Books: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, By Rebecca Skloot

Interesting read. Skloot goes on a decade-long journey- researching the family behind HeLa, the cell line of Henrietta Lacks which has been pivotal in medical research over the last 60 years. The cells were taken from Henrietta's cervix in the 1950s (without her consent) for cancer research. In Skloot's book, the quality of the writing was satisfactory (weak in parts)- but the human interest aspect of it kept you reading.

Skloot spends a lot of time with the Lacks family in her research of the book. She goes on week-long adventures with Henrietta's daughter, trying to uncover as much as possible about the Lacks family history and the HeLa cells. Even though some have reported on the origins of HeLa in the past, the reporters did not have as much access to the family as Skloot did. Also, much of the previous research into the origins of HeLa cells were full of fallacy. As Skloot does research for the book (which is part of the narrative), the Lacks family finally learns the extent of the impact HeLa cells had on science. The family is able to resolve the personal rift they had with the medical field, and they are able to find peace about the death of their mother/grandmother.

Throughout the book, Skloot is trying to communicate that she's not in the business of writing this book to exploit the Lacks family. Yet, at times, it feels like she is indeed exploiting the family by exposing their simple mindedness and their glaring misconceptions about science. I feel like Skloot tries to justify her research intentions- rationalizing to the reader that it's okay to publish the idiosyncrasies of this family because she's different from all the rest- she's the nice reporter that's come to help the family. Hmmmm, to me it still feels exploitative. Oh well, still a worthwhile read.

4 stars out of 5