Her name was "Waterloo Sunset," and she wasn't a girl (or a boy for that matter) but rather a song by the Kinks, and I fell in love just the same....
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jenmariestone, January 30, 2013 (view all comments by jenmariestone)
This was a wonderful read. The intersection of family, history, ethics, science, and journalism create an inspiring web that illuminates the intricate connections between ideas and people.
Ann Marie Magill, January 30, 2013 (view all comments by Ann Marie Magill)
Gripping account of a woman whose cancerous cells, without the knowledge of her or her family, were used to profit science and industry. Skloot does her research, gets to know the family intimately, lays out the history of cell research, touches on the history of civil rights and medical exploitation of the poor, all with an expert writer's hand.
Skippy99, January 30, 2013 (view all comments by Skippy99)
A great read - even the biology descriptions are fascinating - and a glimpse into a family's fearful, thrilling, heartbreaking and at times, joyful search for the truth about their mother's illness and treatment.
seatower, January 18, 2013 (view all comments by seatower)
This is one of the BEST books I have ever read...consummately informative, heartrending, thought-provoking, and a veritable page turner. The backstory of the long, complicated process that Rebecca Skloot endured to effectuate the publishing of this book is a testament to her commitment to bringing to light the monumental contribution of Henrietta Lacks to humankind, science and medicine around the world. It is the "Common Reading Book" that all incoming freshmen read at Washington State University (nominations are submitted a year in advance by anyone in the University community and a board convenes to decide on a choice for the subsequent year...I submitted "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" with an accompanying essay explaining how it would be used across the University curricula and was pleasantly surprised when it was announced as the "Common Reading Book" for the fall 2012-Spring 2013 academic school year).
This book should be on everyone's must-read list! I will now purchase the award-winning audiobook and look forward to the movie.
Neal Makely, January 9, 2013 (view all comments by Neal Makely)
I read this book as part of an expat book club. Our discussion was particularly interesting because the group included several people who had worked on HeLa cells in the course of their work - and never knew the story behind them. This book raises so many questions and considerations in the reader's mind, ranging from medical ethics to poverty to education to the US health care system. I've heard that it has become required reading for some medical schools; I wholeheartedly agree. Ms. Skloot astounded me with her persistence; I would have called the project a lost cause at any number of points along the way and resumed my own life, but she persisted. For that we all owe her a major debt of gratitude. Thanks to the author, the name Henrietta Lacks will indeed be immortal.
This is an absolutely fascinating account of a line of cells that would proliferate to such a degree that they became immortal. Shaved from a tumor in a poor black woman in the 1950s, cultured without her knowledge, and grown to amazing proportions, HeLa cells would change the face of science and medicine forever. Pivotal in the search for disease obliteration, HeLa would prove invaluable because it simply would not die. Yet, Henrietta Lacks did die, in pain and obscurity, and her family knew nothing of her living cells. Posing some very serious questions ranging from tissue ownership to the billion dollar pharmaceutical industry to the mad rush for the elusive cure for cancer to the impossible cost of health insurance, Skloot has done an admirable job of research here. Ironically, Henrietta's story, if read in a novel, would seem ridiculously fantastical. Yet she lived — and her cells still do. Her story is unforgettable.
by Dianah
"Review A Day"
by Valerie Ann Johnson, Ms. Magazine,
"Henrietta Lacks, a poor married, African American mother of five, died at 31 in Baltimore from a vicious form of cervical cancer. During her treatment at Johns Hopkins Hospital and after her death there in 1951, researchers harvested some of her tumor cells. This wasn't unusual. Though Lacks consented to treatment, no one asked permission to take her cells; the era's scientists considered it fair to conduct research on patients in public wards since they were being treated for free. What was unusual was what happened next." (read the entire Ms. review)
"Review"
by The Boston Globe,
"The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a fascinating read and a ringing success. It is a well-written, carefully-researched, complex saga of medical research, bioethics, and race in America. Above all it is a human story of redemption for a family, torn by loss, and for a writer with a vision that would not let go."
"Review"
by Washington Post,
"Skloot's vivid account begins with the life of Henrietta Lacks, who comes fully alive on the page...Immortal Life reads like a novel."
"Review"
by St. Petersburg Times,
"Riveting...raises important questions about medical ethics...It's an amazing story...Deeply chilling... Whether those uncountable HeLa cells are a miracle or a violation, Skloot tells their fascinating story at last with skill, insight and compassion."
"Review"
by Ted Conover, author of Newjack and The Routes of Man,
"This is exactly the sort of story that books were made to tell — thorough, detailed, quietly passionate, and full of revelation."
"Review"
by Booklist (Starred Review),
"Skloot tells a truly astonishing story of racism and poverty, science and conscience, spirituality and family driven by a galvanizing inquiry into the sanctity of the body and the very nature of the life force."
"Synopsis"
by Ingram,
Skloot brilliantly weaves together the story of Henrietta Lacks — a woman whose cells have been unwittingly used for scientific research since the 1950s — with the birth of bioethics, and the dark history of experimentation on African Americans.
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