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)

Great Story and Learning Opportunity

I am NOT a non-fiction reader, but this book was presented as a discussion topic at work. I am a clinical research professional and had heard about the story but not in full.
I am so glad I listened to this story. It provided even more insight to the important work I do daily in making sure to confirm consent provided to subjects and making sure Good Clinical Practice is followed.
I am so glad that she decided to interweave the actual life of Mrs Lacks into the science aspect to keep the reader interested and it turned out to be an emotional roller coaster that I was truly vested in.

I loved it

Amazing story, it made me cry, laugh and made me furious at times; I believe everyone should read this book, at least to acknowledge all the benefits Henrietta gave us and the pain, struggle and suffering her family endured.

An interesting read

What I like most about the book is the combination of research and science of the cells that increases their understanding of them to a basic level. Each chapter sets the stage for the years of what happened in that period. It makes it easy to follow. The researcher incorporated the family in this story. It’s a great read.

Wonderful book!

I so appreciate the time and energy this author invested to get this story told. It is such an amazing well-told story.

Excellent research, intriguing story

I loved the way this story interweaved science, Henrietta and Henrietta's families' stories. The research was incredible. It did get a little long. I highly recommend.

Enthralling

Inspired. Enthralling investigative work. Thoughtfully crafted chronology weaving the story of HeLa cells and culture/tissue science and medical ethics with the vivid human story of the Lacks family.

Lesson on medical history

A beautifully written and beautifully told story of legacy and loss, tragedy and triumph. Provides an excellent patient perspective that all health care providers would benefit from hearing.

Important Story in American History

I believe this story should be told in all classrooms and especially in medical school (oncology). Black people’s contributions to America has increased the wealth and health for everyone but Black people and that’s criminal. Great read!

The Best Book I’ve Ever Explored!

'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks' by Rebecca Skloot, and it's the best book I've explored as an adult. Henrietta's story is arguably one of the most important stories in medical history. At the heart of the book is the journey of Henrietta's cells, known as HeLa cells, which were the first human cells to proliferate in a lab, leading to groundbreaking advances in numerous fields, such as the polio vaccine, cancer research, and IVF. Skloot intertwined Lacks story with the scientific journey PERFECTLY. Lacks life reflects the struggles of African Americans in the mid-20th century, and her story raises significant ethical issues about consent, race, and exploitation in medical research. The book explores how Henrietta’s family, particularly her children, grappled with her legacy. Unaware of the significance of HeLa cells for decades, the family’s journey through discovery, pain, and the quest for recognition and justice underscores themes of privacy, informed consent, and the human aspect behind scientific discovery. I rate this book a rare 9.99/10! I sincerely believe this story should be taught in high schools worldwide, as Henrietta Lacks' contributions have touched every individual on this planet.

The Secret Life of an American Cancer Cell

About a month ago, I donated blood at the American Red Cross. I'm there about every other month - or exactly at 56 days, depending on how persistent those cheerful calls, with their underlying tone of urgency, are. Last time I was there, there was an addition to the binder of forms I needed to review: a disclosure that my blood could be used for research, and if I didn't agree to that, I shouldn't donate.

I was puzzled: why the consent now, since Rebecca Skloot's "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" had been published in 2010? I hadn't read the book, but I had followed the debate about informed consent. I didn't really think about how the Lacks family felt about Henrietta's cells (called HeLa) living in labs twice as long as Henrietta herself did. I sure didn't think about HeLa economics.

On June 13, 2013, the US Supreme Court ruled that naturally occurring genes cannot be patented in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Docket 12-398. On August 7, 2013, the National Institutes of Health announced that they had reached an agreement with Henrietta's descendants to use HeLa cells with the informed consent of a board, including two of her family members.

I heard an interview with Skloot shortly after on NPR, and decided it was time to read/listen to "The Immortal Life." I was astounded by the sheer tenacity of HeLa cells (cancer cells from an especially aggressive form of cervical cancer caused by one of the HPV viruses, strengthened by untreated neuro-syphillis) and by the research and discoveries based on those cells. HeLa was instrumental in the development of the polio vaccine, tests to identify cancer, studies on chemical toxicity . . . and so much more. When I checked PubMed as I wrote this review, there were 76,057 peer reviewed articles with HeLa mentioned in the abstracts.

Skloot's careful research, wonderfully descriptive writing, and absolute respect for the Lacks family was evident. Skloot described the family and some of its very memorable members, especially Henrietta's daughter, Deborah, who really wanted to know the HeLa story - but was also afraid to find out everything, for good reason. Skloot avoids a sociological analysis of the Lacks family, which is good - that would have made them a 'study', not real people. There was an overarching irony: despite the invaluable contribution Henrietta made to medicine, most of her surviving family did not have medical insurance.

Skloot was careful to use the actual dialect and pronunciations of the people she interviewed in the Audible book. I don't know how it looked in writing, but it made a good listen. The narrators, Cassandra Campbell and Bahni Turpin, worked well together.

I'll still donate blood, of course - but from now, my imagination of what my cells are doing won't be limited to surgeries involving people who have the same blood type.

This Audible book doesn't come with a downloadable reference guide, but there are pictures of the Lacks family and a lot of the scientists mentioned in the book available on Google Books.

[If this review helped, please let me know by pushing Helpful. Thanks!]