Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

61 reviews

kirstenpod_'s review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Racism, Death, Cancer, Forced institutionalization, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Terminal illness, and Child abuse

Minor: Incest, Physical abuse, Slavery, Drug abuse, Mental illness, and Murder

kj_reads's review against another edition

Rebecca Skloot literally is no different from any of those other reporters and journalists that were bothering this family. Some of this book focuses on Skloot's journey to find information about the HeLa cells and the Lacks family. After I realized that, I wanted to push through just to keep getting more info about the Lacks family and their fight for compensation (which was something that was discussed) and ownership over the cells, but then I found out that Skloot barely gave any money to the family from what was generated from the book. Like you've got to be kidding me, you mean to tell me you invaded this family's life and used them just so you could write a book about them and their experiences, and you barely even compensated them. It felt very white savior-y. I found/find that super disgusting and I couldn't bring myself to continue reading after that honestly. Also, I really hated the way that she talked about some of the family members. I can't remember exactly what was said since I'm writing this so much later from when I stopped reading, but I remember negative descriptions being used in times where it was 100% not necessary.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Medical content, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Cancer, Forced institutionalization, and Racism

rumay's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Violence, Vomit, Incest, Infertility, and Infidelity

myantigone's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring sad medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Cancer, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

Minor: Child death, Chronic illness, and Mental illness

cdoubet's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Blood, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Incest, Murder, Slavery, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Medical content, Child death, Mental illness, Cancer, Classism, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Addiction, and Alcohol

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

franklola's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Mental illness, and Racism

Moderate: Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Death, Chronic illness, Grief, Incest, Physical abuse, Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

sidekicksam's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

Part education about the HeLa cells and their contribution to the pharmaceutical and medical field, part account of the journey of the Lackses have undertaken together with 'their reporter' Miss Rebecca, to discover more about the life of their mother Henrietta. Despite HeLa's invaluable contribution to the advancement in medicine, the family she left behind is left with nothing but questions.  

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, learning about medical practices in the fifties (and their very unethical conduct), the advancement of science thanks to nameless and uninformed 'donors,' and the life of a woman made immortal by her cancer-cells. Instead of reading as a boring non-fiction novel, Skloot's decision to involve the quest for the truth she went on (mainly with Deborah/Dale) made it so much more heartwarming to read. 

I consider this to be essential reading for everyone working in medicine/pharma and have a good hard look at the ethics of the use of cells without informed consent. I'd recommend this book to anyone. 

Easy 5 stars! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Cancer, Medical content, Medical trauma, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Rape, Blood, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

betttyy8's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Minor: Incest

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

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

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

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.