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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Rebecca Skloot

Discussion: 2010-Jan-Feb-Mar

Why we're reading this: March 16, 2010
[close] March 16, 2010

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2010-Jan-Feb-Mar

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* March 2010
By Tiffany , WristStrong · 1 post · 11 views

last updated Feb 25, 2011 02:42PM

* February 2010
By Tiffany , WristStrong · 1 post · 6 views

last updated Feb 25, 2011 12:57PM

What Members Thought

Sep 16, 2015 judy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction

Amazing in all ways. Wish I had another star I could add for the author's determination to get the story and get it right.

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Apr 14, 2011 Jennifer rated it really liked it

Excellent. Now that I'm more aware of all that goes into a research study - the consents, the IRB approval, etc etc - I found this book so shocking when I realize that we really don't have any right to our tissues or blood once they are separated from us. Lots of discussion needs to continue there!
In addition, the Lacks family story is told so well in this book, and I felt that I gained some knowledge in regard to cancer studies.
Very highly recommended. ...more

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Dec 29, 2011 Pang rated it it was amazing

Shelves: book-club, nonfiction

Wow, what a story! When I first heard about the book, it didn't sound interesting to me. A woman's cells were being taken from her without her consent and now the family had found out about it. "So what?," I thought. Another story of someone suing someone for something. Blah, blah, blah. Boy, I was so wrong about it!

I must say that the author does an excellent job of telling the story. She kept my interest through out the book. I also learned more about various medical researches, which some wer Wow, what a story! When I first heard about the book, it didn't sound interesting to me. A woman's cells were being taken from her without her consent and now the family had found out about it. "So what?," I thought. Another story of someone suing someone for something. Blah, blah, blah. Boy, I was so wrong about it!

I must say that the author does an excellent job of telling the story. She kept my interest through out the book. I also learned more about various medical researches, which some were really amazing. It left me what I think about the subject of someone taken my cells without my consent in the name of research, however. Sure, it's going on now without my knowledge. But what if I come to find out that someone has been making money off of my dead mother?! I'm not sure how I would feel. In the Lacks' case, not only that their mother was dead, their lives had been hard after she was gone. Their experiences with Ethel sure weren't pleasant ones. It only left the children longing for their mother even more. They just wanted to understand. My heart really go out to them.

One of the things that will stay with me is the manner in which Henrietta has died. The pain and suffering Henrietta experienced was just gut-wrenching to read. The cancer that took her life was one that no one had ever seen before (as one of the doctors treating her admitted years later.) The tumor spread so fast in her body, and may be that's why HeLa is "immortal" and multiplies like weed. Henrietta didn't stand a chance against it.

The official cause of Henrietta's death was terminal uremia: blood poisoning from the buildup of toxins normally flushed out of the body in urine. The tumors had completely blocked her urethra, leaving her doctors unable to pass a catheter into her bladder to empty it. Tumors the size of baseballs had nearly replaced her kidneys, bladder, ovaries, and uterus. And her other organs were so covered in small white tumors that looked as if someone had filled her with pearls.

Another one is the treatments that many black people received back in the forties and fifties. It's not entirely news to me, but it still makes me pause when I read about it. Especially how Elsie Lacks was treated. One point Deborah said that Elsie was probably deaf and no one knew, since her and her brothers all have hearing problems due from the fact that Day and Henrietta were cousins.

It was a different time then... How far have we come, and how much knowledge have we gained.
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Dec 27, 2010 Al Rowell rated it really liked it

Immortal Life is an excellent study of the human faces behind the world of bioresearch and patent research using human genes. Rebecca Skloot traces the history of He-La, the cells that will not die, and becomes part of the world of the family Henrietta left behind. Her meticulous research reveals the injustice of the segregated wards of John Hopkins and the motivations of early cell researchers who sought not personal profit but scientific advancement. The book raises important questions about w ...more

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Mar 23, 2011 Ellyn rated it liked it

Skloot writes a sad and interesting story about the family of Henrietta Lacks. Unfortunately, she does not dig deep enough into the science aspect of the story. She only discusses the research done with the HeLa cells in a vague and general way.
Also, I was expecting more insight into the ethics and legalities of cell/tissue donation. This was only mentioned in a few of the chapters; again only briefly touching the surface of the issue.
Overall, this was a book was really a "how to" book explaini ...more

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