The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks in Crazy Challenge Connection

Feb 20, 2013 Elle rated it liked it

I don't normally read non-fiction, but this book was certainly decent. I had a bit of a tough time with some of the characters and their descriptions or speech styles. Overall, not a terrible read and certainly educational, but not really the type of book I would typically go for. ...more

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Apr 26, 2011 Alex rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 4-stars, non-fiction, kindle, authors-s, read-2014

I can't believe that I have a biology degree and have spent the last 3 years teaching biology to 11-18 year olds, yet had no idea about HeLa cells. My eyes have been opened. ...more

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Nov 22, 2016 Justme rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

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Jan 13, 2017 Darlene rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, library, non-fiction, overdrive, audio-1000, read-in-2017

This is non-fiction that is so unbelievable that it reads like fiction!

Henrietta Lacks' name has been on my radar for many years. I already knew that her cells were used to develop the polio vaccine, but I had no idea about all the other stuff that this book contained. Rebecca Skloot is one heck of an investigative journalist! She conducted more than 1,000 hours of interviews with members of Henrietta’s family and friends, as well as poring over legal documents, medical records, and diary entrie This is non-fiction that is so unbelievable that it reads like fiction!

Henrietta Lacks' name has been on my radar for many years. I already knew that her cells were used to develop the polio vaccine, but I had no idea about all the other stuff that this book contained. Rebecca Skloot is one heck of an investigative journalist! She conducted more than 1,000 hours of interviews with members of Henrietta’s family and friends, as well as poring over legal documents, medical records, and diary entries.

In the late 1940s, a tumor started growing inside of Henrietta Lacks. She could feel that it was there and knew exactly where it was located. She attended at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, but not until a couple years later when she had pain and bleeding. She was diagnosed with cervical cancer and underwent radiation treatment, but it was not effective. She died later that same year, in 1951. Most astounding is that the physician that was treating her routinely took cell and tissue samples from patients without their knowledge. There was no such thing as informed consent back then! The cells were named HeLa after the first two letters of Henrietta’s first and last names. What makes HeLa cells so unusual is their ability to continue to replicate. They can divide and grow with no limitation, providing an endless supply to researchers who want to study them and experiment with them. So, while the medical industry was selling her cells to anyone who asked for them, the Lacks family didn’t even realize that this was going on! They had no knowledge that her cells existed or that a sample had been taken.

Rebecca first became interested in HeLa cells when she heard a professor talk about them in a lecture that she attended when she was only 16 years old. She peppered her professor with questions about Henrietta, but he couldn’t answer them. He said that all anyone knew was that she was black. He suggested that she could do her own research and tell him about it for some extra credit. And so it began! She eventually made contact with Henrietta’s daughter, Deborah, and told her that she wanted to tell Henrietta’s story which is what led to this book.

I loved how Rebecca humanized the HeLa cells and educated us about the woman that they came from. Henrietta’s background is a tough one, having lost her mother at an early age and being sent to live with her grandfather where she shared a room with her first cousin, David. They eventually had children together and married. One child, daughter Elsie, was mentally challenged and was sent to an institution. Sadly, Rebecca also uncovers the experimentation that was conducted on Elsie.

This era was before my time, so I didn’t realize the extent to which racial segregation existed in those days. I didn’t know that “colored” folks had their own ward in the hospital, how even blood was labelled “colored” or not, and that African-Americans were subjected to medical experimentation (such as, the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment). This was a real eye-opener for me!

I love Rebecca’s passion, enthusiasm, and determination to bring this story to fruition. She did a commendable job, and I am not surprised that Oprah is producing and starring in this movie which will be aired on HBO later this year. I look forward to seeing it!

Cassandra Campbell and Bahni Turpin are both new-to-me narrators, and they were both top-notch! I thought the pair of them were both very well suited to the story.

This review was posted on my book blog:

http://darlenesbooknook.blogspot.ca/2... ...more

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Apr 08, 2011 Colleen rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, baltimore

A non-fiction book that reads like a novel, this book kept me wanting to know what happened next. I thoroughly enjoyed the look into the Lackses family and hearing about the author's journey to bring this book to life. Living in Baltimore, I was familiar with many of the places named in the book and had heard some of those stories (ie. don't go up the street to Hopkins, they'll steal your baby/do experiments/etc).

This book is also about science and medicine. Like many people, I had never heard o ...more

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Apr 18, 2011 Almeta rated it really liked it

Shelves: packing-heat

I listened to this book while working on other projects, so I didn't read it straight through. The lapses in between gave me time to think, and then wanting to get back to it to see what was next.

My views flip flopped constantly. First I was angry at Henrietta for ignoring her previous diagnoses and not returning for treatments. Then I was made to remember that the black community was not really made comfortable enough to trust that they would be treated well….because they weren’t!

I went back a ...more

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