Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

29 reviews

librarymouse's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is the type of book that sticks with you and sits in the back of your brain, being relevant in the least expected situations. The writing draws the reader in and tells the story in a way that makes it feel personal to each individual. More than that the lives and struggles of Henrietta and her family being immortalized as they are in this book, shine a light on the parts of history the written record strives to forget.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Classism

creationwing's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

I wasn't a huge fan of the attempts at Chinese and Austrian accents by the audiobook reader. It felt off in a book with themes so closely tied to facing racism. It didn't help that they weren't very well done, either.

There were moments when the book seemed a little too voyeuristic for my taste; I'm not sure that all the details included were necessary for me to learn about this historic figure, her family's struggles, and have understanding of the suffering and unjustice.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Slavery, Vomit, and Death of parent

Minor: Deadnaming, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, and Suicide attempt

There are detailed descriptions of the autopsies of

Henrietta and her daughter Elsie

, which may be disturbing to some people. I certainly had to pause the audiobook to mentally prepare myself.

abookandaspotoftea's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Slavery, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

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, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Self harm, Vomit, and Abandonment

Minor: Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, Infertility, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Excrement, and Car accident

katiefronk's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Slavery, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Mental illness and Suicide

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.

•••
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: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Racism, Terminal illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

Moderate: Racial slurs and Pregnancy

Minor: Infidelity, Physical abuse, Slavery, and Murder

fgeary's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Slavery

marieketron's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

2.0

I felt very ambivalent about this book and my rating of it dropped the more of it I read. It's an important book to read but the execution could have been a lot better.

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.

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Content Warnings

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

steffk's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

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