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

dark emotional medium-paced

5.0

This is definitely a pop science book and there’s a lot of confused reviewers on Amazon who thought they were getting a textbook on genetics. It’s also a human interest story, ditto. Neither of these impact the quality of the book.

In 1951, doctors took a sample of cells from a tumor on Henrietta Lacks’ cervix without her consent or knowledge in order to see if these cells could be grown into an immortal cell line. It’s important to know that Henrietta Lacks was a poor black woman–and also that medical standards on consent and information were not well developed and that cancer survival rates in 1951 were low. Racism, classism, and sexism were undoubtedly involved, but it’s hard to judge how much they ultimately influenced her treatment and the treatment of her cell line.

To the surprise of all scientists involved, they succeeded spectacularly. Her cells have been used in research in gene mapping, drug tests, and disease research–notably into AIDS, polio, and cancer. Her cells changed the face of medical research.

But neither she nor her family received any reimbursement or credit for this, and there was a horrible communication breakdown between doctors and her family, resulting in research being conducted on her family without any real consent.

Skloot managed to get in contact with both the family and many different researchers and provide explanations and some sense of closure to the family, and her treatment of all involved is, on the whole, compassionate.

The book is not 100% pure science, and a fair portion of it is dedicated to the progression of the Lacks family and how they have been treated. For me, this was as fascinating and worth reading as the science chapters, but it’s important that other readers know this going in.
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