Welcome to this installment of BookGraf: The No-Pressure Book Club, where you don’t even have to read the book to participate, and even the organizer slacks off and fails to post when she said she would (ahem).
I knew that The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was an important book. I also knew it was an incredibly popular book and had spent a lot of time on my radar as something I should read. And despite my alleged interest in global health, genetics and fighting cancer, it took me an inexcusably long time to get to this one. And I’m really glad that I did, and that some of you elected to join me.
Was this a fabulous read, or what? It made me feel all good about reading something worthwhile and science, while providing a compelling narrative and keeping things moving fast enough for even my abbreviated attention span.
As friend Denise said (without bribery or threats of any kind): I think she did a great job of balancing the human story with the educational stuff. The reading equivalent of stealthy healthy. I enjoyed the story a lot, and I continue to think about the implications and ethical knots it touched on, weeks after I finished the book. I would never have picked it up if it wasn’t for the book club. Thanks!
But the thing that struck me most about this book – and struck me over and over again, like a big, cushy mallet whacking amusement park mole – was how much research must have gone into this. It’s hard for me to believe that this was all compiled, sifted, made sense of, written, rewritten, reviewed, rewritten again, and God knows what else in one lifetime. Rebecca Skloot – you have my undying respect. What a huge task. She makes it sound like earning the confidence and eventual friendship of the Lacks family was the hard part, but one of the reasons they befriended her was – I’m certain – the diligence and care with which she treated her self-assigned task.
I remember in graduate school (where I studied writing. No, seriously), we used to talk about research, and doing a thorough job and backing up sources, and investigating resources, lessons that were obviously totally lost on me. It is my belief that there is a special kind of compulsion that powers Skloot. It may not be at all times healthy, but it is an invaluable skill – no less remarkable to me since I have it not at all.
- Let author Rebecca Skloot tell you all about it here.
- And here’s The New York Times review.
- And here is a bunch of stuff, including an excerpt from NPR.
- Would love to know what you’re reading. Please comment below or e-mail me at thea [at] nutgraf dot net.
- Join BookGraf on Facebook: Good books? Great company? No effort? What’s not to like?
As always, any purchases through links on this site will generate a small donation to the American Cancer Society (via my Cancer is an Asshole campaign).
purchases made through this site generate a small donation to the American Cancer Society.
Awww, thanks for the shout out!