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4.23 AVERAGE
4.23 AVERAGE
challenging
funny
informative
inspiring
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Content warnings: this book contains semi-graphic details of various medical procedures, child abuse, medical malpractice, and racism
In January 1951, a 31-year-old black woman named Henrietta Lacks was diagnosed with cervical cancer. By October of that year, she was dead, leaving her five young children motherless. But while her body had died, the cancer cells that had killed her lived on and would go on to change the world. This book the story of those cells, but it's also the story of Henrietta and her family. It gives a face and a history to the cells that have been responsible for some of the greatest medical advances in the past century.
While Henrietta's cells have literally been life saving, this is not a feel good story. It addresses both the good and the bad of cell culture. I found the book to be incredibly balanced in this regard. It didn't vilify the medical field, but it also didn't paint the medical field as a flawless institution that has never wronged anyone. The end of the audiobook actually includes an interview with the author where she discusses struggling to strike that balance. She didn't want to shy away from the darker elements of the story she was telling, but she also didn't want anyone to come away from this book fearing medicine. If anything, her major goal was to show how important informed consent is. Patients and family members need to be clearly told what is going on, a fact that really hits home when you learn about Henrietta's children and the way her famous cells have impacted their lives.
The book also deals with some hard-hitting racial topics. I thought they were handled well, but I'm not black or an expert on this topic, so don't take my word on that one.
I found this book fascinating and would recommend it to others, though I will note that all the content warnings at the start should be treated seriously. The book doesn't get graphic, but it does describe everything in clinical detail. I'm particularly sensitive to discussions of medical procedures and there were a few discussions of various surgeries that made me feel sick to my stomach.
In January 1951, a 31-year-old black woman named Henrietta Lacks was diagnosed with cervical cancer. By October of that year, she was dead, leaving her five young children motherless. But while her body had died, the cancer cells that had killed her lived on and would go on to change the world. This book the story of those cells, but it's also the story of Henrietta and her family. It gives a face and a history to the cells that have been responsible for some of the greatest medical advances in the past century.
While Henrietta's cells have literally been life saving, this is not a feel good story. It addresses both the good and the bad of cell culture. I found the book to be incredibly balanced in this regard. It didn't vilify the medical field, but it also didn't paint the medical field as a flawless institution that has never wronged anyone. The end of the audiobook actually includes an interview with the author where she discusses struggling to strike that balance. She didn't want to shy away from the darker elements of the story she was telling, but she also didn't want anyone to come away from this book fearing medicine. If anything, her major goal was to show how important informed consent is. Patients and family members need to be clearly told what is going on, a fact that really hits home when you learn about Henrietta's children and the way her famous cells have impacted their lives.
The book also deals with some hard-hitting racial topics. I thought they were handled well, but I'm not black or an expert on this topic, so don't take my word on that one.
I found this book fascinating and would recommend it to others, though I will note that all the content warnings at the start should be treated seriously. The book doesn't get graphic, but it does describe everything in clinical detail. I'm particularly sensitive to discussions of medical procedures and there were a few discussions of various surgeries that made me feel sick to my stomach.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
I loved learning about Henrietta Lacks but had some interesting feelings while reading the book. I will have to revisit.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Premise: 5
History: 4
Educational: 4
Notability: 5
Total: 4.5
History: 4
Educational: 4
Notability: 5
Total: 4.5
emotional
informative
medium-paced
This author did a really good job in making a boring subject quite interesting. Also, the dedication with which she did her research was astounding.
It was interesting to read about how scientists really don't mind appropriating tissues and cells, and seem to fall into two types, the kind that are so focused on their work, that they couldn't fathom that someone wouldn't object, and others who seek to make a profit and aren't interested in sharing that knowledge and money with the people from whom the genetic material came from.
The combination of Scientists and the Lacks family was a disastrous combination. Two worlds that could not seem farther from the other. Can I say, both were crude? Scientists didn't have the laws that they do today, about informed consent, and the patients were not nearly as protected as they are now, and they were about playing fair. And Lacks, Cousins marrying cousins, having children in their younger teens, not finishing school past elementary school, trying to make headway in a prejudiced system of enforced ignorance.
The family seemed all chaos and insanity to me, partially because of how they had been mistreated in the past, and partially, that's just how they were in general. How the author had the patience to consistently make headway and pull straight history and facts, to create this book, is impressive.
And for all that chaos and insanity, Henrietta herself, seemed like a good person, a sincere person, she seemed generous, and tried to spare her family any added grief or pain, by holding out until the last moment to tell them she had cancer. At the end, I was really pulling for the great-grandkids and great-great-grandkids that were able to fully attend school, and seemed like some would be able to do well and stay crime free.
I had always been mystified how cancer cells could be used to help develop medicine, but apparently they have all the components of regular cells, only without the marker that regular cells have that says, stop dividing making more cells and then die.
I learned a lot about a lot of things, I'm glad I read this book, it added to my knowledge of so many things all in one book.
It was interesting to read about how scientists really don't mind appropriating tissues and cells, and seem to fall into two types, the kind that are so focused on their work, that they couldn't fathom that someone wouldn't object, and others who seek to make a profit and aren't interested in sharing that knowledge and money with the people from whom the genetic material came from.
The combination of Scientists and the Lacks family was a disastrous combination. Two worlds that could not seem farther from the other. Can I say, both were crude? Scientists didn't have the laws that they do today, about informed consent, and the patients were not nearly as protected as they are now, and they were about playing fair. And Lacks, Cousins marrying cousins, having children in their younger teens, not finishing school past elementary school, trying to make headway in a prejudiced system of enforced ignorance.
The family seemed all chaos and insanity to me, partially because of how they had been mistreated in the past, and partially, that's just how they were in general. How the author had the patience to consistently make headway and pull straight history and facts, to create this book, is impressive.
And for all that chaos and insanity, Henrietta herself, seemed like a good person, a sincere person, she seemed generous, and tried to spare her family any added grief or pain, by holding out until the last moment to tell them she had cancer. At the end, I was really pulling for the great-grandkids and great-great-grandkids that were able to fully attend school, and seemed like some would be able to do well and stay crime free.
I had always been mystified how cancer cells could be used to help develop medicine, but apparently they have all the components of regular cells, only without the marker that regular cells have that says, stop dividing making more cells and then die.
I learned a lot about a lot of things, I'm glad I read this book, it added to my knowledge of so many things all in one book.
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced