It’s been raining all week, the sun’s barely come out, and I’m sad that Matthew Perry died. He struggled so much for so long that you really wanted to root for him. Life can be just plain mean sometimes.
It’s coincidental but appropriate that my first two recs are about the opioid epidemic. I’ve been a little behind the curve on digging into this topic, but now that I have, I’m kind of obsessed. For so much global trauma to be the result of one single family’s naked greed—I still haven’t wrapped my head around it.
Sorry to be a downer on a Sunday morning. I’m just angry. Hug your people, friends.
📖 Empire of Pain
This book is 500 pages long but that includes footnotes and I really really hope you read it. The writing is fantastic and the story so unbelievable that it feels like a novel. Unfortunately it is not. The Sackler family is single-handedly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, starting with their development of OxyContin, a drug more powerful than morphine (which I did not know!). Widespread abuse led to fewer legal prescriptions of Oxy, which led to those struggling with addiction to turn to heroin and subsequently fentanyl. And you know where that one ends. The Sackler family could not care less about the devastation they have sowed. We should all be at their gates with torches.
🎥 All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (Max)
After you finish that, watch this. It’s the perfect follow-up. A biography of the artist Nan Goldin, it also follows her protest efforts to have the Sackler name removed from art galleries around the world. Several parts of the book come to life on screen in front of you. A work of art in itself.
🎥 Killers of the Flower Moon (in theaters)
After all that heavy stuff, let’s turn to… the murders of Osage people for their land in 1920s Oklahoma. I’ll be honest, I can’t rave about this quite to the level that others are. It’s good, of course, but it’s 3.5 hours long and actually felt longer. The acting is phenomenal, and if Oscars don’t rain down on everybody involved, it will be a sin. But it needed a heavier editing hand and methinks no one wanted to apply such a thing to a master’s (probable) swan song. Either way, you should see this movie, but maybe at home where you can take breaks.
I hope your Halloween is happier than this post. xoxo
Love catching up with you, Carla... even if you are a Debbie downer 😜 😘