Let me start off by saying that nonfiction is hard for me--it's just tough. Whenever I read something that I know is true, when I read about people and events that actually took place I go at it with reverence. With much more reverence than I read fiction with, anyway. Because fiction is made for imagination, it's made for dreaming and making up your own ending and wondering and fanfiction and mixing up the events and times and character names and just having fun with it. But nonfiction...that's a whole different story, now isn't it? When I read nonfiction I feel like I owe it to the subject to focus on their life, to read everything and really try and imbed every bit of information I can about this person or event into my brain. I need to remember the exact day she lost her first tooth, and what her mother's sister's husband's cousin's aunt's maiden name was. Because I have this need to honor the subject by studying their life, it takes me a lot longer to read nonfiction than fiction. And that is true of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, it did take me a while. But at the same time, it doesn't read like nonfiction--it's a story, not all about the learning and the science and the dates, but about the people and the story too.
It's the people that drew me in. I'm going to be honest, I received this book as a Christmas present last year, if I remember rightly, and promptly put it away on the sciency section of my bookshelf and forgot about it. Because I don't do science. I'm an English major. I took Astronomy and Biology in the News and forgot all about cells and atoms and chlorine and the respiratory system as soon as I got handed my high school diploma. I remember unwrapping this book and thinking, "Jesus, Mom, why the hell do you think I would read this?"
But I gave it a chance and I'm glad I did. Skloot (that is such a funny name) doesn't overwhelm the book with science. Of course you still learn, because learning about Henrietta and her family would be impossible without also learning about he cells. The HeLa cells, I mean. These little cells, taken unknowingly from Ms. Lacks when she went in for treatment, have uncomprehendingly kept on surviving outside of her body where thousands of other cells have failed. They have reproduced and done all sorts of things--you know, important things. Like helping to create medicines like the polio vaccine, make advancements in cloning, and assist in cancer research. These little cells have done so much for the world, and have lived so long, giving their donor the illusion of immortality.
So Skloot does tell you about the cells, but instead of overwhelming you with dry sciency umbo-jumbo, she chooses to focus on the people--the characters. And they are characters! Henrietta's progeny have an unreal kind of craziness about them, but crazy in a good way. All the best people are mad (Alice in Wonderland, anybody? No? Okay, moving on) Skloot makes you really care about the characters, telling their faults and failings right along with their triumphs. The Lacks family had no idea how important their mother's cells were to the world until long after her death, and this book tells the story of their struggle to understand what the HeLa cells are, come to grips with the fact that they were taken without consent, and search for who their mother really was.
I mentioned at the beginning of this post the 'magic' of the cells. Magic isn't often a word connected with science, but I chose it specifically. I chose it because this story truly is magical. The cells do amazing things against odds, Henrietta shows a strength of character that can only be described as magical, and, after you've started reading, you'll realize that it was a miracle this book even got written. The story is unbelievable. My friend's boyfriend picked it up and read the back the other day. After he was done he turned to me and said, "Sounds good. It's fiction though, right?" That's how unbelievable it is--It sounds like fiction!
I'm doing a really bad job of this. I'm trying not to give spoilers away (wow, I usually don't think about spoilers in nonfiction) but at the same time tell you a bit about the book. Let me just say that it is good. It will take up a large chunk of time, but you will enjoy it. Probably. If anything, it'll make you look smart reading it.
If you're interested, you should go to the Henrietta Lacks Foundation.
I am listening to Dancing in the Moonlight by Toploader
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