From the Bookshelf of Diversity in All Forms!…

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Rebecca Skloot

Start date: December 1, 2018

Finish date: December 30, 2018

Discussion: Monthly Group Reads

Why we're reading this: The diversity topic we will cover in December is Disease & Illness.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks b…more
[close] The diversity topic we will cover in December is Disease & Illness.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

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What Members Thought

Apr 14, 2015 Maya B rated it it was amazing

Shelves: biography, favorites, historical, non-fiction

This book should be required reading. This book leaves your emotions all over the place. I like how the author used narratives mixed in with scientific facts. It kept my attention from the very first page. Its very sad what happened to Henrietta Lacks. She definitely suffered, not knowing she was being used as a sacrificial lamb to advance medicine. The author also lets you into the world of her family. I know the author built a connection to the family over time, but I felt like they needed an ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Jul 22, 2015 Jeanne rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-women, medicine-health, nonfiction, read-2015

Henrietta Lacks was dying of cervical cancer in 1951, when both her cancerous and benign cells were taken and grown in the lab. The cancerous ones have, unusually, continued living and contaminated other cell lines. HeLa cells have been instrumental in transforming many aspects of medicine and led to many new medications.

Unfortunately, the HeLa cells were taken from Ms. Lacks without her permission or knowledge. Skloot raises many interesting questions about informed consent, paternalistic medi ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

May 06, 2013 Hannah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Skloot finds a really great balance between the story of the HeLa cells and the story of the Lacks family. Obviously, the discovery that HeLa cells were being grown and sold for profit over twenty years after Henrietta's death was a huge blow to the family. They weren't even told enough to know how they felt about it for a long time. Skloot recognized that their story played a big part in the book she wanted to write, and she fit it all together seamlessly. The writing style itself has a good st ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Nov 08, 2015 Aura rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction, science

I read that 125 colleges list this book as required reading and I can definitely see why. It is a thought provoking book in many levels with no easy answers. First of all, I enjoyed Skloot's narrative of the lacks' family story and the scientific explanations about cell research and ethical questions. Henrietta died of cervical cancer caused by the HPV virus. She left behind 5 children and a husband in 1951. Before her death, a John Hopkins doctor took some of her cancerous cells and eventually ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jul 31, 2017 Alana rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: political, books-to-film, educational, history, biographical, science

I was completely fascinated by this book. I was half mesmerized by the story and by the astonishing ways that HeLa cells have been used over the years, for many incredible scientific advances, and half horrified at the way science has been utilized on people, often without their knowledge or consent, in this country (and I imagine in many others) over the last century, one in which we think we are so ethical and enlightened. Yes, this book is full of a lot of science, but frankly, if you're at a I was completely fascinated by this book. I was half mesmerized by the story and by the astonishing ways that HeLa cells have been used over the years, for many incredible scientific advances, and half horrified at the way science has been utilized on people, often without their knowledge or consent, in this country (and I imagine in many others) over the last century, one in which we think we are so ethical and enlightened. Yes, this book is full of a lot of science, but frankly, if you're at all concerned about the current state of healthcare both on a political level and on a social level, you owe it to yourself to read this (and other information on the topic) and educate yourself!

Skloot did a great job of balancing the precarious topics of ethics and law, and the individuals affected by all this (which, truly, is all of us, even if we don't realize it). She did not villainize the hospital and doctors, nor did she turn them into scientific saints. The book is about equally half positive and half negative. The advances made in the science of health because of the HeLa line are astounding: vaccines, cures, gene mapping.... and the list literally goes on and on. However, the ethical long-term questions raised are equally as sobering and heavy and absolutely MUST be considered. I enjoyed the entire book, but the Afterward containing more recent medical and legal issues regarding cells and other tissues was sobering and a bit frightening, if hopeful at the same time. The idea that cancer research can be halted because a company chooses to patent the genes for it is appalling! But that cures and treatments can be developed because of those same genes is absolutely incredible.

This is a story that needed told, and it encourages me to seek more information from other sources and to be incredibly conscious of what legal decisions are coming down the line in my state and my country, because this issue is only going to become more profound; it will never just fade and go away if we ignore it. ...more

1 like · Like · see review