The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

August 2, 2011

I thought this was a book about Henrietta Lacks, about biology, about science. But it is also a story about a family struggling to understand what happened to the mother they never really knew, whose death they never quite understood. It is also about the writer herself, as she places herself very firmly into the story, including her own difficulties in researching and writing this book (she spent over a decade on it!). This is a book that fills you up – it makes you angry, sad, disgusted, happy. It doesn’t matter if you’re into science, or if you, like me, never took biology after secondary school (I went into the arts stream at junior college*, which meant that I took Literature, Economics, Mathematics, Chinese and General Paper, having dropped History after my first year). The science part is there of course but it isn’t too in your face, nor is it zzzz…boring. Instead, this was a truly amazing read, non-fiction or otherwise. It’s been on many best books of 2010 lists. And it’s soon to be a movie, although I wonder how exactly a film can convey the many many layers to this book.

Title: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Author: Rebecca Skloot (author’s website)
Published in: 2010
Pages: 369

* In Singapore, after four years of secondary school (aged 13 to 16), you have a choice of polytechnic (diploma) or junior college (A levels).

Written by olduvai Posted in Books, E-books, Non-fiction, Reading, review Tagged with books, non-fiction, reading, Rebecca Skloot