Praise for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
“A thorny and provocative book about cancer, racism, scientific ethics and crippling poverty, ‘The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks’ also 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.’ More than 10 years in the making, 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 (click here for full review)
“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks … gives us Henrietta’s life, laid out like a cell under a microscope. And like any good scientific research, this beautifully crafted and painstakingly researched book raises nearly as many questions as it answers: questions about ethics, racism, and, most importantly, humanity … 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 … Skloot challenges much of what we believe of ethics, tissue ownership, and humanity … Thanks to the author’s narrative skills, it is a tale that one experiences rather than reads.”
—Leigh Krietsch Boerner, Science Magazine (full review online here)
“I could not put the book down — or even stop for a glass of ice water. Lacks’ story was that compelling … Through Lacks, the story of modern medicine and bioethics — and, indeed, race relations — is refracted beautifully, and movingly.” Grade: A
— Tina Jordan, Entertainment Weekly (full review online here).
“Indellible … Much like Ann Fadiman’s The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, this is a heroic work of cultural and medical journalism. With it, Skloot reminds doctors, patients, and outside observers that however advanced the technology and esoteric the science, the material they work with is humanity, and every piece of it is precious.”
– Laura Miller, Salon.com. (full review online here)
“Science journalist Skloot makes a remarkable debut with this multilayered story about faith, science, journalism, and grace. … Skloot tells a rich, resonant tale of modern science, the wonders it can perform and how easily it can exploit society’s most vulnerable people.”
—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review (click here for full review)
“A well-paced, vibrant narrative … Equal parts intimate biography and brutal clinical reportage, Skloot’s graceful narrative adeptly navigates the wrenching Lack family recollections and the sobering, overarching realities of poverty and pre–civil-rights racism. The author’s style is matched by a methodical scientific rigor and manifest expertise in the field.”
– Kirkus Starred Review (click here for the full review)
“This book, labeled “science — cultural studies,” should be treated as a work of American history. It’s 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. Skloot’s compassionate account can be the first step toward recognition, justice and healing.”
– Washington Post (click here for full review)
“Funny, tender, sometimes violent … Folds together a sweeping history of scientific triumph and shame, a dramatic true story of Skloot’s long struggle to win the family’s confidence, and a cast of characters whose anger, generosity, pride and improbably grace make them impossible to forget.”
–Christine Wicker, Dallas Morning News (full review online here)
“Skloot narrates the science lucidly, tracks the racial politics of medicine thoughtfully, and tells the Lacks family’s often painful history with grace … Science writing is often just about “the facts.” Skloot’s book, her first, is far deeper, braver and more wonderful … Made my hair stand on end.“
–Lisa Margonelli, New York Times Sunday Book Review
More Praise For The Immortal Life
Click here for Additional Reviews and advance praise of The Immortal Life from The New Yorker, Boston Globe, Slate and more. Also click here to see what professors are saying about The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and its importance to academia. Also read the Publishers Weekly cover story about Skloot and The Immortal Life, see Skloot on The Colbert Report and CBS Sunday Morning, listen to her on Fresh Air,and more, on the Press Coverage page of this site.
