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A review by larkiereads
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
What a book. What an incredible story, told brilliantly. I'd heard of Henrietta Lacks and the HeLa cells before, but I'm not a biologist, and the scope of this book always seemed intimidating. However, Skloot's writing is fascinating and accessible, and every time I found myself asking more questions on a topic and thinking of doing some Googling for clarification, she would swoop in and answer my questions nearly and concisely.
This book reads like a mystery, and although it never had me quite on the edge of my seat, I kept wanting to return to it to find out what happened next. She alternates between science history (and simple explanations of the science itself) and biography, discussing not only Henrietta's life and the advancements made with HeLa cells, but also her own search for information. The book moves along fairly quickly, and even though Rebecca is an active participant, she never centers herself and her reporting over the Lacks family and their experiences. She doesn't hold back, good or bad (or very very bad), and clearly establishes that this book is a collaboration.
I could go into the minutiae of everything this book did well, but I'm sure there are more in depth reviews out there that would do a better job. I want to close this review by saying that everyone should read this book. We owe so much of our medical advancements in the last 60 years to Henrietta Lacks, and there is ongoing debate about informed consent in tissue research and gene copyrights that affect us all. On top of that, I feel like I understand more about medical research because I've read it. And it was (mostly) fun to read! The writing and craft in this book are absolute perfection. Please give it a try.
This book reads like a mystery, and although it never had me quite on the edge of my seat, I kept wanting to return to it to find out what happened next. She alternates between science history (and simple explanations of the science itself) and biography, discussing not only Henrietta's life and the advancements made with HeLa cells, but also her own search for information. The book moves along fairly quickly, and even though Rebecca is an active participant, she never centers herself and her reporting over the Lacks family and their experiences. She doesn't hold back, good or bad (or very very bad), and clearly establishes that this book is a collaboration.
I could go into the minutiae of everything this book did well, but I'm sure there are more in depth reviews out there that would do a better job. I want to close this review by saying that everyone should read this book. We owe so much of our medical advancements in the last 60 years to Henrietta Lacks, and there is ongoing debate about informed consent in tissue research and gene copyrights that affect us all. On top of that, I feel like I understand more about medical research because I've read it. And it was (mostly) fun to read! The writing and craft in this book are absolute perfection. Please give it a try.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Incest