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marieketron's review against another edition
2.0
the good bits
- the science history
- discussions on science ethics, especially in regards to informed consent
- the life history of Henrietta
- overview of the scientific controversies related to HeLa
- life of the Lacks family and how they relate to Henrietta and HeLa
the not so good bits
- clearly the story of Henrietta and HeLa is important and needs to be told, but at the same time the Lacks family did not reach out to reporters or writers in order for the story to be told. It calls into question whether we have the right to a story just because it's important and regardless of the people connected to it, which very closely ties in with the type of issues the book itself is discussing.
- this issue is emphasised by the author continuously inserting herself into the narrative, to the point of almost making herself up like a White Saviour. i skipped through the last few chapters where the we are learning everything about Deborah from the author's perspective. It is important for Henrietta's family to have a clear voice in this work, but it could have been done in a way that didn't include the author.
- specific for the audiobook version, I felt very uncomfortable with the accents the narrator used to give form to the Lacks family, other Black people, and a few Asian and German characters. this issue is especially egregious because Bahni Turpin was contracted as one of the two narrators but only used very sparingly and extremely inconsistently. She would have been the perfect voice for Henrietta's daughter Deborah, but she only reads the occasional direct quote from her. I can remember three instances throughout the book where the narrator is Turpin.
Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Infertility, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Chronic illness, Drug use, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, and Blood
nicolaparty's review against another edition
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Mental illness, Racism, Medical content, Grief, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Child abuse and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Domestic abuse
steffk's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Grief
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Incest and Slavery