A review by mwelbel
Smacked: A Story of White-Collar Ambition, Addiction, and Tragedy by Eilene Zimmerman

3.25

I wanted to love this book but ended up kind of meh. Zimmerman's description of discovering her husband's body and the immediate aftermath with her children was deeply affecting and the strongest part of the memoir IMO. I hoped the latter half would explore how the culture of big law drives people to such extremes and the dangers of the obsessive work life it seems to require, but instead the book veered into a tangent on overprescription of stimulants in kids with ADHD? There was also basically a whole chapter describing the scene in Peter's house after his death that seemed to detail every tissue, syringe, and bodily fluid photographed in the police report... Definitely worth the read if you are interested in one woman's emotionally rich account of her family's complicated tragedy and a look at how sneaky and insidious addiction can be. But if you're looking for an investigation on drug abuse in big law, this isn't it — I hope someone does write that book sometime, because I would love to read it!