Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe

36 reviews

horizonous's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicide, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Minor: Animal cruelty, Sexism, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, and Sexual harassment

◦ Mental illness = addiction, descriptions of asylums in the early 20th century and treatments like electroshock therapy and lobotomy

literarylion's review against another edition

dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.75

Pros:

• Incredibly informative and never boring
• Great characterizations and clarity of concepts
• Meticulously researched and cited

Cons:

• Long

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Medical content

mscalls's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective tense fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Antisemitism, Medical content, and Grief

caseythereader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

5.0

 - Pretty sure no one needs my endorsement to pick up EMPIRE OF PAIN at this point, but here it is. I don't read a ton of heavily reported nonfiction, but this is one you can't miss.
- Keefe is so good at discussing complicated people and topics in a conversational, easy to follow way.
- Even if you already know the basics of this story from news reports or other books like DOPESICK, I'm willing to bet there are still anecdotes in this book about the callousness of the people involved that will shock you. You think you know how greedy people can be, and yet.
- Also, this is a sort of irrelevant side note, but if this was fiction I would have dinged the author for seemingly transparently lifting Richard Sackler's personality from the characters in THE SECRET HISTORY, haha. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

exmareadastra's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical content, and Grief

Minor: Child death and Antisemitism

sjanke2's review against another edition

dark informative tense medium-paced

5.0

 This is not a book about the opioid crisis. Rather, it's a book about a powerful American family that profits off of pain. Patrick Radden Keefe's investigative journalism here is dense, detailed, impressive. I wasn't sure I'd enjoy this book about rich people as much as I enjoyed Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland, but I couldn't stop listening. On top of being a talented journalist, Keefe is an engaging, urgent voice narrator. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical content, and Grief