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A review by mikec363
Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic by Sam Quinones
3.0
This is a very important book that is worthwhile reading for anyone who is trying to understand the heroin epidemic in America, and the convergence of forces that led to its explosion. It's thorough and well researched and I liked that Quinones tried to tell the story from multiple perspectives.
Unfortunately, while I wanted to give this book a high recommendation, it's so repetitive and poorly edited that it the middle portion becomes a total slog. The same stories are told over and over, often with identically worded sentences only a few lines apart, which I found annoying. It's as if each chapter was meant to be extracted for individual use without needing to read other chapters. If it's meant for educational and classroom purposes only then that's fine, but when reading the book as a whole, it's incredibly frustrating. Things pick up at the end when Quinones moves on to how American towns are trying to rebuild and combat heroin addiction, but it just takes way too long to get there.
Yet another book on my shelf that would have been better served having 50 pages trimmed.
Unfortunately, while I wanted to give this book a high recommendation, it's so repetitive and poorly edited that it the middle portion becomes a total slog. The same stories are told over and over, often with identically worded sentences only a few lines apart, which I found annoying. It's as if each chapter was meant to be extracted for individual use without needing to read other chapters. If it's meant for educational and classroom purposes only then that's fine, but when reading the book as a whole, it's incredibly frustrating. Things pick up at the end when Quinones moves on to how American towns are trying to rebuild and combat heroin addiction, but it just takes way too long to get there.
Yet another book on my shelf that would have been better served having 50 pages trimmed.