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Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
6 reviews
linneak's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Pandemic/Epidemic, Gaslighting, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Addiction
Moderate: Classism, Death, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Medical content, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Stalking, Alcohol, Terminal illness, Grief, Antisemitism, and Cursing
laurenleigh's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Drug abuse and Drug use
Moderate: Medical content, Grief, Classism, Terminal illness, and Suicide
nassuada's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Antisemitism, Addiction, Drug abuse, Medical trauma, Chronic illness, Drug use, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Suicide, Terminal illness, Trafficking, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Forced institutionalization
idun_aurora's review against another edition
5.0
Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Terminal illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Drug abuse, and Suicide
maarsargo's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Drug abuse and Drug use
Moderate: Suicide, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, and Chronic illness
Minor: Self harm, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Death
drollgorg's review against another edition
4.25
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.
Graphic: Addiction
Moderate: Suicide, Terminal illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis