The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks
by Rebecca Skloot
- Percentage of approved critics who have given this book a positive review.
Critic Rating
91%
Critic Reviews: 23
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- User rating from iDreamBooks & iTunes
Reader Rating
90%
Reader Ratings: 2723
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Synopsis
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells-taken without her knowledge-became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first "immortal" human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they'd weigh more than 50... more
About Rebecca Skloot
Published: March 8, 2011 by Broadway
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs, History, Political & Social Sciences. Non-fiction. 400 pages
- All Critics: 23
- Positive: 21
- Negative: 2
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The New York Times | 5 Feb 2010
Skloot narrates the science lucidly, tracks the racial politics of medicine thoughtfully and tells the Lacks family’s often painful history with grace.
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The Washington Post | 31 Jan 2010
It's a deftly crafted investigation of a social wrong committed by the medical establishment, as well as the scientific and medical miracles to which it led.
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The Guardian | 21 May 2010
It would have been better to trust the story and tell it in as straightforward a way as possible.
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Dallas News | 7 Feb 2010
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks does more than one book ought to be able to do.
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The Independent | 25 Jun 2010
Skloot's book discusses the wider ethical issues but mostly stays close to its aim of putting one family's story on record.
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Science News | 27 Mar 2010
. . .Skloot expertly explains the science behind the cells and their significance, but more importantly, she makes it clear that the story is not just about the cells’ utility to scientists.
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Kirkus Reviews | 1 Jan 2010
Skloot's meticulous, riveting account strikes a humanistic balance between sociological history, venerable portraiture and Petri dish politics.
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The Telegraph | 22 Jun 2010
This is an extraordinary book, a mix of memoir, social history and science.
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Jacksonville.com | 1 May 2011
An eye-opening look at the disease, this book is as vigorous as the cells themselves.
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Twin Cities Daily Planet | 28 Mar 2011
She has seemingly remained an objective reporter despite becoming rather involved with the Lacks family throughout the course of her research.
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Open Letters Monthly
. . .the book is richer for her attentive, humanistic focus on the relationships between the Lackses, and their alternating suspicion and acceptance of her.
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Tampa Bay Times | 31 Jan 2010
Whether those uncountable HeLa cells are a miracle or a violation, Skloot tells their fascinating story at last with skill, insight and compassion.
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Book Reporter | 22 Jan 2011
As Skloot skillfully weaves together the stories of Henrietta, the evolution of her immortal cells and the reactions of her family members, readers will find themselves entranced.
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Boston.com | 31 Jan 2010
It is a well-written, carefully-researched, complex saga of medical research, bioethics, and race in America.
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Oregon Live | 6 Feb 2010
. . .the book is remarkably balanced and nonjudgmental; readers are left to draw their own conclusions.
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Publishers Weekly | 5 Oct 2009
Writing in plain, clear prose, Skloot avoids melodrama and makes no judgments.
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Review (Barnes & Noble) | 5 Feb 2010
I defy you to read it without being moved. Or without thinking, for beneath the book runs a subliminal conversation about medical ethics.
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Chicago Tribune | 12 Mar 2010
Skloot. . . treats the general issue of bioethics as a race issue, which obscures the much more important underlying biomedical property question that affects all bodies regardless of race.
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Seattle Times | 20 Feb 2010
. . .her great strength is that she's just as interested in Henrietta Lacks the person as in HeLa the cells.
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The New York Times | 2 Feb 2010
Ms. Skloot writes with particular sensitivity and grace about the history of race and medicine in America.
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Pittsburgh City Paper | 18 Feb 2010
. . .puts a human face on the social inequities that still bedevil us 60 years after Lacks' death.
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Cleveland.com | 7 Feb 2010
To her credit, Skloot humanizes the scientists, too, and leaves it to the reader to sort the merits.
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The New Republic | 7 Apr 2010
Thanks to Rebecca Skloot, we may now remember Henrietta—who she was, how she lived, how she died.
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