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Reviews tagging 'Grief'
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
24 reviews
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.
- 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.
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
kasey_reads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Suicide and Antisemitism
exmareadastra's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
sad
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical content, and Grief
Minor: Child death and Antisemitism
sjanke2's review against another edition
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
5.0
This is not a book about the opioid crisis. Rather, it's a book about a powerful American family that profits off of pain. Patrick Radden Keefe's investigative journalism here is dense, detailed, impressive. I wasn't sure I'd enjoy this book about rich people as much as I enjoyed Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland, but I couldn't stop listening. On top of being a talented journalist, Keefe is an engaging, urgent voice narrator.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction
Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical content, and Grief