this book reads like it was written pretty fast (the lack of copyediting actually interferes w/ readability at some points). it is as much elliott smith biography as i (a decently-familiar listener) needed to read, but i imagine its ambiguity, haste, lack of key interviewees, and tendency to hand over entire chapters to a single ‘friend''s verbatim recollections would enrage a more devoted fan.
this was difficult to read (particularly if you're squeamish) and there is a lot more editorializing and gratuitous (/occasionally speculative) detailing of the radium girls' personal lives, but ultimately this felt like a really important story about our collective short memory and the degree to which we associate “healthy corporation” with “healthy society”.