Total Page : 384
Publisher : Crown
Publication Date : 2010 02 02
>> Fascinating Story
Wow This book tells the true story of Henrietta Lacks and her family s attempts at understanding how her cells have impacted science It is part medical research history part human interest and part science lesson Civil rights and patient s medical rights are also woven in throughout the book I was impressed that the author was able to balance the many story lines and at the same time make it simple enough for the average reader to not only understand all the complexities of this scientific mystery but enjoy it as well I would recommend this book to everyone
>> Poorly written lacks compelling focus
HeLa cells may have commenced medicine s most complex and controversial ethical dilemmas This book could therefore have been an exploration of both historical and contemporary perspectives on the use of patient cells in medical research Regrettably Rebecca Sloot merely summarizes these issues choosing instead to dedicate a substantial portion of the book to quoting Henrietta Lacks s families personal struggles Although the family s circumstances were and are difficult their challenges are neither unique nor a consequence of research on their mother s cells Further although Ms Sloot seems to desire to portray the family positively she includes unnecessary details about them often making them pitiable and even unlikeable
Finally Ms Sloot s deplorable writing skills detract from the ability of this book to serve as either a biography of Henrietta and her family or as a history of the HeLa cells and their use in medical research Instead the book is at best a catharsis for Ms Sloot personally terminating more than a decade of research and interviews Although this book fills a mere 300 pages it is still too long and feels like a high school student s attempt to meet a minimum word count Ms Skloot may have tried admirably to obtain information to offer a biography of Henrietta and humanize the story of HeLa cells but that information seems not to exist largely due to the brevity of Henrietta s life The story is much better suited for a feature magazine article Unfortunately for Ms Sloot that article was already published in Rolling Stone as she mentions several times in the book in the 1970s
>> Good Read
The book is definitely worth readig I recommend it I first heard of Mrs Henrietta when I read Harriet Washington s book Medical Aparthied and the author of Emerging Viruses These two books made me want to know who this woman was
The book was an easy read though I think their were lite elements of sensationalism in it I felt sorry for Deborah learning about her mother made her an emotional wreck and probably contributed to her early death It appeared that she did not have anyone in her family to turn to
What I noticed is that the author go on ad nausem about the Lacks men and their problems However she only mentions Deborah daughter once and she never tells us about her I guess she wasn t an emotionally wreck and in and out of jail
I am not surprised at all by what happen to Mrs Henrietta It is all to common thing to happen to Black people
What disturbed me the most is the Lackses family tradition of incest and how the females of the family was preyed on by the male relatives
Click Above Or Below To See More Detail >>> The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
