Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

104 reviews

emlo's review

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

5.0

Rebecca Skloot spent about 10 yrs researching this book and her involvement with the family over the years, especially Deborah, Henrietta's daughter, features prominently. The book is a lot of things: part social history, part biography of Henrietta and her family, part science - explaining HeLa cells and their impact on biological research, part exploration of medical ethics, and part journal of Rebecca's journey writing the book. I think the book is richer and more engaging for incorporating all these things. It's fascinating and painful in equal measure, and posses some interesting questions about informed consent and who has the right to say what happens to parts of our bodies. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racism, Medical content, and Death of parent

akswhy's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

3.0

A disquieting book, but not only for the reasons you may think. I would be interested in an author/researcher of color’s take on this fascinating subject, because though Skloot does her best to address how Henrietta’s story—and how it continues into her descendants’ stories—could only have happened to a black woman, she does so with a reserved sense of injustice. I wanted this to be the entry point for a closer examination of medical racism, but that wasn’t within the scope of this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Mental illness, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child death, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, and Alcohol

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

fjcrow's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, and Racism

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

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

hayreading's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.75

A good and informative book. Not my usual read, but very well written. Points off for slow pacing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail