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A review by catiesbooksandthings
Raising Lazarus: Hope,Justice, and the Future of America's Overdose Crisis by Beth Macy
2.0
This is a follow up book to Dopesick. I read Dopesick back in 2018 when it first came out. I am from Beth Macy's home town of Roanoke, VA and the book was definitely an eye opening read for me because I knew a lot of the people discussed in the book and was completely naïve to what people I went to school with were doing.
Unfortunately, I was not a huge fan of this follow up book. I was drawn to this book because the first book was so eye opening and I wanted to see what was being done to help quell this crisis. Sadly, this book did not do that for me. First, the book had terrible structure bouncing back and forth between the Sackler bankruptcy case (which should have not been mentioned so much) and the few front line people trying to help with the opioid crisis. Secondly and my biggest issue with this book, was how highly political it was. I felt that she allowed her political views to way to much on this book and she was constantly saying how the Republicans were the problem even though during the height of this crisis Obama was in office. There is not one person or side that is responsible. They are all involved in worsening this crisis and it is an extremely complex issue that does not have a quick or easy fix. Her blatant political agenda did get old for me and had me now wanting to finish this book.
As much as I was hopeful in this book, this one was a let down for me. I would definitely recommend reading the first book Dopesick, but I would not recommend Raising Lazarus unless you want to read about Macy's political views on the opioid crisis.
Unfortunately, I was not a huge fan of this follow up book. I was drawn to this book because the first book was so eye opening and I wanted to see what was being done to help quell this crisis. Sadly, this book did not do that for me. First, the book had terrible structure bouncing back and forth between the Sackler bankruptcy case (which should have not been mentioned so much) and the few front line people trying to help with the opioid crisis. Secondly and my biggest issue with this book, was how highly political it was. I felt that she allowed her political views to way to much on this book and she was constantly saying how the Republicans were the problem even though during the height of this crisis Obama was in office. There is not one person or side that is responsible. They are all involved in worsening this crisis and it is an extremely complex issue that does not have a quick or easy fix. Her blatant political agenda did get old for me and had me now wanting to finish this book.
As much as I was hopeful in this book, this one was a let down for me. I would definitely recommend reading the first book Dopesick, but I would not recommend Raising Lazarus unless you want to read about Macy's political views on the opioid crisis.