The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, narrated by Cassandra Campbell and Bahni Turpin
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Synopsis:
In 1951, Henrietta Lacks went to Johns Hopkins to undergo treatment for cervical cancer. While she was there, her doctors took a biopsy of her tumor. Although Henrietta would die soon after her treatment, her cancer cells, called HeLa, lived on. Her cells were cultivated in the lab and are still being used to this day by researchers. Henrietta’s cells have been all over the world, but her family hasn’t been able to get much of anywhere outside of the slums of Baltimore. The HeLa cells helped cure polio, but Henrietta’s family doesn’t have health care.
“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” is a combination of Henrietta’s story, the story of her family, and Rebecca Skloot’s own journey trying to uncover the story of Henrietta and the HeLa cells.
Thoughts on the story:
I am incredibly impressed with the way Rebecca Skloot wove this story together. I am a history major; although I read the occasional Discover magazine, I am certainly not a science person. Skloot managed to relate scientific information about the HeLa cells in a way that was easily understandable, but did not sound like she was talking down to me. She also managed to talk about what happened to Henrietta and her cells in a pretty balanced manner. Since Henrietta’s doctors didn’t get her consent for the biopsy – nor did they tell her family – her story is pretty controversial. Perhaps even more so because her cells have been so incredibly beneficial to researchers around the world. Honestly, I was not sure whether Skloot thought that what happened was a good or bad thing on balance, so thoroughly did she present both sides of the story.
I have seen a few reviewers mention that they were somewhat disturbed by the way that Skloot badgered Henrietta’s family until they finally agreed to meet with her, that she might have been using them in much the same way that the scientific community used them all those years. I have to admit, the thought occurred to me as well. Sure, she was trying to do the right thing, to tell HeLa’s story, but the doctors at Hopkins – and all the researchers who used HeLa cells afterwards – thought they were doing the right thing for the world by using the HeLa cells, consent or not. Skloot did form a foundation for Henrietta’s decendents and – eventually – were happy to have her story told, but it did make me uncomfortable for some time.
Overall, though, I’m really glad that I know Henrietta’s story and I do think that Skloot told it beautifully. It brought up so many issues of medical ethics that are fascinating and chilling to contemplate, I think it should be required reading. It would actually make a great book club book, because there is so much to discuss, which can’t be said for every science-based work of nonfiction.
Thoughts on the audio production:
Cassandra Campbell was a fantastic narrator. She became Rebecca Skloot to me to the point where I was really somewhat confused when I saw a television interview with Skloot and she didn’t sound the same as Campbell’s narration. I was somewhat worried I would be less able to follow the science in audio where I couldn’t easily go back and reread, but I didn’t find that to be the case at all. “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” also contains some sections narrated by Henrietta’s daughter Deborah Lacks. In this production, Bahni Turpin – one of the amazing narrators of “The Help” – narrated these sections, making it easier to feel that Deborah was really the one talking.
Overall:
Highly, highly recommended in either print or audio. The audio rendering was fabulous, but I have a feeling it wouldn’t be any less fabulous in print.
Buy this book from:
Powells: Audio/Print*
A local independent bookstore via Indiebound: Audio/Print*
Amazon: Audio/Print*
This review was done with a book borrowed from the library.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.
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I thought this book was really good too – it gave me a lot to think about. I have to admit that I was a little wary of Skloot’s motivation at first.
I heard about this book recently and had forgotten the title untilIseen your post here. This sounds incredible and I definitely will add this to the new “audio wish list” that was the idea that came out of your Audiobook Week! 😀
It definitely deserves a place on the wishlist!
I loved this one! I am impressed that you were able to listen to it because, like you said, you can’t go back and re-read if a section didn’t make sense. My problem is I tend to zone out everyonce in awhile (both with print and audio) and then I’ll have to go back. I am glad listening to it didn’t cause problems.
I think listening to the audio kept me from getting too caught up on any one little thing, I found that even if something was a little confusing, it usually cleared up if I kept going.
I’ve been wanting the read this one. I will definitely go for the audio version. It sounds great!
Great review. We had similar thoughts on this one.
I can’t believe that I hadn’t ordered this one on audio yet…so that is exactly what I just did. It has been on my “want” list since it was featured in Bookmarks a few months ago.
I put this on my wishlist yesterday and I am so glad to hear the narrator is fantastic
Gosh – I’m adding SOOO many books to my list this week! (And… I just posted my review on your linky
Yep, some of Skloot’s methods had me uncomfortable too. This one I read in print — I wanted to see the photos!
I’m glad this is good on audio! I think it’s nice they switched narrators of Deborah, since she’s a huge character in the book too.
I’m so glad to read your review. I’ve been trying to make some decisions on how I was going to get through all of the books I want to read and which ones I could go with audio on. I wasn’t sure this would work but now I’ll head to the library to pick it up.
I finally made the trek to my computer.
Bahni Turpin is one of my favorite narrators! I still don’t know if I want to read this because of the way Skloot harassed the Lacks family but I’m more willing to at least try the audio after knowing that Turpin is narrating.
Cassandra Campbell is my favorite narrator, if I see her name on the book I will read it. She is wonderful!
I have this audiobook in my TBR pile because of reviews like this one. I’m really looking forward to it. Thanks for this.
I recall seeing a documentary a month or so ago about the Henrietta Lacks story. If I’m correct, it was prior to the release of the book. Then I recently saw the book in Barnes & Noble; and made a note to read it. I saw this post the other day but didn’t get around to commenting on it. I’m trying to decide whether I want the print or audio version. I’m leaning toward audio after reading this post.
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