Reviews
"I could not put the book down . . . The story of modern medicine and bioethics-and, indeed, race relations-is refracted beautifully, and movingly."- Entertainment Weekly "Science writing is often just about 'the facts.' Skloot's book, her first, is far deeper, braver, and more wonderful." -New York Times Book Review " The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a triumph of science writing...one of the best nonfiction books I have ever read." -Wired.com "A deftly crafted investigation of a social wrong committed by the medical establishment, as well as the scientific and medical miracles to which it led." -Washington Post "Riveting...a tour-de-force debut." - Chicago Sun-Times "A real-life detective story, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks probes deeply into racial and ethical issues in medicine . . . The emotional impact of Skloot's tale is intensified by its skillfully orchestrated counterpoint between two worlds." - Nature "A jaw-dropping true story . . . raises urgent questions about race and research for 'progress' . . . an inspiring tale for all ages." - Essence "This extraordinary account shows us that miracle workers, believers, and con artists populate hospitals as well as churches, and that even a science writer may find herself playing a central role in someone else's mythology." - The New Yorker "Has the epic scope of Greek drama, and a corresponding inability to be easily explained away." - SF Weekly "One of the great medical biographies of our time." - The Financial Times "Like any good scientific research, this beautifully crafted and painstakingly researched book raises nearly as many questions as it answers . . . In a time when it's fashionable to demonize scientists, Skloot generously does not pin any sins to the lapels of the researchers. She just lets them be human . . . [and] challenges much of what we believe of ethics, tissue ownership, and humanity." - Science "Indelible . . . The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a heroic work of cultural and medical journalism." -Laura Miller, Salon.com "No dead woman has done more for the living . . . a fascinating, harrowing, necessary book." -Hilary Mantel, The Guardian (U.K.) " The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks does more than one book ought to be able to do." - Dallas Morning News "Above all it is a human story of redemption for a family, torn by loss, and for a writer with a vision that would not let go." - Boston Globe "This remarkable story of how the cervical cells of the late Henrietta Lacks, a poor black woman, enabled subsequent discoveries from the polio vaccine to in vitro fertilization is extraordinary in itself; the added portrayal of Lacks's full life makes the story come alive with her humanity and the palpable relationship between race, science, and exploitation.-Paula J. Giddings, author of Ida, A Sword Among Lions ; Elizabeth A. Woodson 1922 Professor, Afro-American Studies, Smith College "Skloot's engaging, suspenseful book is an incredibly welcome addition for non-science wonks." - Newsweek "Extraordinary . . . If science has exploited Henrietta Lacks [Skloot] is determined not to. This biography ensures that she will never again be reduced to cells in a petri dish: she will always be Henri, "One of the most graceful and moving nonfiction books I've read in a very long time 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks' floods over you like a narrative dam break, as if someone had managed to distill and purify the more addictive qualities of 'Erin Brockovich,' 'Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil' and 'The Andromeda Strain.' it feels like the book Ms. Skloot was born to write. It signals the arrival of a raw but quite real talent."-Dwight Garner, The New York Times "Skloot's vivid account begins with the life of Henrietta Lacks, who comes fully alive on the page 'Immortal Life' reads like a novel."--Eric Roston, The Washington Post "Gripping, by turns heartbreaking, funny and unsettling, raises troubling questions about the way Mrs. Lacks and her family were treated by researchers and about whether patients should control or have financial claims on tissue removed from their bodies."-Denise Grady, New York Times "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" is a fascinating read and a ringing success. It is a well-written, carefully-researched, complex saga of medical research, bioethics, and race in America. Above all it is a human story of redemption for a family, torn by loss, and for a writer with a vision that would not let go."-Douglas Whynott, The Boston Globe "Riveting...raises important questions about medical ethics...It's an amazing story...Deeply chilling... Whether those uncountable HeLa cells are a miracle or a violation, Skloot tells their fascinating story at last with skill, insight and compassion" -Colette Bancroft, St. Petersburg Times "The history of HeLa is a rare and powerful combination of race, class, gender, medicine, bioethics, and intellectual property; far more rare is the writer than can so clearly fuse those disparate threads into a personal story so rich and compelling. Rebecca Skloot has crafted a unique piece of science journalism that is impossible to put down-or to forget."- Seed magazine "No one can say exactly where Henrietta Lacks is buried: during the many years Rebecca Skloot spent working on this book, even Lacks' hometown of Clover, Virginia, disappeared. But that did not stop Skloot in her quest to exhume, and resurrect, the story of her heroine and her family. What this important, invigorating book lays bare is how easily science can do wrong, especially to the poor. The issues evoked here are giant: who owns our bodies, the use and misuse of medical authority, the unhealed wounds of slavery ... and Skloot, with clarity and compassion, helps us take the long view. This is exactly the sort of story that books were made to tell-thorough, detailed, quietly passionate, and full of revelation."-TED CONOVER, author of Newjack and The Routes of Man "It's extremely rare when a reporter's passion finds its match in a story. Rarer still when the people in that story courageously join that reporter in the search for what we most need to know about ourselves. When this occurs with a moral journalist who is also a true writer, a human being with a heart capable of holding all of life's damage and joy, the stars have aligned. This is an extraordinary gift of a book, beautiful and devastating-a work of outstanding literary reportage. Read it! It's the best you will find in many many years."-ADRIAN NICOLE LEBLANC, author of Random Family " The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks brings to mind the work of Philip K. Dick and Edgar Allan Poe. But this tale is true. Rebecca Skloot explores the racism and greed, the idealism and faith in science that helped to save thousands of lives but nearly destroyed a family. This is an extraordinary book, haunt
