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katiefronk's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Cancer, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Death of parent
Moderate: Addiction, Slavery, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Mental illness and Suicide
mandi4886's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
booksjessreads's review against another edition
5.0
Henrietta Lacks was a 31-year-old black woman with 5 children when she died from cervical cancer. Howard Jones, her doctor, took a sample of her cancer without her knowledge or consent and shipped it off to a lab where it kept growing and growing. Researchers took advantage of this, but kept Henrietta's family in the dark about medical research taking place because of her.
Rebecca Skloot tells this story so amazingly. Half of the book is Skloot telling us how she acquired the information about Henrietta, and the other half is telling us about Henrietta's life, all combined to make the book. Skloot does the story justice, showing the hardship the family faced in light of all the secrets kept from them. She talks about the ethics of taking cells without consent, the crippling racism the family faced in 1950s America, and centre's the voices of the family and Henrietta, rather than imposing her own narrative throughout the story.
A side note that half of the proceeds of the book go to Henrietta's family. The family didn't receive a single penny of the medical research or sales of Henrietta's cells, so if you ever get a chance to read the book, I encourage you to buy it (if you didn't need encouraging enough!)
Honestly such an incredible read and certainly one of my absolute favourites this year!
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, and Physical abuse
foreverinastory's review against another edition
5.0
CWs: Abandonment, ableism, addiction, blood, cancer, child abuse, chronic illness, death, death of parent, drug abuse/use, emotional abuse, fatphobia, forced institutionalization, grief, incest, infidelity, medical content, medical trauma, mental illness (PTSD), physical abuse, pedophilia, pregnancy, racial slurs, racism, rape, sexual assault, sexual content, sexual harassment, terminal illness, vomit.
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment
jayevans's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Medical content and Medical trauma
vampiretree's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Death of parent
Moderate: Chronic illness, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, and Physical abuse
marenk's review against another edition
5.0
Before reading this book, I expected it to be very scientific and hard to read, but that honestly wasn‘t the case at all! It is easy to read and you really don‘t need to know a lot about medicine (I didn‘t either).
I recommend this book to everyone who is interested in medicine, genetics and/or the ethical code of medicine!
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Racism, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Grief
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Violence, and Death of parent
Minor: Incest
peachmoni's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Death of parent
Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Gun violence, Infidelity, and Stalking
competencefantasy's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Cancer, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, and Forced institutionalization
ericadansereau's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Incest, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, and Death of parent