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A review by alyssa_reads_it_all
Pandora's DNA: Tracing the Breast Cancer Genes Through History, Science, and One Family Tree by Lizzie Stark
4.0
*I received this book for free. I am not being compensated in any way for this review. All opinions expressed here are my own.*
There’s so much that the average person doesn’t know about breast cancer. I received a copy of this book just days after taking my own BRCA test, a test I didn’t know existed until my doctor told me that my family history of breast cancer could be linked to specific gene mutations.
The women in Pandora’s DNA: Tracing the Breast Cancer Genes Through History, Sciences, and One Family Tree face a difficult choice: remove their breasts, or battle the cancer that had taken the lives of so many of their female relatives? Stark explores this dilemma in both her own experience and in her family’s history in an attempt to uncover what it means to have a BRCA mutation. Pandora’s DNA does a great job at balancing memoir and science in order to educate us more about a disease that people don’t seem to know very much about, despite the numbers of people it claims each year.
While some parts of the book might come across as overly-dramatic in places, you have to admire Stark’s honesty and her ability to make readers empathize. I recommend this to anyone who’d like a more in-depth look at breast cancer and the role it plays in some families.
There’s so much that the average person doesn’t know about breast cancer. I received a copy of this book just days after taking my own BRCA test, a test I didn’t know existed until my doctor told me that my family history of breast cancer could be linked to specific gene mutations.
The women in Pandora’s DNA: Tracing the Breast Cancer Genes Through History, Sciences, and One Family Tree face a difficult choice: remove their breasts, or battle the cancer that had taken the lives of so many of their female relatives? Stark explores this dilemma in both her own experience and in her family’s history in an attempt to uncover what it means to have a BRCA mutation. Pandora’s DNA does a great job at balancing memoir and science in order to educate us more about a disease that people don’t seem to know very much about, despite the numbers of people it claims each year.
While some parts of the book might come across as overly-dramatic in places, you have to admire Stark’s honesty and her ability to make readers empathize. I recommend this to anyone who’d like a more in-depth look at breast cancer and the role it plays in some families.