Months ago I started to hear buzz about the nonfiction bestseller, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. It was a strong contender for our community's "One Book" choice for the year. Friends mentioned the book and how much it moved them. Reviews were glowing. So I downloaded the sample onto my Kindle and started reading.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a nonfiction account of an African American woman in the 1950s whose cancer cells were taken, without her permission, and found to be extraordinary. They were the first cells, in fact, that were able to reproduce in a test tube environment.The book begins with a lot of very technical and scientific information, and while people had told me that it "reads like fiction" I was not getting that at all. And it was about cancer.
You see, like most of us, I have personal experience with cancer. Many years ago, my dear friend's husband died of cancer, leaving her a widow with two preschoolers. My cousin died of Hodgkin's Disease in his 30s. The list goes on and on, and as I get older, the number of friends and relatives touched by cancer rises exponentially.
So reading a book about a woman who died from cancer, even one whose cells helped pave the way for future treatment and cures, was not appealing. I sighed and I grumbled. The teenager inside of me whined, "I don't want to....." I made excuses and told friends that it was "on my list to read" (which is code for, 'When I am totally desperate I might pick it up again.').
But there is my Achilles Heel: my book club. When Henrietta Lacks was chosen as this month's book club pick, I had no choice but to knuckle down and read. It turns out all those friends and blogs and reviewers were right. Henrietta Lacks is an amazing story, equal parts science and heartbreaking family history. It's a story that needed to be told. Henrietta's legacy of cell immortality and the back story of the impoverished Lacks' family would make a great foundation for any book club discussion.
But there is my Achilles Heel: my book club. When Henrietta Lacks was chosen as this month's book club pick, I had no choice but to knuckle down and read. It turns out all those friends and blogs and reviewers were right. Henrietta Lacks is an amazing story, equal parts science and heartbreaking family history. It's a story that needed to be told. Henrietta's legacy of cell immortality and the back story of the impoverished Lacks' family would make a great foundation for any book club discussion.
What is the moral of this story of reluctance? Read everything you can, even when you don't feel like it. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a reminder that some books, even if you don't WANT to read them, need to be read.
