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Reviews tagging 'Suicide'
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
98 reviews
citrinuke's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Medical content
Moderate: Suicide, Grief, and Death of parent
thunderousdandelion's review against another edition
dark
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide, and Antisemitism
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Infidelity
Minor: Chronic illness, Suicide, and Antisemitism
ninaw's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
An excellent narrative exploration of the Sackler family, their involvement in the opioid crisis and the extensive measures they've taken to protect and promote their name.
Also a terrifying tale of repeated regulatory capture.
Also a terrifying tale of repeated regulatory capture.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction
Minor: Suicide
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt
alisiakae's review against another edition
emotional
informative
sad
slow-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction
Moderate: Suicide
horizonous's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
5.0
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 lobotomydrollgorg's review against another edition
dark
informative
slow-paced
4.25
Reading nonfiction books I tend to think about all the work that was involved in getting all these details on the page, and I have to hand it to Patrick Radden Keefe, the guy has done what must have been an insane amount of work tying together the actions of so many nasty people, and you have to imagine the process of double-checking that work as backbreaking too when you consider how fond the Sacklers seem to be of litigating their critics into silence.
Even past the achievement of the book itself, it makes for a gripping story about particular people at the center of not just the opioid crisis, but the shaping of the modern pharmaceutical industry. This book kind of made me want to return to my ideas of being a lawyer, because it got under my skin with the thought that people need to be able to stand up to the Sacklers of the world, and standing on the street with a protest sign isn't going to cut it once you're past a certain level of wealth and non-elected status.
If there is a main critique I have of the book, it seems like there are kind of two stories here- the story of Arthur Sackler, who established the family along with their traditions, businesses, and a lot of modern pharma advertising, and then of the succeeding family members who took the business, ran with it, and their specific choices that led to OxyContin's foundational role in the opioid crisis. The two stories are strongly connected, but they are separate stories, and I would probably have found a greater proportion of the book being spent on the modern Sacklers and Purdue Pharma to be a better balance of Keefe's attention.
Even past the achievement of the book itself, it makes for a gripping story about particular people at the center of not just the opioid crisis, but the shaping of the modern pharmaceutical industry. This book kind of made me want to return to my ideas of being a lawyer, because it got under my skin with the thought that people need to be able to stand up to the Sacklers of the world, and standing on the street with a protest sign isn't going to cut it once you're past a certain level of wealth and non-elected status.
If there is a main critique I have of the book, it seems like there are kind of two stories here- the story of Arthur Sackler, who established the family along with their traditions, businesses, and a lot of modern pharma advertising, and then of the succeeding family members who took the business, ran with it, and their specific choices that led to OxyContin's foundational role in the opioid crisis. The two stories are strongly connected, but they are separate stories, and I would probably have found a greater proportion of the book being spent on the modern Sacklers and Purdue Pharma to be a better balance of Keefe's attention.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction
Moderate: Suicide, Terminal illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
amibo's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Extremely well researched and well written - at times it reads like a thriller. This is an amazing book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting
Moderate: Addiction and Suicide
ncoletti's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse and Drug use
Moderate: Suicide