The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot My rating: 4 of 5 stars I hesitate around non

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot My rating: 4 of 5 stars I hesitate around nonfiction a lot. I find the stories fascinating, but I would so much rather have a friend read it and then tell me all about it. I worry that, though the topic is something I’m interested in, I won’t be able to get sucked into the story in the way that I’m really searching for when I pick up a book. I’m happy to report that this novel was written in such an appealing way, I found myself swept away in just the way I was searching for.Skloot writes about this very complex topic in a way that marries the individual with the science. This is the crux of the novel, and the very source of conflict throughout. Scientists collected, cloned, sold, and researched Henrietta Lack’s cells, and very easily forgot the source. Being so wrapped up in what the cells could do for humanity as a whole, they forgot about Henrietta. I’m hardly able to blame them for this slip of the mind, given how magnificently HeLa has changed the world of science, and as a result, life. But it’s a mistake that has been rightfully rectified. It’s impossible to think about what life would be like without the incredible advances that would have been inconceivable without HeLa, but taken without Henrietta’s knowledge has left her family without so much as enough money to see a doctor, without the opportunities to benefit from the medicine that Henrietta’s cells brought into existence. Her family wants monetary compensation, but more than that, they want Henrietta to get the recognition she deserves. I would have liked more discussion around Henrietta as a person and her lifestyle. In the end I felt that I had heard more about her children and the author herself than of Henrietta. Perhaps this is a result of just not having the information available to document, but the story is set up around this woman who changed the future of science, and what really swept me away was the information that made her relatable and real. I would have loved to hear more about Elsie and about the scientists then and how they thought about the cells in relation to the individual. We got a chunk of this in the first half, with the second half leaning towards the author’s journey in uncovering information for the book. While I liked that this “author’s journey” felt like we were trying to uncover a mystery, I was a little put off by how much the author was becoming the hero of the novel. A bit offensive in a story about a woman who never got the spotlight for such a big impact on humanity and her children that were never aware of her accomplishments.Overall, I loved this story and I will continue thinking about the moral and ethical questions that it’s raised surrounding modern medicine. If Henrietta Lacks was given the option, would she have contributed her cells at all? If no, how many things that we take for granted in our world today would be nonexistent? If yes, would her children and grandchildren be living different lives as a result? This book is very much worth reading and discussing.I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. View all my reviews -- source link

More pics about