The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Whenever I start a new book, I hand up a little sign at the front of my room broadcasting to my students what it is I am reading. It’s right by our due date calendar, so kids see it as they come and go. As soon as I put up my sign for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, I had 2 or 3 kids come to me and tell me how much they loved the book.

At first I was a little stunned that they knew of the book, let alone had read it. Not that my students aren’t avid readers (ok, most aren’t. not many high schoolers read outside of what is required), but this didn’t seem like a book they would see and think, “huh, I totally want to read this book.” I mean, come on. It’s no Twilight.

Turns out that it had been the required summer read for Advanced Placement Biology, so all of my (mostly juniors) who were taking AP Bio had read it. This was cool because I got to discuss it as I read it…something I don’t get to do much.

And there is TONS to discuss!

The book is Rebecca Skloot’s nonfiction account of the life and death…and then immortality …of Henrietta Lacks.

Henrietta Lacks was a poor black woman who suffered and died from cervical cancer in 1951 at John Hopkins Hospital. During treatment, doctors took some samples of her cancerous cells, named them HeLa, and never told her.

Those cells proved to be one of the single-most important thing to happen to medical science…EVER.

Skloot doesn’t just tell the facts about the cells, but she also dives into a deeply personal account of how Henrietta’s family has had to struggle with the legacy and success of those cells while struggling so much that they can’t even afford proper medical care for themselves.

The book is a narrative about the history of the Lacks family intertwined with the journey of the HeLa cells, and touches on the controversy surrounding medical experimentation and research, bioethics, and the legality of patient consent.

At first I was worried that although I find science interesting, my dunce-like understanding of the nitty-gritty details of it would leave me feeling ignorant and confused while reading.

But Skloot makes the idea behind cell cultures and growth and research incredibly tangible to the lay-person like myself. You do not need a degree in biology to fall deeply into this book. I think it’s the family. Henrietta’s daughter is not educated. Most of the legality and actual science surrounding her mother’s cells are difficult for her to understand. But Skloot makes the accessible to her…and to us.

For me, the novel’s narrative was perfect on it’s own, but Skloot also included a timeline of HeLa, a list of characters (there are a LOT of people in this story), and a “Where are They Now” run down at the end of the book.

I love a lot of books, but this one is definitely one I would classify as a “must read.” Not only was the story riveting, but the issues it brought up were things I never thought of before. In fact, this week I had my pre-admission appointment for having by baby in three weeks, and I had to decide whether I wanted any of Charlie’s leftover blood samples that went unused to be dumped or donated to research. Any other time in my life, I would have signed that paper without thinking. This time I actually paused to think about how this option was in front of me because over 60 years ago, doctors did it without permission and someone stood up against that.

I did sign the paper, but at least I signed it knowing what that blood could possibly used for.

Read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Do it.