Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The focus of this book seemed off. Too much information about Mrs. Lacks' descendants (whose claim to fame seems to be they were related to her), the author ( I don't care that she's white and agnostic and was born into middle-class suburbia) and not enough information on Mrs. Lacks' life. For instance, the author matter-of-factly mentions that Henrietta had her first child at barely 14 glossing over the fact this makes her the child victim of incest/statutory rape by her cousin/future husband who appears to resent he didn't get paid for her cancer cells. Ms. Skloot also comes off as condescending towards the Lacks family with her dialogue and purposeful misspellings to "imitate" African American Southern speech. Was she purposely trying to make them seem ignorant?? Frankly, it seems like the medical community isn't the only one trying to make a buck off of or get famous by using Mrs. Lacks. I started skimming through the book mid-way through, but what I read didn't make me think the author had a good point that people should be paid for their cells, tissues, etc. We live too much in a culture that believes everything should be a financial transaction. Aren't umbilical cords used in research, too? And I'm pretty sure the mothers/children aren't paid for them. I'm not even sure I buy the argument that cancer cells are a part of who we are any way, any more than umbilical cords are. Cancer cells are invaders in our bodies. If the author wanted to focus on Henrietta Lacks and her cancer cells, and whether people deserved to be paid for their cells, she should have done that. I would have liked to read more about the arguments for and against. If she wanted to focus on Mrs. Lacks and her life then she should have done that instead of glossing over her. There's not enough of either of these subjects in this book to make it as interesting as it could have been. It's too bad, too, because I think Mrs. Lacks life would have made a wonderful story in the right hands.