The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and Essay Topics

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and Essay TopicsBefore we look at why this story is a bad deal, let's go back to the beginning to see where the problem began: the infidelity and their subsequent fallout. The entire first third of the book suffers from a constant lack of self-awareness. Her character gets more lost in her perceptions of what she has learned about herself and the people around her. After her marriage, she seems to believe that the world can be figured out by reading a little paper in a catalog, that there are books that tell us how to get rich.She opens up to her friends, to people she's met only online, but it's done in different ways. The internet sites she belongs to try to give her privacy, but really, this is just another disguise for the message, 'Just so you know, there are no rules here.' There is no place for human contact; no time for introspection; no foundation for real, honest discussion. The people who email her are called strangers, though they appe ar to be part of a group. Their relationship is as faceless as the money they've made selling the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.This all comes together to create a terrible experience for anyone reading the book. It's very easy to lose sight of the importance of a connection with readers. Where I felt most frustrated was when I would read a sentence in the story and realize that I could not possibly apply it to my life. As another reviewer pointed out, some of the arguments she has with people are about scientific issues - some are real, some are not.There are some hard questions, and they are posed in such a way that the reader forgets that they're even being asked. If you're not careful, you might find yourself reading the story without taking the time to actually understand what's being asked of you. At times, the plot seems to be more about how much money the characters make off of selling a book, not so much whether any of the information given is true or not.But the worst p art is the ending, which relies on more over-simplified concepts, including the concept of cloning, rather than directly addressing the problems it raises. While many writers have used cloning to explain the evolution of species, this isn't the kind of story that needs to be examined that way. When the implication is that all humans were once clones, you can tell from the tone of the whole book that there are too many problems for that to be true.What's worse is that her fascination with human life can come across as a sort of disinterest in people's lives. The biggest problem with this book is that it ends in such a way that makes the reader think, 'But there was something wrong with her, I know I should be feeling compassion for her.' While this book is written in the first person and puts a real human face on the problems involved, the impact isn't felt for long, and the book can't hold one interest for very long.It would have been easier to follow if this wasn't the autobiograph y of a very famous person whose life was turned into a book. You don't get the genuine thing. The effect of the story will be lost after a few pages. There are fewer ways to connect to the material than to a book of essays by the same author, so you may have to read the essay versions to get any real impact.On a short time frame, there's plenty of material to go through before you reach the end. So, if you're in a hurry to get this book out of your mind, turn away now.