Book Title: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca SklootBook Summary (from Amazon): Science journalist Skloot makes a remarkable debut with this multilayered story about faith, science, journalism, and grace. It is also a tale of medical wonders and medical arrogance, racism, poverty and the bond that grows, sometimes painfully, between two very different women—Skloot and Deborah Lacks—sharing an obsession to learn about Deborah's mother, Henrietta, and her magical, immortal cells. Henrietta Lacks was a 31-year-old black mother of five in Baltimore when she died of cervical cancer in 1951. Without her knowledge, doctors treating her at Johns Hopkins took tissue samples from her cervix for research. They spawned the first viable, indeed miraculously productive, cell line—known as HeLa. These cells have aided in medical discoveries from the polio vaccine to AIDS treatments. What Skloot so poignantly portrays is the devastating impact Henrietta's death and the eventual importance of her cells had on her husband and children. Skloot's portraits of Deborah, her father and brothers are so vibrant and immediate they recall Adrian Nicole LeBlanc's Random Family. Writing in plain, clear prose, Skloot avoids melodrama and makes no judgments. Letting people and events speak for themselves, Skloot tells a rich, resonant tale of modern science, the wonders it can perform and how easily it can exploit society's most vulnerable people.
Book Review: As a non fiction book it was a very interesting read to learn more about the topic since it has had such a huge impact on the world and almost every major medical advancement since the late 1950s, which is profound. There are two parts to this story, one being the impact of the cells themselves and what they did for the world and medical community. But the other side of the story, the more human aspect is how Henrietta Lacks family dealt with the news and what their lives were like. I think it was interesting from that perspective alone to see what this African American family went through, especially the earlier part of their lives was an interesting story to hear about.
The science aspects of the book were certainly interesting to read about, since I have never had any exposure or interest in this subject I knew nothing about it before this book. I enjoyed learning about how things such as the polio vaccine were only possible after this discovery. The author did a very good job of not making it overly technical that average people such as myself could not understand it.
The other part of the story which was intertwined was that of Henrietta's family and how this seemingly innocent 'donation/removal' at the time went on to plague her family for decades. Her family had absolutely no knowledge of these cells and their existence that part of their wife and mother went on living for decades. Which also opens up an interesting debate, should they have gotten any profit from these cells? Without them where would the medical community be today? Meanwhile her family was so poor that they could not afford health care or insurance for themselves to get any benefit from the cells.
The author did a great job of befriending the family to learn more about Henrietta the person and not just her cells of finally giving her a face and a name which the scientific community had in essence robbed her of for decades. Her family had a great deal of distrust for not only the author but for others that were trying to make a profit off these cells and they had to deal with the consequences from that perspective and overcome their own personal struggles. I think a good way to summarize this book is by quoting the description: "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks captures the beauty and drama of scientific discovery, as well as its human consequences." It's certainly not a 'light' beach read where its a cliffhanger or anything like that but it is very interesting subject to learn more about.
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