Henrietta Lacks is quite the opposite from any ordinary human. Her famous, “immortal” cells are the primary mechanisms that have shaped and modernized what medical science is composed of today. Her presence in history deserves a spotlight in the eyes of the universal public; for without Henrietta Lacks, today’s civilization would never have seen in-vitro fertilization, a vaccination for polio, or even treatment for leukemia. According to The Washington Post’s book review of the novel, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, written by Rebecca Skloot, there was an estimated “50 million metric tons of HeLa cells replicated over the past 60 years of medical research”. Rebecca Skloot’s novel provides the the reader with both scientific and personal knowledge and sparks questions of the recurring controversies of human equality and privacy rights.
The largest obstacle in constructing a novel that appeals to a broad audience, is finding a common topic that will lure in the readers’ attention. Examples of the varieties of story topics that currently appeal to different readers are: drama, science fiction, love, sorrow, adventure, and etc. Rebecca Skloot’s obstacle was finding multiple topics to merge together, that would create a story that would interest a large audience. Therefore, the novel, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, is not a novel merely created for the intellectual minds of the medical field. Rebecca Skloot clearly portrays the history and influence of HeLa cells without writing in immense scientific format. Skloot pays close attention to the detail of Lack’s complete life story, entailing the various conflicts of her dynamic love life, her coping with a devastating illness, and her spiritual and scientific impact on others after passing away.
As an intrigued reader of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, I don’t anticipate many challenges while reading this book. Though I have only read half-way through Part One: “The Exam”, I have not yet encountered any challenges that have affected my understanding of the story. Thus far, I give this novel a standing ovation.
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