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enterprisingyoungman's review against another edition
3.0
Informative but repetitive. Less a scientific lens than I'd prefer.
sleblanc912's review against another edition
challenging
informative
slow-paced
4.25
Wowwwww what an incredible story, I gotta say I’m much more knowledgeable about the spread of heroin in the US. I also thought it gave a great explanation on how Purdue marketed these drugs to doctors and WHY we have an opiate crisis in the first place. I obviously knew about it but never fully understood it. Also directly comparing Purdue Pharma to drug dealers was TEA but I think it’s a very valid comparison.
Two things that weren’t awesome:
1. A bunch of people on here were going over the repetition of the story, which is valid but also the repetition of PHRASING! I read multiple times how towns were “tenderized” by opiates before heroin came along and how the Xalisco Boys delivered heroin “like pizza” like come on we can come up with something new.
2. The afterward was…interesting? Citing college kids need for “trigger warnings” as a part of why we have a heroin epidemic was definitely said by someone’s boomer uncle this past Thanksgiving. But heavy agree on how modern suburbia makes it impossible for kids to build community outside. Sam kinda predicted iPad kids in that way
Two things that weren’t awesome:
1. A bunch of people on here were going over the repetition of the story, which is valid but also the repetition of PHRASING! I read multiple times how towns were “tenderized” by opiates before heroin came along and how the Xalisco Boys delivered heroin “like pizza” like come on we can come up with something new.
2. The afterward was…interesting? Citing college kids need for “trigger warnings” as a part of why we have a heroin epidemic was definitely said by someone’s boomer uncle this past Thanksgiving. But heavy agree on how modern suburbia makes it impossible for kids to build community outside. Sam kinda predicted iPad kids in that way
libvin96's review against another edition
4.0
Quinones does an excellent job building his thesis on how the pharmaceutical industry's promotion of pain as a vital sign coupled with the Xalisco Boys' work led to the opiate epidemic. However, the Afterword mistakenly forces this idea brand new to the book--the idea that isolation and "helicopter parenting" is probably what led so many teens to use heroin. I can see this connection to his anecdote on the religious Russian immigrants whose children were holed up in their homes, but nowhere else. Such a claim requires evidence, which Quinones doesn't tie in much. To make such a bold claim more successful would have required more elaborating and connection to stories earlier in the book. Instead it came off a little bit as random Boomer thoughts. I think ending the book with the quote that "we may thank heroin someday" was a bit outrageous. Considering the pages upon pages described of the tragic deaths brought on by heroin, I don't think it's plausible that Ohioans would ever thank heroin the same way that some former addicts thank prison for their recovery.
In summary: Good book with stellar writing and thesis building, up until some strange claims at the very end.
In summary: Good book with stellar writing and thesis building, up until some strange claims at the very end.
takumo_n's review against another edition
4.0
Really good reporting and writing. Quinones is mostly a journalist so he just writes what people say and do. He doesn't have the knowledge to back up all the claims in this book. Which is fine, but the book is too repetitive sometimes, and he could've cut some of it out and fill it with arguments from neuroscientists or psychologist, or whoever that could give another perspective. At the very end there were people doing recovering and talking groups, stating that a better enviroment and a sense of community was a better way to fight an addiction epidemic than open a bunch of recovery clinics. But those chapters were too short, and that argument should be explore more. But I guess this is not that book. I'll recommend Carl Hart for that, if you haven't heard of him.
nderiley's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting and sad. This book goes a long way to explain the confluence of factors which made a perfect recipe for heroin addiction in middle America