Erika Robuck's Blog, page 36

Review: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

"'HeLa cells were  one of the most important things that happened in medicine in the last hundred years, " Defler said. Then, matter-of-factly, almost as an afterthought, he said, 'She was a black woman.' He erased her name in one fast swipe and blew the chalk from his hands. Class was over."

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks , Rebecca Skloot

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot was published in 2010 and is 384 pages.  I heard about the book by way of Twitter buzz, and bought it for my Kindle.  It's one of my favorite books of 2010.

Known as HeLa to the scientific community, the malignant cells of a 31 year old black woman in 1951, have been the basis for advances in and cures for polio and cervical cancer, have led to discoveries in fertility methods, cloning, and gene mapping, and have been used to test the effects of radiation by literally traveling to space and back.  Unfortunately, those cells were taken without the consent of Henrietta Lacks, and her legendary contribution to science is tainted by the poverty and difficulties of the family she left behind.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tells the story of those cells and the Lacks family.  Skloot's detailed but incredibly readable book is presented clearly, without judgment, and without exploitation of the family that has suffered much through the years.  Her journey took her from Baltimore City, to Crownsville, Maryland, to Clover, Virginia, and back, and spanned ten years.  It weaves medical history with personal history and explores themes of medical ethics, spirituality, poverty, and friendship.

I saw on Skloot's website that the book is being made into an HBO movie produced by Oprah Winfrey and Alan Ball, and that Skloot will be at Johns Hopkins on October 2nd for a book signing.

I give my highest recommendation for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

Review: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

"'HeLa cells were  one of the most important things that happened in medicine in the last hundred years, " Defler said. Then, matter-of-factly, almost as an afterthought, he said, 'She was a black woman.' He erased her name in one fast swipe and blew the chalk from his hands. Class was over."

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks , Rebecca Skloot

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot was published in 2010 and is 384 pages.  I heard about the book by way of Twitter buzz, and...

Love at First Read

I'm guest blogging over at Writer Unboxed today.  Please stop by and tell me what makes you love your favorite characters in fiction:

Writer Unboxed.

Review: Marrying Mozart

"My father knows many aspects of music: the toil, the diligence, the exactitude. But the ecstatic love of it eludes him; he does not trust it. And what is it to trust music and the deep feelings it pulls from you?"

Marrying Mozart, Stephanie Cowell

Marrying Mozart, by Stephanie Cowell, is 368 pages, and was published in 2004.  I bought the book for my Kindle after reading and loving Cowell's recently released novel, Claude and Camille. I was not disappointed.

Set against the musical world of...

Review: Luncheon of the Boating Party

"What would they become? she wondered. What has he glimpsed in us to lay over that vast white land? Us. Nous. She said the word aloud, dropping off the s, a kind of lowing. The exhilaration she had felt yesterday surged again. She was part of something." (113)

Luncheon of the Boating Party, Susan Vreeland

Susan Vreeland's Luncheon of the Boating Party was published in 2007 and is 434 pages. I read it on Stephanie Cowell's recommendation after finishing and loving her novel about Monet, Claude...

Review: The Postmistress

"Every story–love or war–is a story about looking left when we should have been looking right." (p.3)

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake was published in 2010, and is 318 pages.  It's the story of how the lives that populate a small, New England town are linked to American radio personality, Frankie Bard, as she reports from London during the blitz of 1940, just before America got involved in WWII.

In Cape Cod, Iris James, the town postmaster, listens to Ms. Bard with skepticism.  The war in...

Kindle Cover Endorsement

Allow me to introduce The Guardian.  (Cue 2001: A Space Odyssey music.)

I was packing for our family trip last week when I realized I didn't have a cover for my Kindle–a big problem for a girl who spends as many waking hours as possible on the beach when she's on vacation.  I remembered that a friend of mine from church was somehow involved with e-readers, so I emailed her to ask where to find a waterproof Kindle case.

Imagine my surprise when she told me that she and her husband actually had a...

And the Winning Title is…

Hemingway's Girl

36 people voted.

27 picked Hemingway's Girl.

5 picked After the Storm.

4 suggested variations.

Jennifer S. mentioned that the title Hemingway's Girl reminded her of Loving Frank, which is EXACTLY what I'm going for.  That book will be a good point of comparison in the query letter.

I would still like After the Storm to be involved somehow, so I might make that a section heading in the book.  The book is in three parts, and it would be nice to incorporate a Hemingway story title...

Wanted: Title Help

I'm working on a fourth draft of my work in progress, a novel set in Key West when Hemingway lived there.  The protagonist, Mariella Bennet, is a fictitious housekeeper for the Hemingway family who's torn between her obsession with the writer and her relationship with a WWI vet and boxer working on the Overseas Highway.  The Labor Day hurricane of 1935 occurs during the climax of the book.

Here's where you come in.  I'm back and forth on my title and I need your help.

My working title all...

Interview: Emily Mandel

"He was thinking about the night they'd arrived in Naples, the way the city had seemed an undifferentiated chaos of gray buildings and broken plaster and lights spreading up over the hillside, Sophie's blue linen dress, the singer in the restaurant."

The Singer's Gun, Emily Mandel

I "met" Emily on Twitter, and read her book,  The Singer's Gun, because it had an interesting premise and was picked as an Indie favorite.  I quickly learned that it deserved its endorsements. It pulled me in right...