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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
Early, I was confused and annoyed by the way this story jumps with no transitions. The chapters fluctuate between addicts, Big Pharma executives, dealers, and communities with seemingly no structure. But, as I came to realize, this is the way the story demands to be told. The opiate epidemic was years in the making, it was everywhere, and it was misunderstood, stigmatized, and ignored. As these events pan out, Sam Quinones brings cohesion to the noise. Addicts, buying from Mexican dealers, starting by abusing overprescribed OxyContin pills in white suburban Appalachia. If the story seems fragmented, it’s because so few people connected the pieces to this devastating epidemic until it was far too late.
Dream Land also invoked outrage in me. Quinones’ narrative style, driven by interviews and observation, makes fantastic storytelling, but the story has precious few protagonists. It’s ignorance and denial by Purdue Pharma. It’s Mexican dealers who call rehabilitating clients to offer discount heroin to resurrect the addiction. It’s a “tough on crime” nation in the era of crack among Black men, only to begin to soften their tone when drug abuse hits white, suburban America. It’s Big Pharma salespeople lacking in conscience but not quotas.
Yet, it’s a book that demands our attention, both to an ongoing crisis and to alert to warnings of repetition of this cycle. It’s nonfiction, but full of vivid firsthand accounts and raw emotion. Absolutely brilliant journalistic work from Sam Quinones. 5 stars.
Dream Land also invoked outrage in me. Quinones’ narrative style, driven by interviews and observation, makes fantastic storytelling, but the story has precious few protagonists. It’s ignorance and denial by Purdue Pharma. It’s Mexican dealers who call rehabilitating clients to offer discount heroin to resurrect the addiction. It’s a “tough on crime” nation in the era of crack among Black men, only to begin to soften their tone when drug abuse hits white, suburban America. It’s Big Pharma salespeople lacking in conscience but not quotas.
Yet, it’s a book that demands our attention, both to an ongoing crisis and to alert to warnings of repetition of this cycle. It’s nonfiction, but full of vivid firsthand accounts and raw emotion. Absolutely brilliant journalistic work from Sam Quinones. 5 stars.
challenging
emotional
informative
slow-paced
dark
informative
reflective
fast-paced
I will start by saying that this book contains a lot of very interesting information. It aims to uncover the dual story of big pharma and Mexican heroin dealers creating an opiate epidemic in the US. There is a lot to the story and this book seems to capture it all. That said, it's very repetitive at times and could probably be shorter and still get the same message across. I am also really irked by the authors word choice, repeatedly calling people addicted to drugs "slaves" and "junkies." It made my skin crawl. This man doesn't seem to empathize with anyone.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use
Incredibly important subject and I highly recommend this book. My main gripe is just that it did get a bit repetitive at times.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Well researched and written, but it really didn’t grab me and just dragged.
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
Phenomenal book, phenomenal research, SUPER interesting. Highly recommend!
Wow. This book. I couldn’t believe it was true. Blew my mind. Written in such a way it comes out like a story, which is great. Easy to follow. I had to keep reminding myself it was the truth!!!!
a lot of the language in this book surrounding drug use made reading it a slightly frustrating experience (in particular, repeatedly describing people struggling with addiction as "slaves to the morphine molecule" was.....a lot....), but this book provides a really valuable overview of how multiple trends collided to create today's opiate epidemic. i found the details about the xalisco boys, who comprise a core part of this book to be especially fascinating.