Reviews tagging 'Rape'

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

28 reviews

savaha's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Chronic illness, Classism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Medical content, Medical trauma, Cancer, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Rape and Violence

cdoubet's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Blood, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Incest, Murder, Slavery, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Medical content, Child death, Mental illness, Cancer, Classism, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Addiction, and Alcohol

nicoleslaw's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Incest, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Racism, and Rape

kayjayelle's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Racism, Death of parent, Slavery, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Cancer, and Rape

amcghig's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Pedophilia, Grief, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Medical content, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Chronic illness

sidekicksam's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

Part education about the HeLa cells and their contribution to the pharmaceutical and medical field, part account of the journey of the Lackses have undertaken together with 'their reporter' Miss Rebecca, to discover more about the life of their mother Henrietta. Despite HeLa's invaluable contribution to the advancement in medicine, the family she left behind is left with nothing but questions.  

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, learning about medical practices in the fifties (and their very unethical conduct), the advancement of science thanks to nameless and uninformed 'donors,' and the life of a woman made immortal by her cancer-cells. Instead of reading as a boring non-fiction novel, Skloot's decision to involve the quest for the truth she went on (mainly with Deborah/Dale) made it so much more heartwarming to read. 

I consider this to be essential reading for everyone working in medicine/pharma and have a good hard look at the ethics of the use of cells without informed consent. I'd recommend this book to anyone. 

Easy 5 stars! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Cancer, Medical content, Medical trauma, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Rape, Blood, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

creationwing's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

I wasn't a huge fan of the attempts at Chinese and Austrian accents by the audiobook reader. It felt off in a book with themes so closely tied to facing racism. It didn't help that they weren't very well done, either.

There were moments when the book seemed a little too voyeuristic for my taste; I'm not sure that all the details included were necessary for me to learn about this historic figure, her family's struggles, and have understanding of the suffering and unjustice.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Murder, Child death, Violence, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Classism, Body horror, Cancer, Medical trauma, Racism, and Confinement

Moderate: Vomit, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Self harm, Pedophilia, Rape, Death of parent, Slavery, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Infidelity, Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Incest, Drug abuse, and Deadnaming

There are detailed descriptions of the autopsies of

Henrietta and her daughter Elsie

, which may be disturbing to some people. I certainly had to pause the audiobook to mentally prepare myself.

academicanko's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Henrietta Lacks is a name unknown to most, however, she may be the most important women to medical science of all time. She was a black woman living in the south in America. Henrietta Lacks had cancer tissue cultures taken from her without her consent and those cells became the first ever immortal cells. 

She later died after those cultures were taken.

Her cells are used to create vaccines and medicines to this day. They were even use to help develop the corona virus vaccines. However, her family has not seen a cent of this money. This book goes over the author and her interactions with the family and the research the cells have supported. She mostly speaks with the youngest daughter, Deborah Lacks. Deborah did not know much about her mother and her older sister, Elsie. This family's plight and trauma is vast. They have been harassed and abused. They have a plethora of health concerns but cannot afford insurance. I cried throughout this book just thinking about their circumstances. 

This books opens the conversation to consent and much more. What does research allow and does my autonomous rights cover cells? Now technology is advanced enough to understand DNA. Is it really okay to have my DNA abused in ways I have no control? Who should get compensation? Hasn't commercialization of pharmaceuticals hindered science more than helped it? America has always had a horrible situation when it comes to health care and insurance. It is one of the reasons I live abroad. 

When doing more research on this book, I have noticed that many criticize the author for her way of approaching the family. I later learned that this book has challenged to be banned from some states. I have also found that the remaining family did not like the way the family was portrayed in the book. I like to believe that the author had gotten the consent of Deborah when planning this book and that the things she included were important to her as a descendent of Henrietta. I like to think and I really hope that the authors intentions were true. I think this story is very important and one that must be more widely known. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Child abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Incest, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Mental illness

udari's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Grief, Violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Medical content, Sexual assault, Racism, Rape, and Cancer

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Addiction, Cursing, Infidelity, Alcohol, Child death, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Suicide and Bullying

elizabethgreads's review against another edition

hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

I enjoyed the way this book was told.  It flips back and forth between the science, history, and ethics of tissue and cell culture and the Life of Henrietta Lacks and her family. This is an incredibility important story that I think everyone should read.  The author does a great job of describing scientific terms in such away that the reader can understand without having much knowledge on the subject. I enjoyed the exploration of the topics of informed consent, medical privacy, research ethics, and commercialization of human cell products.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Cancer, Gaslighting, and Medical content

Moderate: Dementia, Mental illness, Abandonment, Sexual assault, Rape, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Racism