The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

By: Rebecca Skloot

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Bahni Turpin

Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

Number one New York Times best seller.

Now a major motion picture from HBO® starring Oprah Winfrey and Rose Byrne.

One of the “most influential” (CNN), “defining” (Lit Hub), and “best” (The Philadelphia Inquirer) books of the decade.

One of essence’s 50 most impactful Black books of the past 50 years.

Named one of the best books of the year by The New York Times Book Review, Entertainment Weekly, O: The Oprah Magazine, NPR, Financial Times, New York, Independent (UK), Times (UK), Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, Globe, and Mail.

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, which are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than 60 years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.

Henrietta’s family did not learn of her “immortality” until more than 20 years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. And though the cells had launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family never saw any of the profits. As Rebecca Skloot so brilliantly shows, the story of the Lacks family - past and present - is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of.

Over the decade it took to uncover this story, Rebecca became enmeshed in the lives of the Lacks family - especially Henrietta’s daughter Deborah. Deborah was consumed with questions: Had scientists cloned her mother? Had they killed her to harvest her cells? And if her mother was so important to medicine, why couldn’t her children afford health insurance? Intimate in feeling, astonishing in scope, and impossible to put down, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks captures the beauty and drama of scientific discovery, as well as its human consequences.

©2010 Rebecca Skloot (P)2010 Random House

Critic reviews

Winner of The Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize for nonfiction

"The story of modern medicine and bioethics - and, indeed, race relations - is refracted beautifully, and movingly.” (Entertainment Weekly)

"Writing with a novelist's artistry, a biologist's expertise, and the zeal of an investigative reporter, Skloot tells a truly astonishing story of racism and poverty, science and conscience, spirituality and family driven by a galvanizing inquiry into the sanctity of the body and the very nature of the life force." (

Booklist)

Rebecca Skloots dedication prevails

Incredibly engaging and given that this history has so much to do with all humans alive today; also for anyone we know who has not died from a curable infection or certain cancers and that fewer and fewer people die from diseases that are now almost eradicated in many parts of the world, suffering and death are at an all time low due to this amazing woman's cells.

I want to thank Rebecca Skloot for her tenacity and without her willingness to give so much of HER life to telling the truth on this story; we would be forever ignorant to such an important and integral part of all our lives.

The story is one of innocence, intrigue and all out war; a fight that the Lacks family may never win, but with public outcry, and this book; I believe that this part of her story may very well change.

I think that there will always be pushback from the medical and scientific community, when it comes to our rights about our bodies and as human beings. Also, some of the issues raised in this book will be ones we will be addressing for the next few hundred years! I believe that these and others we can not even comprehend; will be issues that societies as a whole will hotly debate and those societies woes in this area will carry on debates of one kind or other for all time.

I highly recommend this book it is truly one that will be cited in history books and should be used (and most likely will be) in all medical and school curriculums.

Non-fiction at its best

This was an outstanding listen, with superb narration. I was impressed with Rebecca Skloot's remarkable powers of observation and objectivity, and found it refreshing not to be walloped by a writer's agenda.

I was expecting the science story to be intriguing, and it is, but the interweaving of the Lacks family members into the fabric of the narrative is masterful. The real-life events of Henrietta's children held me in a grip, and often kept me listening long past the points I planned to pause.

Superb listening experience! An all-time fav.

This book has been a thoroughly engaging listen. I kept thinking, she's told the whole story, what's going to be left for the 2d half, but it's keeps me enthralled for both parts. It's a great scientific and human interest story, in which the author deftly raises a series of important issues of science, race, class, medical and health care, economics, education, and journalism, parenting, family, loss, and mental health,

Phenomenal story! OK performance...

I loved this story! As a non-technical professional, this was the best possible mix of science and human interest.

As for the narrator, I was surprised to see so much praise for her performance. Maybe being an African American woman from the south made me particularly aware of how off her portrayals of black southerners were. I especially found the voices in the dialogues between Henrietta and her family members to extremely hard to listen to and almost offensive. Thankfully that wasn't a significant part of the reading; I couldn't have made it through otherwise. I would have preferred the voice actress who made occasional appearances to have a more prominent role. The narrator did a great job on the other aspects, but I truly cringed, clenched and shuddered almost any time a black "character" had something to say.

Unexpectedly engaging

Half an hour into the book, I thought "how can there be enough material for an entire book?" Twelve hours later, I was disappointed there wasn't more.

Incredible

This is one of those books that I'm so glad I listened to instead of read. I know that there were times that science would've gotten too much and I may have abandoned it. SO GLAD I listened to this book! It's incredible and fascinating. The contribution given unknowingly by one woman has changed research, science and the world. It is both sad and victorious, and yet she will never know of her contributions.

I loved the author's weaving of the scientific side of things with the family and personal side of the story. I am so glad it was highly recommended to me as "one book i should read this summer". I did and I'm glad.

Touching story

This is a touching story of science, medicine, and the lives of those affected. The story intermingles the life of Henrietta with the science her disease inspired. The author keenly straddles the line between telling the story and making ethical judgement. In the end that judgement is up to the reader.

This is an important​ story that needed to be told.

Transformative

Any additional comments?

I find myself preferring to talk about the book to others who have read it. Usually, I eagerly give my husband the highlights of whatever I'm reading, but, in this case, I feel that I just can't give the story justice. It needs to be taken as a whole; the lovely blending of scientific history and personal narrative; even better, the author becomes a character in the story as well. Enlightening

Outstanding! To Be Enjoyed By Readers Everywhere.

This fascinating book isn't only entertaining from the standpoint of learning about the HeLa cells & Henrietta's story, but her daughter Deborah Lacks' struggle is so well-told, too. Ms. Skloot's research on this book (a decade in the making) is absolutely unbelievable and is so well explained even on the simplest level. Everyone can enjoy & learn so much from this book. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in not only a hugely important part of medical history, but a look into the lives of a very endearing family.

Youthful curiosity evolves into a masterpiece

How wonderful is youthful curiosity? The author's curiosity has created a literary work that sparks our curiosity, heals wounds, rights some wrongs, and educates all of us. This book was beautiful-as they say I laughed, I cried, I was honored that the Lacks family allowed us into their world.