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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
emotional
informative
tense
medium-paced
An interesting book, somewhat hobbled by the author's own lazy speculation, backed up by bias more than sense or research. Virulent fatphobia makes for a poor explanation of an addiction epidemic, and it's really screwed up how urban communities and black people in particular exist in the narrative of the book largely as marginal shadows, the inferior creatures set as a contrast to white suburban heroin addicts. The actual reporting was interesting, but the author needs to share 99.99999% fewer of his own opinions, which by and large are garbage.
Really important to get this information out, and the book is very well researched. From a writing perspective, though, I agree with the reviewer who said the structure doesn't build a narrative and feels very repetitive. The piece Quinones published in the NY Times a few weeks back covered most of the key points quite well in a more compact format.
The last 20% or so brings in some of the solutions to the problem and covers more topics.
In the acknowledgements section the author seemed to say that his editors each had worked on sections of the book, which definitely would explain why it felt like a lot of magazine pieces stuck together.
Overall a good and important book, but lacking a cohesive voice or narrative.
The last 20% or so brings in some of the solutions to the problem and covers more topics.
In the acknowledgements section the author seemed to say that his editors each had worked on sections of the book, which definitely would explain why it felt like a lot of magazine pieces stuck together.
Overall a good and important book, but lacking a cohesive voice or narrative.
informative
sad
medium-paced
challenging
dark
informative
slow-paced
Fantastic. Really gives readers a close look at how smart these drug setups are, how they’re able to function like any “just-in-time” modern delivery service, and how easily they’re able to both avoid arrest and immediately replace any members who do get arrested (even after big police raids). It’s a great companion to Patrick Radden Keefe’s Empire of Pain, which focuses closely on the Sacklers.
Fantastic book. I learned so many new things, it generated a ton of discussion among my friends, and it has a lot of important history and context that is crucial to understanding the opioid epidemic. I also appreciate the way it was told; this wasn't just a history lesson. We are seeing perspectives of so many different people, who played different parts, and were impacted in different ways. It made me see people in ways I never have before.
(Also, there is a young adult version of this book and apparently, the editing is much better. I would recommend reading that version because this book was very repetitive.)
(Also, there is a young adult version of this book and apparently, the editing is much better. I would recommend reading that version because this book was very repetitive.)
I am giving this a 3 for the parts that are informative and mostly interesting although it’s pretty repetitive and you could probably find out most of it in a Wikipedia article. And the Dreamland metaphor is pretty clumsy and relies on some misplaced nostalgia for an America in which we were all apparently getting outside and not doing heroin yay old time us!
It gets a negative one million for the misplaced fat shaming, the victim blaming (people in pain should work on being healthier and lose weight!) and a super thumbs down for the weird end bit about ADHD and some specious and not at all factual correlations the author draws between heroin addiction, adhd, video games, and the fact that boys just sit around inside all day instead of running for four hours so of course they do heroin. Um.
Also I felt like this was propaganda for a border wall.
Eat glass.
It gets a negative one million for the misplaced fat shaming, the victim blaming (people in pain should work on being healthier and lose weight!) and a super thumbs down for the weird end bit about ADHD and some specious and not at all factual correlations the author draws between heroin addiction, adhd, video games, and the fact that boys just sit around inside all day instead of running for four hours so of course they do heroin. Um.
Also I felt like this was propaganda for a border wall.
Eat glass.
Assigned reading for citizens. It's long, it's not always fun, and I like to think that opiates aren't my problem. But this book is important, and more people need to read it.
Quinones connects the dots between prescription opioids, evolving medical standards on pain management, pharmaceutical marketing, an innovative business strategy for selling heroin, deindustrialization, offshoring, job loss, the decline of community, what health insurances pays for (and doesn't), enforcement, treatment… It goes on.
Everything is connected; prescription drug and heroin abuse are more closely connected to things we all think about than we want to admit. It's important to understand what's happening with opiates, because it's not over. When policy makers debate funding for naloxone to reduce overdose deaths, for example, that's a tactic to address the most visible part of a much larger, intractable problem.
Dreamland tells a compelling story about how drug abuse is intertwined with more visible economic and societal challenges. The solutions to these problems will be similarly intertwined. Read Dreamland—in particular, a later edition with the afterword chapter—to give yourself context for some of the issues that we usually discuss in isolation.
Quinones connects the dots between prescription opioids, evolving medical standards on pain management, pharmaceutical marketing, an innovative business strategy for selling heroin, deindustrialization, offshoring, job loss, the decline of community, what health insurances pays for (and doesn't), enforcement, treatment… It goes on.
Everything is connected; prescription drug and heroin abuse are more closely connected to things we all think about than we want to admit. It's important to understand what's happening with opiates, because it's not over. When policy makers debate funding for naloxone to reduce overdose deaths, for example, that's a tactic to address the most visible part of a much larger, intractable problem.
Dreamland tells a compelling story about how drug abuse is intertwined with more visible economic and societal challenges. The solutions to these problems will be similarly intertwined. Read Dreamland—in particular, a later edition with the afterword chapter—to give yourself context for some of the issues that we usually discuss in isolation.
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
slow-paced