Book #19 - The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Though I haven't been in more than a year, I still consider myself a member of the women's book group at my church.  I follow what's on the book list, and sometimes even try to organize myself and my reading to get to a meeting.  Recently, the book group read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.  I didn't make it to the meeting, but I did finally read / finish the book.

It's the (nonfiction) story behind the HeLa cells -- the most prolific human cell line ever propagated.  Henrietta Lacks was a black woman in Baltimore, MD, born in 1926, who was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1951 at Johns Hopkins Hospital.  Her physician biopsied her tumor, and used the biopsy not only to diagnose her cancer, but also as a research tool.  He realized quickly that her cells, unlike most human cells removed from a body, were incredibly vibrant: easy to reproduce, sustain, and work with.

Skloot does a good job making the story rich and interesting: she brings in family history, the background of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, the evolution of medical testing in the United States (a particularly unsavory story), and the effect (or lack thereof) of this historic scientific phenomenon on Lacks' surviving family.  

So the fact that it was a slog for me to get through the book is not a testament to the book, but rather to my weaknesses as a reader.  I just love a novel.  I just do.  I always feel virtuous after I read a nonfiction book, as though I've just had a vitamin, but I don't feel satisfied.