Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

54 reviews

afion's review

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savaha's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0


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cdoubet's review against another edition

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

5.0


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nicoleslaw's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

4.5


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franklola's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

4.25


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sidekicksam's review against another edition

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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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betttyy8's review against another edition

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informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0


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kennedybullen's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0


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creationwing's review against another edition

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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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udari's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0


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