Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

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

14 reviews

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

kristin_h_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Antisemitism, and Suicide attempt

nothingforpomegranted's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

This book has absolutely everything I like, and it was done so well. Well-developed characters with complex relationships in a comprehensively researched, utterly compelling narrative nonfiction story spanning decades. A Jewish immigrant family in New York with connections to Columbia University and, of course, a critical look at the opioid crisis and the many contributors to its horrors. 

I was fascinated by every element of this book (though the introduction of Arthur Sackler and the family history developed in Part 1 was my favorite section), and it was one of those audiobooks that had me seeking out more household chores in order to keep listening. Patrick Radden Keefe narrates his own writing fabulously, and he wrote an absolutely incredibly piece of investigative journalism that never bothered me with its length or detail. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt

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