Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

53 reviews

allisonmaier's review against another edition

challenging informative sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Drug use, Terminal illness, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Forced institutionalization, Death, Murder, and Cancer

moniipeters's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Medical content, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Incest, Racism, Violence, Abandonment, Ableism, Alcoholism, Blood, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Infidelity, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Cursing, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Child abuse, and Child death

bootrat's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Racism

Minor: Alcoholism

jbro12's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Physical abuse, Death, Racism, Medical trauma, Medical content, Forced institutionalization, and Child abuse

kirstenpod_'s review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Racism, Death, Cancer, Forced institutionalization, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Terminal illness, and Child abuse

Minor: Incest, Physical abuse, Slavery, Drug abuse, Mental illness, and Murder

kj_reads's review against another edition

Rebecca Skloot literally is no different from any of those other reporters and journalists that were bothering this family. Some of this book focuses on Skloot's journey to find information about the HeLa cells and the Lacks family. After I realized that, I wanted to push through just to keep getting more info about the Lacks family and their fight for compensation (which was something that was discussed) and ownership over the cells, but then I found out that Skloot barely gave any money to the family from what was generated from the book. Like you've got to be kidding me, you mean to tell me you invaded this family's life and used them just so you could write a book about them and their experiences, and you barely even compensated them. It felt very white savior-y. I found/find that super disgusting and I couldn't bring myself to continue reading after that honestly. Also, I really hated the way that she talked about some of the family members. I can't remember exactly what was said since I'm writing this so much later from when I stopped reading, but I remember negative descriptions being used in times where it was 100% not necessary.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Medical content, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Cancer, Forced institutionalization, and Racism

grboph's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

I had to read part of this book as part of a project on bioethics for an anatomy and physiology class, but it was so interesting and well-written that I decided to read the entire thing. I'm very glad I did!! The story of Henrietta Lacks, her cells, and her family is a very fascinating one, and Skloot tells it very well. I really liked that she included herself as a secondary "character" in the book - this served to make the rest of the events of the story and the people she met seem more real because her interactions with them were documented. I learned so much from reading this book about cell biology, genetics, bioethics and its history, medical racism, and so many other things. It's very important this book exists, as it tells the story of a woman whose life affects everybody (due to how ubiquitous HeLa cells are) and how the way she was treated by Johns Hopkins doctors affected her and her family. It also raises a lot of very important points about informed consent and financial compensation, and how attitudes about these things have shifted over time. This was a very informative and well-crafted book, and I would recommend it to just about anyone, but especially anybody who is interested in medicine, biology, and bioethics.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Pedophilia, Slavery, Child death, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Antisemitism, Infidelity, Pregnancy, and Racial slurs

rumay's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Violence, Vomit, Incest, Infertility, and Infidelity

hubes's review against another edition

informative sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Cancer, and Death of parent

Moderate: Racism, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Child death, and Grief

afion's review

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Ableism, Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, Cancer, Medical content, and Pedophilia

Minor: Infidelity