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

5.0

I couldn't put this down. I stayed up until three am reading it last night and then picked it up the moment I woke up. One of the greatest stories I never heard of, the sheer magnitude of the life of Henrietta Lacks and the various acts of malpractice that lead her to becoming HeLa is something that I will be thinking about for a long time. This is an essential read. Skloot is an admirable journalist, complying a book that is part biography, part ethical discussion on the rights an individual has to their tissue, and part family history that manages to both be sympathetic, well researched, and profoundly beautiful. I cried reading this so many times, imagining what it was like for the Lacks family to experience the magnitude that is what HeLa is and how it came to be is overwhelming. Her family's love and devotion to her and righteous anger over the injustices they suffered under the hands of a corrupt, racist, and dismissive medical system is profound. I not only think that this should be required college reading but also in highschools as well. Henrietta Lacks deserves to the center of her own legacy. 5 stars.