Thoughts: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

I finished The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot last night since it was due back to the library today.  What an incredible book!  It is the story of Henrietta Lacks, whose immortal cells, called HeLa, have been essential in furthering modern medicine.  It is the story of Henrietta's family, particularly her daughter Deborah, and their quest to learn about Henrietta and her cells.  Yet, it is also the story of Rebecca Skloot, as her interest in HeLa cells spurred her desire to meet the Lacks family and tell Henrietta's story. 

This book has its share of joy and triumphs, but it is also filled with injustice, racism, and sadness.  I am so glad that Rebecca Skloot spent a decade of her life trying to learn about Henrietta and her family.  This is a story that needed to be told a long time ago, as you find out in the book.

Yes, a significant portion of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks deals with science.  But it does not read like a book about science.  So many of the Lacks family's personal struggles and stories are told that at times you feel almost intrusive.  However, you never stop rooting for Henrietta's family.  You empathize with the injustice and hardship.  Most of all, you are thankful for Henrietta's immortal cells and all the wonderful medical cures, vaccines, and research they have allowed. 

If you want to learn a little bit more about Henrietta and aren't sure if you want to read the book, I recommend reading this piece done by CBS Sunday Morning in March 2010.  It's a nice summary and hopefully will make you want to read the book!

Teaser Tuesday (May 18): The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

My teaser is from Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks:

"The cells were growing, but Mary didn't think much of it - other cells had survived for a while in the lab.  But Henrietta's cells weren't merely surviving, they were growing with mythological intensity." (page 40)

Thoughts: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I first heard about The Hunger Games through other book blogs a few months ago.  I was on the waiting list at the library, but I finally got it last week.  A few chapters in, I knew I liked it, but I was able to stop reading.  I was worried about that before I started since I knew that people were so crazy about it.  That was Wednesday.  Then, on Thursday night, I decided to read a few more chapters...

I stayed up until 2am finishing The Hunger Games.  Not so much for the plot because I knew it would turn out alright, especially if so many people loved it and there are two more books in the series.  It was really more about the characters.  I wanted to keep reading about Katniss and Peeta.  I love both of these characters so much.  I was captivated by them, their situation, and their interactions with each other. 

I've already started reading Catching Fire, the second book in the series.  The third and final book doesn't come out until August, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do until then.  Maybe this plan wasn't that well thought out.  I probably should have waited a little while longer to start The Hunger Games.  :)

With a bit of coincidental timing, this review of The Hunger Games at English Major's Junk Food came through my Google Reader just before I started the book myself.  I like what she has to say and if you want to know a little bit more about the plot (which I have neglected to talk about), you should check it out. 

Thoughts: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

It's been a while, but I have been busy with finals and end of semester things.  I also graduated on Saturday!  Woohoo!  I did manage to read The Help by Kathryn Stockett this past week.

The Help is a fantastic book!  I think most of the book blogging community have already read it, but if you haven't, you should probably go find a copy immediately!  It was that good.   I was hooked after the first few pages.  The Help is told through the alternating perspectives of three women: Miss Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny.  Here is the description from Goodreads:

"Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen’s best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody’s business, but she can’t mind her tongue, so she’s lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women—mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends—view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don’t."