Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

125 reviews

vanesst's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Racism, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Ableism and Infidelity

hanbu's review

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Death of parent, and Cultural appropriation

shellroch285's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

I had heard about Henrietta Lacks for one brief moment in a bio class in high school. I'm very glad I got to read this to learn her story. Her family was very right not to trust the author for a while because of how other (white) people have capitalized off of Lacks, and I'm glad they received the respect and kindness they deserved.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Medical content, and Medical trauma

katiemccreary's review against another edition

emotional informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Forced institutionalization

emory's review against another edition

slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Forced institutionalization, and Death of parent

likeagilmoregirl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, and Alcohol

Minor: Incest and Rape

mels_reading_log's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

5.0

This book tells the true story of Henrietta Lacks, a black woman who had her cells taken when she went into Johns Hopkins Hospital for cancer treatment. The cells which were taken without her consent were then sold and distributed around the world for medical research and are still used today. The fact that this story is real is so troubling. The way the medical community has taken advantage of poor, black and handicapped people in the name of medical advancement is atrocious and it makes perfect sense that many do not trust doctors because of this. 

I did like the way the book was written like a podcast, where we went along with the author to do research and meet with the family members. This keeps the information accessible and easier to understand than dense science talk. I believe this information should be required knowledge in this country, so people, especially the non black can know the depths of racism that exist and understand that this was less than 100 years ago.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Suicide

geekmom's review against another edition

4.5

This is a compulsively readable nonfiction book - it reads like a novel, or a thriller. It is deeply disquieting and uncovers some stark and unpleasant realities about American society. The author's respect for the family of Henrietta Lacks and her desire to tell their story in accordance with their wishes is obvious throughout the book and really does her credit - she sets an example that I would love to see more nonfiction writers follow. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Racism, Medical content, and Medical trauma

pastelhxrmony's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective

5.0

I could not put this book down, this is definitely one of my favorites. About 50% science and 50% biography and I loved every single bit. Everyone needs to learn about the impact Henrietta’s cells have had on humanity and her family.  This book is so well written and there’s a lot to learn from it. I could not recommend The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks  enough.  This is the book that got me into nonfiction.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child abuse, Racism, and Sexual assault

Minor: Incest

muppetymelody's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective sad

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content and Medical trauma

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism