The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Rebecca Skloot)

Another book that has gotten quite a lot of buzz for a little while now. I wasn't sure if I wanted to read it, since it sounded like it would be a biology book and, really, even popular science books tend to go totally over my head. But the book club I attend picked this book for the next meeting. Considering I hadn't read the last two we had chosen (although I did read one of them right after the meeting), I figured I owed them this one.

I'm so glad I read it! Skloot explains the science in a way that's understandable to anyone and, most importantly, she tells the story of Henrietta Lacks and her family in a gripping way. After all, it's not like this story should surprise anyone. It may, but it shouldn't. It did, however, make me angry.

It all started in the early 1950s when Henrietta Lacks felt a lump in her cervix. The doctors didn't really pay attention at first. Indeed, she even had a healthy delivery of her last child after she'd felt something was off. Later on they found the cancer that would kill her sooner rather than later. Of course, the doctors at Johns Hopkins--which did have a ward for African-Americans at the time--took samples of her tumor and of healthy tissue. At the time, George Gey had been trying to cultivate cell cultures with little success in keeping them alive. With Henrietta's cells, however, he found what he'd been looking for.

Henrietta's cells, also known as HeLa, have been instrumental in plenty of medical breakthroughs in the last 60 years, including the development of vaccines and cancer treatments. Here's the thing: for-profit organizations have made millions upon millions selling HeLa cells. Nobody had bothered to tell the Lacks family, much less Henrietta when she still lived, that they had taken the cells and kept them alive. The Lackses did find out and much of the story Skloot tells is about their ordeal trying to learn and come to terms with what Henrietta's cells have meant to the world.

Skloot did a fantastic job of telling the story from all sides, though it's quite clear she became close to the Lacks family, in particular with Deborah Lacks, Henrietta's daughter. She's quite up front about it, so you know there is some bias in the book. Still, I think most of us would also have been bothered by the arrogance some doctors show in light of what happened. After a court decision that basically established that your cells are no longer your concern after they leave your body, a Stanford researcher smugly said that patients can try to negotiate what happens to their tissue when they come in with a ruptured appendix. It still pisses me off to think that someone can be such a damn bastard.

My reaction probably stems from the fact that I intensely dislike doctors. I only go if I have to. That's my own issue. That said, I doubt people would object to having their cells used in research that has helped save lives. But doctors have a very unfortunate tendency to forget these cells come from people. And really, Deborah Lacks wanted everyone to remember that her mother was a person--someone that had children and loved and felt pain and happiness. A little respect and recognition would have been nice.

Great book and very much worth reading.

Next up: The Weird Sisters, by Eleanor Brown.

The Tiger's Wife (Tea Obreht)

This book has gotten quite a lot of buzz. Tea Obreht has already won plenty of critical acclaim for her short stories, so expectations for her first book are high. And she hasn't disappointed.

I will admit that this book probably went over my head. OK, it totally went over my head. But I still enjoyed the Obreht's writing and her creativity. The book has multiple story lines with the story of Natalia and her grandfather serving as the anchor. The book gets its title from a story Natalia's grandfather tells her about his childhood.

Surprisingly, that story doesn't dominate the bulk of the book. It shares the spotlight with the story of the deathless man. Natalia's grandfather meets the deathless man during one of the wars that appear in the book. This character should come across as a little creepy, but he grew on me. The man is shot and drowned and still manages to keep himself in a pretty good mood. Who would have thought, right?

I don't think I'd ever read something set in the modern-day former Yugoslavia. I'm around the author's age (OK, she's a couple of years younger) so I don't remember too much about the conflict there in the early 90s. Obreht took me there, even if on a bit of a surreal cloud. Maybe it's more of a statement on what I usually read than on Obreht's writing, but I haven't read anything quite like this. If you're looking for a casual read, this book isn't for you. But the writing is quite enjoyable--and quite good--and worth the extra brain cells required.

Next up: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lack, by Rebecca Skloot.

The Countess (Rebecca Johns)

This should have been an awesomely gruesome and creepy book. In The Countess, Johns tells the story of Elizabeth Bathory, aka the Blood Countess. Reportedly, she killed hundreds of young women that worked for her and she bathed in their blood to remain young and beautiful.

Seriously. This should have been super duper awesomely creepy!

And it wasn't. Totally wasn't. In fact, it was kind of boring. That this is my reaction is partially my fault. After all, when you pick up a book about one of the most notorious serial killers in history, you have certain expectations. This book did not meet my expectations.

Johns decided to write the story from Bathory's perspective. In the book, Bathory is writing to her son about what "really happened". She starts describing the day when the bricklayer and his son came to wall her up in her prison. Elizabeth Bathory was pretty much entombed alive in one of her castles. Not exactly a noble end to a member of one of the most powerful families in Hungary at the time. She also married into another powerful family. The story does go that she earned her husband affection after disciplining an unruly servant girl. He, too, seems like quite a piece of work. That said, it wasn't unusual for servants to get this type of treatment back in the 16th century. Still, Elizabeth Bathory probably took it to an extreme.

Did it play into some people's hands that she turned out to have gone completely nuts and beaten and starved so many of the girls in her service? Yes, it did. After her husband's death, Bathory controlled plenty of wealth and holdings. I'm sure several powerful men, including the king of Hungary, had to have their eyes set on her properties. That they did not order her execution is a testament to her power and standing.

For me, this book held my interest in the beginning, where the reader sees Bathory's father punish a gypsy that sold his daughters to the Turks in quite a gruesome way. After that, it told a similar stories to others I've read. Like Catherine d'Medici  and others that entered arranged marriages, she has to struggle to make her marriage work. It picked up towards then end, when other start questioning Bathory's actions. For most of the book, she talks about disciplining her servants as a chore. It is chilling, but her focus really lies in other things so we don't get a good idea of how many women she may have killed. I suppose that's part of her psychosis. She doesn't really think about what she's done because she doesn't think it matters.

It was probably a very realistic portrayal. Much more so than most vampire novels out there. Johns did a great job. I think it just the book just wasn't for me. Which, you know, is fine. I don't regret reading it, so I guess that's something.

Next up: The Tiger's Wife, by Tea Obreht.

When Tito Loved Clara (Jon Michaud)

I'm pretty sure I decided to read this book after reading a very positive review, but for the life of me I can't remember from what publication. Still, I'm glad I stumbled upon that review. That's one of the reason's book sections should never die. Readers need more ways of finding great books.

Anyway, When Tito Loved Clara tells a story from three perspectives. Of course, the narrative comes mostly from Tito and Clara. They were high school sweethearts. They kept their relationship under wraps because their fathers had a falling out. You'd think both fathers would come across negatively, but Michaud definitely has some villains in this story and Tito's father isn't one of them. Clara's father--well.

Clara and Tito end have taken very different roads. Clara went to college, married a white man, moved to the suburbs, and basically avoids going back to her old neighborhood at all cost. Tito still lives with his parents, in the same apartment, and has held the same job since high school.

And although they have the same ethnic background--they are both Dominicans--their family roots differ in key ways. Clara's father and stepmother abuse her, while Tito's parents treat him lovingly. Actually, they kind of spoil him. Most of the story takes place while these two are in their mid-thirties, so, really, Tito shouldn't still live with his parents.

Clara's life, of course, isn't the stuff of fairy tales. Even though she's achieved a certain lifestyle, she still has plenty of problems. Even though she and her husband (Thomas, by the way) have a little boy, they are having problems getting pregnant again. She also has to deal with a crazy sister that dumps her pregnant teenage daughter on her. Not the mention some drama with her laid off husband that she doesn't even know about.

Tito, in the meantime, has dreamed up a happy alternative life while not doing all that much to make that happen. He still carries a torch for Clara, even though he hasn't seen her since the summer after graduating high school. Honestly, though it may seem sweet for a little bit, after a while Tito can get a little creepy.

Dominican culture features prominently. It's enjoyable, though some stereotyping inevitably happens. Although, really, plenty of stereotypes about use Caribbean Latinos have at least some truth to them. Happily, my sister is NOTHING like Clara's sister. Lord help anyone that does.

Good first book. I'm glad I read it.

Next up: The Countess, by Rebecca Johns.