Accidental Immortality

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

It's pretty obvious a lot has changed in the last sixty years.  This book will remind you just how far we've come as a society by recounting the stories involved in bio-medical research, the use of human cell/tissue cultures in that research, doctor/patient relationships, and the treatment of blacks during that period of history.  The author took on a daunting task: to uncover the identity of the donor who through the use of her cells, allowed medical research to make so many wonderful discoveries.  It was not an easy path for an author to pursue.  Many of us would have abandoned the project as years dragged on, people involved were angry and unpleasant (often for good reason, sometimes out of astounding ignorance), and there seemed to be no end—let alone payoff— in sight.

But the author persisted for ten years. This book reveals how a poor and ignorant black woman was treated by the medical profession in the early 1950s.  But, in telling the whole story we learn also of the sad consequences of generations of poor black people growing up and reproducing (often due to sexual abuse or rape within the family).  It is not a pretty picture and the reader gets a close-up look at the aftermath, the descendants of Henrietta Lacks (the person who unwittingly helped science help all of us).  It made me decide that the root of all evil is really ignorance.

Part of the book is the search for the story by the author.  So it has some qualities of a detective story.  Part of the book is the multi-generational tale of a multi-racial family in Maryland/Virginia from slave days to the present. The author does a great job of presenting various characters in the story so we care about them, and the search for the story about Henrietta, as though we were reading a novel.  And part of the book makes the reader think about ethical issues involved in bio-medical research.   So, it's a nonfiction book with overlapping genres.  Most people love it.  There are nearly a thousand reviews (overwhelmingly five stars!) on Amazon.  But, I also know that some readers hate a book with overlapping genres, so be forewarned.

My only criticism is there were too many names dropped in the extensive notes and acknowledgements.  Did the author need to enlist every contributor and include every note taken?    But, it easy enough to skip over if it's not compelling to you.