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master_wanderer 's review for:
Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic
by Sam Quinones
This book deals with an interesting and important topic. I think it falls flat not based on the topic or the research but on the poor writing style of the author. This book is sorely in need of a good editor to chop out about 150 pages of humdrum and get the story moving.
It's unbearably repetitive. Sometimes I would think I lost my place because I was reading a sentence that was nearly word for word repeated from earlier. He keeps bringing up the same points - Lortab and Percoset contain acetaminophen which makes it harder to abuse, Mexicans don't like dealing with black people, kids abusing pills are middle class... Over and over again. He mentions that pills mixed with acetaminophen cause liver damage 9 times in the book. We get it! Jeez.
There are no central characters. He offers little advice. It's unfortunately boring for such an incredible story. Focus on one city, one group of characters. Not this endless ensemble of dealers and cops and users that we can't keep track of.
It's unbearably repetitive. Sometimes I would think I lost my place because I was reading a sentence that was nearly word for word repeated from earlier. He keeps bringing up the same points - Lortab and Percoset contain acetaminophen which makes it harder to abuse, Mexicans don't like dealing with black people, kids abusing pills are middle class... Over and over again. He mentions that pills mixed with acetaminophen cause liver damage 9 times in the book. We get it! Jeez.
There are no central characters. He offers little advice. It's unfortunately boring for such an incredible story. Focus on one city, one group of characters. Not this endless ensemble of dealers and cops and users that we can't keep track of.