raemow's Reviews (225)

I really wanted to like this book, but the animal abuse, furtherance of mental health stigma, racism, and predictable female characters left me disappointed.

I did thoroughly enjoy the older Jacob. Especially as a healthcare worker, it was fascinating to be inside the head of one of my older patients and hear their story.

This book was a solid meh. Caroline and Phoebe’s story line was fascinating and interesting and I wanted more of that. David and Nora just annoyed me. Especially David.
The title is misleading. This book is about David, not his daughter.

This book was fascinating and educational and engaging. Thoroughly researched and entailed, yet still traced with narrative threads. It was so good I reached out to my former college history prof to recommend it.

You know that feeling when you’ve experienced a piece of art so wholly and beautifully and thoroughly that you’re almost sad you won’t experience it that way again and almost jealous of people about to experience it for the first time? That’s how I feel about this book.
Also, reading this book post 2020 was a little but of a mind fuck. Yet we persist.

Austin’s words powerfully and graciously call white people to see, recognize, and confront their own racism simply by telling her own story of womanhood in a black body in America.

Tell the story of Henrietta Lacks is imperative to bringing justice, equality, and representation to the reality of medical care in the black community. The cells stolen from Henrietta’s body have changed history and leaves the way for modern medicine, and her family was unaware for decades. Weaving narrative, biology, histology, science, and journalism together, this book beautifully tells the story of Henrietta and her children. And we need to hear it.