Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

63 reviews

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

sienas_books's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Racism, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Addiction

foreverinastory's review against another edition

emotional informative sad

5.0

Everyone should read this book, but especially the scientific field.

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Incest, Infidelity, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, Vomit, Ableism, Forced institutionalization, and Mental illness

vampiretree's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Incest, Pedophilia, Chronic illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Physical abuse

marenk's review against another edition

informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

This book was so informative! It talks about Henrietta Lacks, her life and the life of her family, but also about so much more. It discusses racism in medicine and the rights of patients and doctors (mostly regarding tissue samples).
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!

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, and Violence

Minor: Incest

peachani's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Incest, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Gun violence, Infidelity, and Stalking

ericadansereau's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.5

Incredible story I couldn’t put down. I appreciated the insight into Henrietta and her family, I felt like I got to know them. The author did a wonderful job with her thorough report detailing facts about the HeLa cell line and all of the ethical and legal concerns surrounding it. Some of the book was quite shocking and disturbing to read when it came to medical care and general treatment of this family and black patients. This is such an important subject and I definitely recommend this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Racism, Terminal illness, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Death, and Cancer

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Grief, Incest, Mental illness, Rape, and Sexual assault