Eleventh Meeting: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

So, as it turns out, working on my prospectus, grading papers, and having ever Saturday designated for tailgating and football not only makes me neglect blogging, but reading in general. For the past three months, I have only had time to read book club books (usually I read at least one book on the side each month too). And, I am two meetings behind in my blogging! Well, that all changes now.

September's meeting was hosted by my besty Lisa. She picked Rebecca's Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.  The story of Henrietta Lacks is an unusual one-- as a woman, hardly anything is known about her, but her contribution to science is infamous! Henrietta was a poor black woman living outside of Baltimore in the 1950's. When she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, her doctors took some of her cancer cells without the knowledge or consent of her family. These cells, known as HeLa cells, were the first human cells ever able to be cultured, and they revolutionized the way we research and understand cancer and living cells in general. The book is part biography of Henrietta, part biography of HeLa, part scientific journalism, part memoir of the author uncovering this story, and reads like a novel. I found it to be incredible.

The book raises a lot of issues from racism to medical ethics to justice. Why were the HeLa cells taken without consent? Why was her family never told about the cells? How could Henrietta's cells be so influential in the face of health care today while her children can't even afford a doctor's visit? While it would be easy to point fingers and paint certain parties as villains in this book, I think that Skloot did a great job of reporting objectively, with no judgment, the role of each family member or physician.

As usual, the review of Eat, Drink, and Be Literary were mixed. While most of the book club members are psychologists, we have our fair share of experience with ethics and ethical violations, so some parties thought the book was just exploiting another example of why there are so many ethical codes now. It was really interesting to hear Lisa's point of view as a health care professional, and also to hear our friend Mandy's point of view as a biologist. Mandy works with HeLa cells and could give us the inside scoop on how prevalent they are in labs worldwide, and how much they now cost to purchase. I loved the book, and hearing everyone's points of view I loved it even more!

Upcoming book picks

September's meeting will be hosted by Lisa and she picked The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. It is non-fiction (sort of a biography but sort of not) but reads like a fast paced novel. I'm 80 pages in and have found myself going to bed at nine every night this week so I could get more reading time in!

Other upcoming books are Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami and Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros (this one is my pick)... I'm hoping for some theme eats/drinks to go with these culturally specific books. We'll see if Japanese night and Mexican night pan out.

Happy Reading!