Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

23 reviews

lianne_rooney's review against another edition

challenging informative tense slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Racism, and Medical content

Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Death of parent

moniipeters's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

grboph's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

I had to read part of this book as part of a project on bioethics for an anatomy and physiology class, but it was so interesting and well-written that I decided to read the entire thing. I'm very glad I did!! The story of Henrietta Lacks, her cells, and her family is a very fascinating one, and Skloot tells it very well. I really liked that she included herself as a secondary "character" in the book - this served to make the rest of the events of the story and the people she met seem more real because her interactions with them were documented. I learned so much from reading this book about cell biology, genetics, bioethics and its history, medical racism, and so many other things. It's very important this book exists, as it tells the story of a woman whose life affects everybody (due to how ubiquitous HeLa cells are) and how the way she was treated by Johns Hopkins doctors affected her and her family. It also raises a lot of very important points about informed consent and financial compensation, and how attitudes about these things have shifted over time. This was a very informative and well-crafted book, and I would recommend it to just about anyone, but especially anybody who is interested in medicine, biology, and bioethics.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Slavery

Minor: Infidelity, Racial slurs, Antisemitism, and Pregnancy

rumay's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Violence, and Vomit

afion's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Cancer, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Racism, Forced institutionalization, and Medical content

Minor: Infidelity

creationwing's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

I wasn't a huge fan of the attempts at Chinese and Austrian accents by the audiobook reader. It felt off in a book with themes so closely tied to facing racism. It didn't help that they weren't very well done, either.

There were moments when the book seemed a little too voyeuristic for my taste; I'm not sure that all the details included were necessary for me to learn about this historic figure, her family's struggles, and have understanding of the suffering and unjustice.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Slavery, Vomit, and Death of parent

Minor: Deadnaming, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, and Suicide attempt

There are detailed descriptions of the autopsies of

Henrietta and her daughter Elsie

, which may be disturbing to some people. I certainly had to pause the audiobook to mentally prepare myself.

udari's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Bullying and Suicide

abookandaspotoftea's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Slavery, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

becca_w_'s review

challenging emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Self harm, Vomit, and Abandonment

Minor: Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, Infertility, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Excrement, and Car accident

coreyarch9's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

"'[It] hit me for the first time that those cells we’d been working with all this time and sending all over the world, they came from a live woman.'"

I recently reread The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks since it's my book club's pick for this month.

My life has changed a lot since I first read the book a few years ago and, as such, a few things hit differently this time around. For one, Henrietta was 31 when she died. Now in my thirties, myself, this detail stood out so much more. Additionally, I've since benefitted greatly from the lifesaving diagnostic testing that her cells specifically helped develop. Throughout the book, I couldn't help but reflect on some of my own health challenges from the past year, which at times were triggering.

Just as during my previous read, I often went straight to Wikipedia to learn more. Specifically, as I was looking up historical information on John Hopkins, I got the clearest sense of deja vu, a confirmation that similar details and curiosities stood out to me both times.

I'm am looking forward to my book club's discussion later this month. If you've read this book, then you understand the hodgepodge of thoughts and reactions that I'm currently experiencing.

•••
My original review:
This book had been on my list since I first heard about it on NPR and WOW DID I LEARN A LOT. I found myself scouring through Wikipedia pages more than a few times over the course of reading. My only criticism is that sometimes the author gets caught up in describing her process for investigating Henrietta Lacks and forgets to progress the story. This book is for anybody who enjoys ethical debates, cares about social issues, and enjoys medical dramas/family dramas/ literally any type of drama.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Racism, Terminal illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

Moderate: Racial slurs and Pregnancy

Minor: Infidelity, Physical abuse, Slavery, and Murder