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What Members Thought
Holy cow, I looooved this book. I kept finishing each chapter wanting to exclaim "Why isn't this book required reading of every child in school yet??" Yes, I do realize it was published in 2009 and these things take time, but this story is something everyone should read. It brings up the tragic life of the Lacks family, the horrible conditions of blacks, and horrible things science would do to them. But this book does what the family always wanted, brought fame to the woman Henrietta Lacks and t
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This is unlike anything I have ever read. It reads like fiction, but it's all real. Sometimes I had to remind myself that everything about Henrietta is true. That the people in the book are real.
The year the book came out, I volunteered at Printer's Row Lit Fest in Chicago. Rebecca Skloot was there to talk about her book. I had never heard of it or her, and the session was during our lunch break, so I was more focused on my cheeseburger than on this woman who wrote some weird sci-fi book. I bru ...more
The year the book came out, I volunteered at Printer's Row Lit Fest in Chicago. Rebecca Skloot was there to talk about her book. I had never heard of it or her, and the session was during our lunch break, so I was more focused on my cheeseburger than on this woman who wrote some weird sci-fi book. I bru ...more
I loved this book. I learned a lot and it was entertaining - Skloot is a great writer. So glad this was a book club book because there was a lot to digest!
Henrietta Lacks died of cervical cancer in 1951. She received her treatment at Johns Hopkins. Without her or her family's consent, a sample of her cancer cells were taken for medical research. Her cells not only stayed alive but reproduced at rapid rates. This was unusual for healthy cells. Her line cancer cells would not die and the cells were shared and sold for research throughout the globe. (HeLa line) Her cells were used in most of the ground breaking research in the past century including
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I probably can't say much that hasn't already been said. But I will say: it was more compelling, sympathetic, and human(e) than I had expected. I knew there would be issues of racism, classism, and strains of the Tuskegee atrocity, but I was surprised by how personal and genuine it was in its portrayal of the Lacks family. It is also more ambivalent than I expected about the use of human tissue in scientific research.
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This book is incredible. Both enlightening, and heartbreaking. Learning about the amazing advancements in science that were able to happen thanks to one woman's cells is something that is almost unthinkable. Really interesting to learn about Henrietta's family and what has become of them since her cells were first taken, and she passed away in 1951.
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I had been wanting to read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skoot ever since I saw a segment about the story on CBS Sunday Morning. I was so excited when my book club selected it as the August selection. I had many intentions of finishing the book in time for the meeting, but I underestimated how hard it would be to find time to read with an infant. Before the book club meeting, I borrowed a copy of the book from a friend. After the meeting, I was checking the book out from the li
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A gripping story about a woman that unknowingly "donated" her cells to science and how her family has dealt with the aftermath. HeLa cells are responsible for a lot of immunizations and genetic research that benefit many of us today but meanwhile, her own children could not afford health insurance. It is a searing look into the state of medical ethics, as well as a reminder of how little black life has been valued throughout American history. There is so much to unpack in this book I think this
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I was taken with the story of Henrietta and her family & the story of the author as she researched the tangled and hidden history of medical discoveries. I highly recommend this book.
Dec 03, 2010
Audacia Ray
rated it
it was amazing
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review of another edition
Shelves:
history-of-science,
read-in-2011
What I loved most about this book was the weaving of different levels of the story: the scientific impact of HeLa cells, Henrietta's story, the stories of Henrietta's family, and the ethical process of telling this story. I love that the author is a character in the book - to make it transparent and ethical, she just had to be. Masterfully done, a real contribution to cultural understanding of the ugly history of ethics & science, particularly through the lens of race and class.
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This is my book club's May selection. It looks very good.
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