The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

 

This is subject matter that deserves being publically aired and is worth our time, 20-30 hours this month, as library bibliophiles.  Besides a valuable topic or topical value, it’s well-written.  The author has taken a topic that could easily have run out of steam in a magazine short story, and kept the reader’s spark of interest throughout the whole book.  My only knock on the writing was that an editor would have cut about 100 pages, eliminating many repetitious retellings of the same story.  I can understand though, that the author probably had two strong reasons not to turn her manuscript over to a publisher’s editor:

1.     She is a journalist with a great story – or maybe a scientist who wants to make sure that accuracy is foremost

2.     The Lacks family might have said no way.

 

I had heard much about this book back in 2010 when Rebecca was on the book tour circuit.  Ten to thirty minutes on NPR or KGO, however, is not sufficient to do this book justice.  The book represents a great effort at journalistic research.  This is a model effort for those striving at really digging up a story that wants to stay hidden.  Perseverance! That’s what Rebecca personifies.

I’m glad I read this book and would recommend it, especially to younger people, who might take a pathway down the road of writing stories.

It is unfortunate, when recounting true biography, that events don’t always fit to a convenient timeline, nor have proper precedents and antecedents.  The flow of this story was dictated by the author’s research efforts and this made the pacing of the book understandably erratic.

Rebecca Skloot, however, demonstrated prowess as an author by creating a loveable character with Henrietta, imbued with spunk and quotable lines:

 

“You Don’t Mess With Henrietta”.!!!