Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

134 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

elspethmigliore's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.25

this made me extremely sad and uncomfortable (i hate in-depth medical talk) but it was very informative which i enjoyed. 

i probably wouldn’t reread, but it was still very good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Gore, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, and Vomit

Minor: Murder

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

mayamcdo's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content and Medical trauma

Moderate: Child death, Death, and Death of parent

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

aduqu's review against another edition

challenging informative slow-paced

4.25

This book taught me a lot, both about cells and about the history of Henrietta Lacks and her family.

The book alternates between recounting the Lacks' family history, the history of HeLa cell research, and the experiences the author had with the Lacks while working on the book.

Overall, a really interesting read that manages to shed light on a lot of complex issues. I think someone who works in science or medicine would probably get more out of it than I did!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Incest, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

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

mollylovesbooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content and Medical trauma

Minor: Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Racism

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