Reviews tagging 'Child death'

La vita immortale di Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

37 reviews

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

cammiem8's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Racism, Cancer, Sexual assault, and Medical content

librarymouse's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is the type of book that sticks with you and sits in the back of your brain, being relevant in the least expected situations. The writing draws the reader in and tells the story in a way that makes it feel personal to each individual. More than that the lives and struggles of Henrietta and her family being immortalized as they are in this book, shine a light on the parts of history the written record strives to forget.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Child death, Sexual harassment, Cancer, Classism, Grief, and Incest

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

mrslsmith's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Medical content, and Racism

hshinn21's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Truly one of the best, most informative, and gut-wrenching books I've ever read. I'm glad it's become famous because I think everyone should know this story. 

But you should know: this book might be difficult to read. It was for me at some points. It talks frankly, but not grotesquely, of many terrible things: and this is part of what makes it so important. I started listing content warnings below and the list looks a little bit overwhelming at first glance. So know your limits, and be prepared. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Sexual violence, Racism, Medical content, Cancer, Violence, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, and Medical trauma

anushar's review against another edition

informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

I read this book because I bought it to make myself smarter and ended up reading it for a school project. I usually avoid nonfiction books like the plague, but this one was pretty good. You don’t need to know a lot about science to read it, and it tells an important story, so I would recommend it. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death of parent, Incest, Medical content, Pedophilia, Chronic illness, Death, Child abuse, and Child death

kennedybullen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Racial slurs, Death, Death of parent, Medical content, Medical trauma, Racism, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Drug use, and Child abuse

Minor: Physical abuse, Sexual content, Incest, and Suicide

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.

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