I'd heard so many good things about this book from both science-y and arts-y friends alike that I knew I had to pick it up. In a fit of full-price online impulse buying, I paid my $9.99 to download it to my Kindle.
All I can say is... WOW!
What a thought-provoking book! The science, the race issues, the socioeconomic class divides, the questionable medical ethics - picking just ONE of these topics could spawn hours of discussion. Skloot deftly spins each of these threads into a beautiful, haunting tale of HeLa - the cells on which modern molecular biology was built - and the Lacks family, who still struggle with poverty and lack of education despite the incredible advances their mother's cells gave to Science.
The author did a great job of explaining - without "dumbing it down" too much - why HeLa was so important (research into cancer, AIDS, the effects of radiation and toxic substances, gene mapping, etc.), and what characteristics of these cells made them so widely used (robust replication, immortality) - and problematic (cell culture contamination). On top of this backdrop, Skloot constructs Henrietta's biography from her ancestors to her husband, children, siblings, and other relatives - and takes us through the impact her story had on them.
I think I was most impressed by the lengths to which Skloot went to gain the Lacks family's trust. She spent ten years of her life researching Henrietta's history, tracking down Nobel Prize-winning scientists, and convincing the uneducated, fearful Lackses that she was the right person to tell their story. Somehow, she overcame decades worth of bad feelings from other people trying to exploit their interest in Henrietta for selfish (and sometimes dark) purposes. Without the Lackses story, the book would not nearly have the power it does. Interestingly, Skloot's second publisher wanted her to cut out the Lackses story. She said no. (For a debut author, this is unheard of.) Thank goodness she stuck with her guns.
The author did a great job of explaining - without "dumbing it down" too much - why HeLa was so important (research into cancer, AIDS, the effects of radiation and toxic substances, gene mapping, etc.), and what characteristics of these cells made them so widely used (robust replication, immortality) - and problematic (cell culture contamination). On top of this backdrop, Skloot constructs Henrietta's biography from her ancestors to her husband, children, siblings, and other relatives - and takes us through the impact her story had on them.
I think I was most impressed by the lengths to which Skloot went to gain the Lacks family's trust. She spent ten years of her life researching Henrietta's history, tracking down Nobel Prize-winning scientists, and convincing the uneducated, fearful Lackses that she was the right person to tell their story. Somehow, she overcame decades worth of bad feelings from other people trying to exploit their interest in Henrietta for selfish (and sometimes dark) purposes. Without the Lackses story, the book would not nearly have the power it does. Interestingly, Skloot's second publisher wanted her to cut out the Lackses story. She said no. (For a debut author, this is unheard of.) Thank goodness she stuck with her guns.
I felt their outrage at being deceived for over twenty years about their mother's cells. I felt their fear at the sci-fi qualities her cells took on - shot into space? Fused with mice? Injected with chemicals? For someone who doesn't even know what a cell is, all of these things sound as scary as aliens invading earth.
In the end, all of Skloot's efforts are paid back in spades. She delivers a touching story of a poor black woman whose cells changed the face of science and medicine forever - and her family's struggle with poverty, identity, and their mother's loss.
I would recommend this book to everyone! Skloot's website has a lot of great FAQ's, too.
No comments:
Post a Comment