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peachani's review against another edition
4.0
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
4.5
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
hannahollihan's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Incest
Minor: Racial slurs, Rape, and Sexual assault
eflatkey's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Pedophilia, and Racism
Moderate: Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, and Sexual assault
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: Incest, Vomit, Terminal illness, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Infertility, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Domestic abuse, Death, Child death, and Cancer
Moderate: Blood, Chronic illness, Drug use, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, and Slavery
steffk's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Medical content, Terminal illness, Racism, Racial slurs, Grief, Death, and Cancer
Moderate: Mental illness, Rape, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Domestic abuse, and Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Slavery and Incest