Alexander L. Belikoff reviewed Dreamland by Sam Quinones
Review of 'Dreamland' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
WHAT I LIKED. The book is a wealth of information and research on the narcotics epidemic in the United States. It covers a massive swath of events (some of them rather incidental) that resulted in what we call the "opioid epidemic" and what ravaged not just urban megapolises but also the Heartland of America. Mr. Quinones takes a systematic look from many different angles and the volume of data and histories he collected for it is quite immense. Knowing virtually nothing about it, I learned a lot.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE. The Author's writing style is rather peculiar. First of all - it jumps around the storylines and timelines, a lot. While it is sometimes an effective writing device, in this particular case it makes the overall narration choppy and quite annoying. Surely, the book covered several narratives, but the way they were presented wasn't helpful.
Secondly, the narration gets …
WHAT I LIKED. The book is a wealth of information and research on the narcotics epidemic in the United States. It covers a massive swath of events (some of them rather incidental) that resulted in what we call the "opioid epidemic" and what ravaged not just urban megapolises but also the Heartland of America. Mr. Quinones takes a systematic look from many different angles and the volume of data and histories he collected for it is quite immense. Knowing virtually nothing about it, I learned a lot.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE. The Author's writing style is rather peculiar. First of all - it jumps around the storylines and timelines, a lot. While it is sometimes an effective writing device, in this particular case it makes the overall narration choppy and quite annoying. Surely, the book covered several narratives, but the way they were presented wasn't helpful.
Secondly, the narration gets quite repetitive - a lot, actually. There are probably more than a dozen of long passages where the Author elaborates again and again the technical details of the Xalisco Boys operation. Other storylines get the same treatment with multiple long recaps. This quickly loses novelty and makes the book quite dull to read. More than once I felt that each chapter was originally intended as a separate magazine article.
To sum it up, the topic is extremely interesting (and terrifying, actually) and I highly recommend the book. But you might struggle plodding through it.
