Reviews tagging 'Death'

La vita immortale di Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

73 reviews

betttyy8's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Grief, Racism, Terminal illness, Death, Medical content, Mental illness, and Cancer

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Minor: Incest

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

jcstokes95's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

3.5

If you are currently in a multi-year pandemic situation where medical advice feels slippery and the policy even slipperier, I would not advise reading this. Because, it will make you feel even more suspicious of doctors. I love science, super glad to have it, doctors and nurses save lives. But also, I have to admit, I do not always trust them. I live in a body that is often overlooked by the medical profession. And while I immensely respect medical professionals, I do not believe in following anything blindly. And man, does this book lay out every potential horror that can happen if you are unable to make educated choices about your health due to racism, classism, etc. 

Truly, this book is horror after horror. But I feel like I gained an even clearer understanding of the racial bias in the medical system. And the incredible importance of patient consent, which still seems to be an issue in regards to tissue ownership. Skloot does a very good job giving you digestible chunks of medical history. I found the portions about the Lacks family very hard to read. This book was very slow for me because there is only so much sexual abuse, racism, incest, death, etc. that I could take at a time. But I appreciate that Skloot doesn't seem to shy away from the hard truths about the family. Like them or not though, every person has a right to consent and every family has a right to privacy in their medical dealings. Neither of these was given to this family. 

The part in this book that wavers for me is the last portion. I don't mind Skloot inserting herself into the narrative, but I found a lot of the focus on Deborah's health to be difficult to read, and not additive. I also do think there are some weird ethical implications of taking a person that fragile and pushing them to do traumatic work. Particularly when you are White and will profit directly, and they are Black and will not. But, the Lacks family seems to trust her and I am glad in some way they felt they had a champion to tell the story for them. A mixed bag and a hard read, but I feel I learned something new in every part.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Incest, Racism, Mental illness, Medical content, Death, and Cancer

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

jayisreading's review against another edition

emotional informative medium-paced

3.75

A few days after finishing this book, I’m still struggling to work out how I feel about this book. On the one hand, I’m incredibly grateful that I got to learn so much about Henrietta Lacks, HeLa, as well as the circumstances and history surrounding Lacks and her cells. I don’t venture into science-related books very often, but this one was engaging. On the other hand, I couldn’t help but feel that there was something exploitative about the book, even if Skloot received consent from the Lacks family and everything. I don’t know if it was the way she inserted herself into this narrative or what, but something felt off. I also can’t help but wonder how much financial compensation the Lacks family received for their contributions to this book, as well as from the movie that was made a few years later. From what I’ve gathered on Skloot’s website, it seems like they have, but again, how much?

I’ve been thinking about a quote from the book that really highlights the frustration one may feel about the Lacks family’s situation: “She’s the most important person in the world and her family living in poverty. If our mother so important to science, why can’t we get health insurance?“ I felt so much anger reading this book, not so much because of the topic, but because of the injustices that Henrietta Lacks, her family and, really, the Black community have faced. There’s a lot in this book to digest— Despite my concerns, I think there’s a lot of important information that makes this book worth reading in the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Racism, Terminal illness, and Grief

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Panic attacks/disorders, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Incest

sydneya22's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Sexual violence, and Child abuse

Minor: Suicide

abookandaspotoftea's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Death, and Cancer

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Sexual assault, Slavery, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Incest, Grief, and Emotional abuse

becca_w_'s review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Incest, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Torture, Violence, and Stalking

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Self harm, and Vomit

Minor: Car accident, Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, Excrement, Gun violence, Infertility, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts

coreyarch9's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

"'[It] hit me for the first time that those cells we’d been working with all this time and sending all over the world, they came from a live woman.'"

I recently reread The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks since it's my book club's pick for this month.

My life has changed a lot since I first read the book a few years ago and, as such, a few things hit differently this time around. For one, Henrietta was 31 when she died. Now in my thirties, myself, this detail stood out so much more. Additionally, I've since benefitted greatly from the lifesaving diagnostic testing that her cells specifically helped develop. Throughout the book, I couldn't help but reflect on some of my own health challenges from the past year, which at times were triggering.

Just as during my previous read, I often went straight to Wikipedia to learn more. Specifically, as I was looking up historical information on John Hopkins, I got the clearest sense of deja vu, a confirmation that similar details and curiosities stood out to me both times.

I'm am looking forward to my book club's discussion later this month. If you've read this book, then you understand the hodgepodge of thoughts and reactions that I'm currently experiencing.

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My original review:
This book had been on my list since I first heard about it on NPR and WOW DID I LEARN A LOT. I found myself scouring through Wikipedia pages more than a few times over the course of reading. My only criticism is that sometimes the author gets caught up in describing her process for investigating Henrietta Lacks and forgets to progress the story. This book is for anybody who enjoys ethical debates, cares about social issues, and enjoys medical dramas/family dramas/ literally any type of drama.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Racial slurs and Pregnancy

Minor: Murder, Infidelity, Physical abuse, and Slavery

mandi4886's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Abandonment, Ableism, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Suicidal thoughts