The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Dec 12, 2011 Kerry rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: about-a-woman, audiobook, non-fiction, science, audible

Okay, first just the narration: the narrator does "accents." It didn't bother me when she was doing all these African-American people, but when she busted out the Asian-American "ah so" thing, I was sort of horrified. Does that make me a racist? I'm not sure. Anyway, she was fine with everything else.

I originally gave this three stars but busted it down to two (that means "It was OK.") It's not a bad book, per se, I'm just a little bewildered at how successful it apparently was. There are two pa Okay, first just the narration: the narrator does "accents." It didn't bother me when she was doing all these African-American people, but when she busted out the Asian-American "ah so" thing, I was sort of horrified. Does that make me a racist? I'm not sure. Anyway, she was fine with everything else.

I originally gave this three stars but busted it down to two (that means "It was OK.") It's not a bad book, per se, I'm just a little bewildered at how successful it apparently was. There are two parts, intertwined: there's the part about how the HeLa cells affected scientific research, and some things that came out of it. Then there is the story of the family of the woman from whom the HeLa cells were taken.

The science part is . . . interesting, but not fascinating. Like, it's okay, and I'm glad I read it. It was magazine-article interesting.

The Lacks family part . . . it's only sort of interesting as well. Poor black family from the south, and some of the members of the later generations clearly have mental issues. (Which may or may not be related to the fact that cousins married cousins. I thought it was determined that cousin-on-cousin love is actually not that big a deal? No? I was not as appalled as I apparently was supposed to be.) Hardworking mother who has a jillion kids! Dad who drinks and slaps the wife around! Molesting uncle! It's like a Toni Morrison novel without the poetry.

I don't mean to make light of their situation -- it's compelling to them, and to the author, who came to be so personally embroiled in their lives. But narratively speaking, I don't think their story is actually too interesting. And when you come down to it, their troubles had NOTHING to do with the HeLa cells. Nothing whatsoever. They thought they were -- because they're ignorant and uneducated (I don't intend either of those descriptors to be insulting, it's not actually their fault that they are uneducated and ignorant,) and because they have been screwed by the system in general, being poor and black. But whether or not their mother's cancer cells had turned out to be immortal, their lives would not have been different.

Lacks's sons are convinced that they are owed money because of these cells, but the original researcher charged nothing for their distribution; he was just super-hyped that he had found these things. Later, other labs produced HeLa cells on a massive scale, and you can purchase them for research -- but is the Lacks family entitled to any of that profit? The author doesn't seem to think so, as sympathetic as she is to the family, because she didn't try to convince me. So, sorry, guys. I do think that you are entitled to health care, but that has nothing to do with the fact that your mother changed scientific research as we know it; it has to do with the fact that you are human beings.

One last thought, and that's regarding the mental issues I mentioned above -- clearly, Deborah and Zakariyya [oh man, I wanted to KILL the narrator for pronouncing it "za-KAH-ree-yah" until it was explained, 3/4 of the way through, that that's the way he pronounces it] [she did keep pronouncing in situ incorrectly, though, as far as I know, and that made drove me crazy as well] are mentally ill to some degree, and whenever that was made clear, it made me feel . . . uncomfortable. As though they were being exploited for their entertainment value. The author tries to treat them with respect, and I'm not sure what she should have done differently, I just . . . I dunno. It made me feel dirty.

Anyway. There you have it. I didn't NOT like it, I just didn't see what all the fuss was about. ...more

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Nov 08, 2011 pianogal rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, sb-book-club

This one was good. I'm not sure it was quite as good as everyone said it was, but the story did pull you in. Christoph was my favorite character, mostly b/c he was the only one in the medical field who even acknowledged what Henrietta did and what was done to her. Plus, he took time out of his day to explain it to her children and at least give them the knowledge of what their mother did.

I had (have) a HUGE problem with the fact that multiple companies made BILLIONS (with a B) of dollars of a ce ...more

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Jun 15, 2015 Jennifer rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

For Book Riot 2015 Read Harder #18 (a book recommended to me).
In graduate school, a professor told me that every generation would write and rewrite about "important" histories. HeLa cells have had many, many pages devoted to them, but this is the story of the woman who gave these cells and the impact upon her descendants. Skloot created a compelling and clear narrative, balancing the science alongside the biography.

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Dec 20, 2010 Jenny rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: biographies-memiors

Really interesting, but the end of the book felt like it turned into a bio of Henrietta Lack's daughter. The afterward has really good info about tissue and gene patents and research. ...more

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