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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
Very informative, however a lot of the same information is repeated over and over. I think it could've been about a hundred pages shorter.
One of the most harrowing and excruciating stories about modern America, which is incidentally, about the opioid crisis that's ravaged the country between the mid 90's to today. The alternating plot lines were an ingenious way to tell the story almost like a novel that brought the reader along for the ride and built suspense. It's truly unfathomable to think of the realities it presented - a town with an actual heroin economy, entire football teams being given pills by doctors and coaches resulting in deaths, Mexican traffickers looking like any car on the street and nonviolent. My small reservations were that Quinones could've used the term "delivered... like pizzas" probably 30 less times and gotten his point across. The Afterword also contained takeaways I thought were downright odd and had an air of snotty boomerism, saying we all just need to go outside as kids more. Those things aside, I absolutely couldn't put this book down and it was a gem of journalism and storytelling.
informative
sad
medium-paced
A must-read. If you don't know someone who has died of opiate addiction in the last few years, you're lucky. This book details how our loss of community and love of consumption met big pharma and Mexican drug dealers both pushing their product to make big money.
A little disjointed in the middle; nonetheless, the overall picture from years of solid investigation shows our country rotting from within...but also, thankfully, that the poor towns hit first and hardest by this wave of opiate addiction are leading us out of it.
A little disjointed in the middle; nonetheless, the overall picture from years of solid investigation shows our country rotting from within...but also, thankfully, that the poor towns hit first and hardest by this wave of opiate addiction are leading us out of it.
The content is important and the author thoroughly researched every little detail, however I felt that Dreamland could have been edited down. There was a lot of repetition and maybe this was to make his point? Really drive the story home? For me: I lost interest.
A sobering analysis of the opioid crisis, that takes a more expansive view on the problem than "Dopesick" did (although that book does post-date this by a bit, and is marginally more current in its findings). Overall, a much less purely punishing thing to read, with a weirdly hopeful conclusion.
This is less an analysis of heroin and Oxycontin's debilitating effects on the lives of those who've become dependent on them. It's much more a call to action and, by its conclusion, a rousing reminder of the capacity for evolution we possess as a species.
This is less an analysis of heroin and Oxycontin's debilitating effects on the lives of those who've become dependent on them. It's much more a call to action and, by its conclusion, a rousing reminder of the capacity for evolution we possess as a species.
4.4 out of 5 stars.
A really captivating book weaving together two distinct but inexplicably linked stories... Purdue Pharma and the import of black tar heroin that led to the perfect storm of the opioid epidemic. Growing up in PA on the West Virginia border, where I've known several folks who have both suffered from opioid addiction and passed away, where I worked in a pharmacy and a doctor down the road was recently arrested for operating a pill mill... this book hit incredibly close to home. The author provided several perspectives and jarring histories of the events that unfolded regarding opioids in America.
Slightly repetitive at times, this book sometimes lost me in the narrative..although perhaps indicative of the sad, cyclical nature of the opioid epidemic. There were also some time jumps that threw me off. By the end, the "heroin was delivered like pizza" metaphor was used so many times it felt like nails on a chalk board. There were some sections that felt somewhat fatphobic, but it's hard to tell if that was the author's editorial or the source perspective.
Overall, worth the read and I'm excited for future colleague and institution discussions!
A really captivating book weaving together two distinct but inexplicably linked stories... Purdue Pharma and the import of black tar heroin that led to the perfect storm of the opioid epidemic. Growing up in PA on the West Virginia border, where I've known several folks who have both suffered from opioid addiction and passed away, where I worked in a pharmacy and a doctor down the road was recently arrested for operating a pill mill... this book hit incredibly close to home. The author provided several perspectives and jarring histories of the events that unfolded regarding opioids in America.
Slightly repetitive at times, this book sometimes lost me in the narrative..although perhaps indicative of the sad, cyclical nature of the opioid epidemic. There were also some time jumps that threw me off. By the end, the "heroin was delivered like pizza" metaphor was used so many times it felt like nails on a chalk board. There were some sections that felt somewhat fatphobic, but it's hard to tell if that was the author's editorial or the source perspective.
Overall, worth the read and I'm excited for future colleague and institution discussions!
informative
slow-paced