE OF PAIN at this point, but here it is. I don't read a ton of heavily reported nonfiction, but this is one you can't miss.
- Keefe is so good at discussing complicated people and topics in a conversational, easy to follow way.
- Even if you already know the basics of this story from news reports or other books like DOPESICK, I'm willing to bet there are still anecdotes in this book about the callousness of the people involved that will shock you. You think you know how greedy people can be, and yet.
- Also, this is a sort of irrelevant side note, but if this was fiction I would have dinged the author for seemingly transparently lifting Richard Sackler's personality from the characters in THE SECRET HISTORY, haha. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent