A review by danielle_w
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

5.0

What can I say about this book? It's a stunning inquiry into medical ethics and who has the right of our tissue left behind on someone's operating table. But more than that, it's a very human story- I forgot that I was reading about a scientific inquiry because Skloot expertly guides readers into the Lacks family's story. And that's what this is all about; humanizing the people hurt by the non consensual removing of Henrietta Lacks's cancer cells, and the deeper social injustice of the black body historically used by scientists to further their causes. For the good of the world, yes, but at the unacceptable cost of inhumane treatment towards individuals.