piabo's Reviews (301)


Confusing story line.
I really tried to keep track of all the people, but at some point I just gave up understanding all the connections and just hoped to get the overall message.

The personalities of the characters were unfortunately not really deeply explored. It felt more like each individual presented some identity that should be represented:

What does it mean to be black in the UK?
What does it mean to be a woman or non-binary?
What does it mean to be lesbian or bi?

Those questions were nicely answered. But the stories didn't really touch me.
Conversations sometimes felt artificial and connections didn't really surprise me.

Other than the confusing and uninspiring story line, it was good. I liked the general idea of the book and got perspectives I haven't thought about before.
I found this review and I agree: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRqfFVtWsek&t

Must read for every scientist whose research involves human tissues. Also highly recommend for people interested in (bio)ethics, medicine, and African Americans history.

Henrietta Lack's cells were taken without her consent and are now one of the most important reason for the advanced in modern science. Including multiple vaccines and cancer research. Her story has never been told properly and is tained by racism and capitalist motives.

I like how the book focuses on the family, and how the author seemed to be very honest about the writing process. Sometimes I wished she did it different. She did not properly address the elephant in the room that she is another white woman who once again makes a profit of Henrietta Lack's story. Just a few sentences about this would have been great. I think she is a good human being and she really cares.

I now can't wait to watch the movie with Oprah!

Ich vermute, dieses Buch wird für viele sehr ungemütlich zu lesen sein. Vor allem für Menschen, die weniger Kontakt mit Arbeitslosengeld, Armut, Chancenungleichheit und allem, was dazu gehört, haben.

Obwohl ich durch meine Pflegegeschwister von vielen ähnlichen Fällen wie denen von Jeremias gehört (und auch aus zweiter Hand miterlebt) habe, war es mir trotzdem teilweise unangenehm, dass über einige Themen so einfach offen gesprochen wurde.
Das hängt vor allem mit der Stigmatisierung von Menschen und deren Kindern, die unter der relativen Armutsgrenze in Deutschland leben. Ich und viele anderen sollten uns mehr mit dem Thema auseinandersetzen. Über Geldprobleme und alltägliche Herausforderungen, die daraus folgen, sollten wir ohne Scham sprechen könnten.

Ich finde, Jeremias hat ein tolles Buch geschrieben. Er beschreibt seine eigene Kindheit, aber auch wie er aus dem Teufelskreis irgendwie ausbrechen konnte. Mir gefällt, wie er betont, dass sein "Erfolg" nur mit viel Glück möglich ist, und dass das System gar nicht die Möglichkeiten hat, es allen zu ermöglichen. Harte Arbeit alleine reicht nicht aus, um Armut zu entkommen.

Jeremias stellt auch Studien und mögliche Gesetzesänderungen (zu dem Maße, wie er es als betroffener junger Mensch einschätzen kann) vor.

Ich habe Jeremias vor etwas über vier Jahren kennenlernen dürfen und wusste daher schon einige der Lebensdetails und verstehe, warum er bestimme Wege gegangen ist. Im Buch hatte ich das Gefühl, dass es teilweise nicht ganz klar war.
Ich empfehle auf jeden Fall ein bisschen Extra Recherche zu diesem jungen Menschen zu machen. Zum Beispiel die Dokus, die es über ihn gibt. Ohne ist dieses Buch eher eine 4. Aber ich möchte die Personen, aus meinem Umkreis unterstützen. Er hat außerdem mein Buch singert :)

Words can be so powerful, wow.
Mr Jack gives me ways to describe what I have been observing on campus and around me.
Although the student body of my college does not compare to average US elite unis, I could still find many parallels still.

As an aspiring researcher I especially loved the last chapter in which the author describes their interview and data collection methods. The work and analysis done sounds pretty impressive.
I am glad there are researchers like Mr Jack out there that can show their research to the world like him.

Hoping to use this knowledge in my work study position on campus and make my uni a better place for first-generation and low-income students. In our case also mostly international students.

Why write a review if someone else summarized it perfectly? https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3564739753
The book is really good but unfortunately quite problematic at some points. Let's blame that access to inclusive information was harder thirty years ago. I think the author would now speak differently. Hopefully.

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All these lies Pippi comes up with are very difficult to listen to after a while. And the book is often very racist. Even though this particular translation replaced some racist expressions, but it still comes through.

I do like how stubborn and strong Pippi is. She was one of my role models when I was younger.
And she is smarter than I always thought.
Her ignorance and foolishness are difficult to place. It is possible that she only became popular because of that, but I wished that there could have been a little more sense in her. What about Pippi being not just strong, independent, adventurous, and happy, but also thoughtful and considered
I don't know. I think it wouldn't be her anymore :(

I thought I try out some comics. But I don't like them too much. Very confusing with those speech bubbles and pictures being everywhere.
This book also didn't add anything to the story. Very boring.

This book is about one story lived by many people.
It plays over three centuries, two continents and one ocean. And everything in between those.

Each section always only felt like an introduction to a person. A good one, but I wanted to learn more. Each character seemed so much deeper than was possible to explore during their section.

Before reading the final chapter, I thought it is just another book that has a good (political) idea but fails to deliver a good story. But when I read the end, it all made perfect sense.

A wonderful book that made me shiver a few times.
Really recommend to anyone who never really feels like they fit, have more than one or no home, or people who have all that and want to learn a bit more empathy.

Also, a great introduction to Liberia's history. A small, yet complex and significant country.

Ich habe mich ertappt gefühlt. Und gehört. Und ich war traurig. Aber vor allem bin ich sauer. Sauer wie unsere Gesellschaft so bekackt sein kann.
Sauer, weil die Erfahrungen der drei Kameradinnen so beschissen sind, dass kein Mensch sie machen sollte, doch trotzdem jede von Rassismus betroffene Person sofort versteht, worum es geht.

Ich fühle mich ohnmächtig.
Und dadurch wieder ertappt. Was ein Privileg, dass ich diese Ohnmacht nur wegen eines Buches fühle. Ich kann diese Geschichte nun einfach wieder weglegen, irgendwo in meinem Kopf verstauen und weiter durch mein behütetes Leben gehen. Kasih, Saya und Hani, und die Personen, für die sie stellvertretend stehen, können aber genau das nicht tun.

Deutschland, du kack Rassist*in. Dumm, dass nur schimpfen nicht hilft. Ich bin Teil des scheiß Systems.

Großen Respekt an das Buch und damit die Autorin! Mir war vieles theoretisch schon bewusst und natürlich bin ich darüber entsetzt. Aber diese Wut und Ohnmacht sind erst durch Kasihs Schilderungen so real für mich geworden. Ich hoffe, besseres Mitgefühl ist ein Schritt in die richtige Richtung. Und ich hoffe, dass ich nicht nur scheinheilig rassismuskritisch bin, sondern wirklich was Sinnvolles tu.