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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

By Rebecca Skloot

(63)

| Others | 9781410427922

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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Henrietta Lacks was born August 1, 1920. in Roanoke, Virginia. Her birth certificate identified her as Loretta Pleasant, and no one knows how she became known as Henrietta. In her very early teens she married David Lacks. She has also been identified ... (read full critics)

theromancereader published on Sun, 1 May 2011

THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS by Rebecca Skloot

Review by Eleanor Bukowksy (DEC 21, 2010) Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is an enthralling look at the origin of HeLa cells that grew “with [such] mythological intensity,” that they “seemed unstoppable.” They were a “continuous ... (read full critics)

mostlyfiction published on Wed, 22 Dec 2010

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9 Reviews

1 person find this helpful

An investigative docu-drama

I couldn't put this book down. A journalist obsessed with understanding one woman's story and how she changed the course of cancer research and then shared this story with the world? What's not to like? Highly recommended.

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Lisa Talia Moretti said on Nov 30, 2011 | Add your feedback

1 person find this helpful

The historical background and the attempt to trace the history of Henrietta Lacks and family are well-researched and interesting. Personally, however, I was deeply annoyed by the constantly patronising tone and intrusive presence of the author. This is less the HeLa story than the Rebecca Skloot sho ... (continue)

The historical background and the attempt to trace the history of Henrietta Lacks and family are well-researched and interesting. Personally, however, I was deeply annoyed by the constantly patronising tone and intrusive presence of the author. This is less the HeLa story than the Rebecca Skloot show. A missed opportunity.If there were a ReSk cell line, it would probably grow to reach the size of its donor's ego.

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LFrig said on Jul 22, 2010 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

1 person find this helpful

INTERESTING BUT DRAGGING

Good book, the author has done an excellent job researching the little history available on the Lackses despite their initial diffidence and was immensely patient with the personality quirks of its members. It's a document of the consequences of poor education and ignorance, how it affects the lives ... (continue)

Good book, the author has done an excellent job researching the little history available on the Lackses despite their initial diffidence and was immensely patient with the personality quirks of its members. It's a document of the consequences of poor education and ignorance, how it affects the lives of those marginalized by it from our fast moving society. Her books poses the very interesting question of who owns the rights of our biological refuse and whether these should be used by farmaceutical companies for research and make money without our consent or knowwldge (not to speak of finalncial benefit).

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Ignominia said on Jun 6, 2010 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

Rebecca Skloot tells two parallel stories here, the history of modern cell culture research on the one hand and the family history of a young woman who died of cervical cancer on the other. The account of the development of cell culture would normally be of interest only to a small minority of peopl ... (continue)

Rebecca Skloot tells two parallel stories here, the history of modern cell culture research on the one hand and the family history of a young woman who died of cervical cancer on the other. The account of the development of cell culture would normally be of interest only to a small minority of people but by relating it to the life and death of Henrietta Lacks, her entire extended family, Skloot has succeeded in linking two different genres, science writing and popular journalism. She weaves the two together very well, moving back and forth quite successfully between different worlds and different time frames, while linking both stories to the history of racism in the United States. The book very justifiably seeks to ensure that Henrietta Lacks' name goes down in history as the donor of the very resilient cancerous cells called HeLa, which established modern cell culture research. I was left with two questions, however. What enabled Henrietta's cancerous cells to grow and divide endlessly when all the other cells, both healthy and cancerous, previously gathered by scientists had eventually died? And why did Skloot feel the need to provide so many intimate details about Henrietta Lacks and her entire family even while she commiserated with them over earlier breaches of privacy. The only justification for revealing so much of the Lacks family history would be to show the reader why Henrietta's cells were so particularly resilient but unless I have missed something crucial, no such answer exists. (

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Top of the pile said on Feb 29, 2012 | Add your feedback

INTERESTING BUT ...

the scientific parts were particularly hard to listen to while cooking. Still glad I heard her story and how she is part of all of us now...

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Ignominia said on Jan 15, 2012 | Add your feedback

Can't decide whether to give 3 or 4 stars. More like a 3.5 star I guess. Highly recommended to everyone in the biomedical research field, especially the ones who are working or once worked with HeLa cells. We owe to know her story.
The book is also very thought-provoking as to the ethical issues in ... (continue)

Can't decide whether to give 3 or 4 stars. More like a 3.5 star I guess. Highly recommended to everyone in the biomedical research field, especially the ones who are working or once worked with HeLa cells. We owe to know her story.
The book is also very thought-provoking as to the ethical issues in the biomedical research, especially when the cutting-edge technologies developed in the past decade conferred us with sometimes formidable power. The idea of "possession" really intrigues me: To what extent do we own our cells and DNA or any other biological information? When it comes to research where sharing these information/materials will contribute to the greater good, do we have the right to withhold, and if so, to what extent? How to achieve the balance between privacy and scientific progress?
Nonetheless I have to say that I do not appreciate the author's constant comparison between the establishment of HeLa cell and other terrible wrong-doings. This is the main reason why I do not want to give a full 4-star, because the two situations are not comparable -- one is about using the patient's dissected tumor cell without her consent (and hey, none of the scientists got rich because of HeLa cell), while the others are human experimentation where the subjects were unknowingly hurt. Even though the author stressed that it is not her to judge Henrietta's doctors, her style of narration was saying otherwise.

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Summertime said on Oct 18, 2011 | Add your feedback