The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Genetically speaking, humans are terrible research subjects

Why I read this book? 
 
We bought this book a while ago; while I do not work with HeLa cells directly it is a very renown cell line in my field. Reading about the origin of it was very interesting to me.

What's the book about?

The book looks not only at the scientific part of the development of the HeLa cell line but how this affected (or not) the family of Henrietta. It jumps back and forward in time to explore the conditions under which the cells were obtained, the life Henrietta had and then the life that her descendants had.

What about the characters?

One of the main characters is in this case the author itself. Some of the chapters are told from her point of view but we do not get to know her much. You can tell she was determined and that she was always very honest with the Lacks but that's pretty much it. As for Henrietta...if you wanted to know more about who she was as a woman you might be disappointed. Although there is a bit of that side of the story, this is not the main focus of the story. I get the feeling that I learnt more about the sons and daughters of Henrietta than about herself.

Final thoughts

The science part was probably the best part for me. Seeing how research has changed in so little time is always impressive and exciting for me. Sometimes reading about the old techniques (both medical and in the lab) made me cringe thinking how that wouldn't pass at all nowadays; but it is also amazing to see the ingenuity of people, particularly researchers, building incubators and centrifuges with spare parts for example. It was also particularly interesting to read about the beginning of patented biological material, and this made me want to read more on the subject. It is impressive to learn that some things have not change until very recently or haven't at all concerning privacy of the patient and rights over your own body. I think the author did a good job vulgarizing the scientific part of the story.

Although the way the descendants of Henrietta are depicted made me sympathised with them on several counts, after a fair amount of repetitions of the sentence "we should've been paid" starts to get a bit lost in white noise. Even though it is undeniable that some retribution if not at least some recognition should've been awarded to the family them I would've like to know a bit more about Henrietta's past and not to stretch the fact that the family feels wronged. 

If you pretty up how people spoke and change the things they said, that's dishonest. It's taking away their lives, their experiences, and their selves
 

Bossypants by Tina Fey

What's the book about? 

This was not biography itself. There is information about Tina's life, with some details about every stage in her life, splashed but humorous sentences or play on words. Her beginnings in theater, her first "real job, motherhood, family. Everything in a tiny yellow package with her in the cover (I read the paperback version).

What was different of this book?

First of all, is Tina Fey! I've loved her for a long time (as a comedian, not the creepy stalker kind of love, mind you). I think her duo with Jimmy Fallon was phenomenal and just when I thought it couldn't get any better, she paired up with miss Amy Poehler. I loved the fact that this book was empowering without telling me it was going to be so. Reading about strong women is nice. Reading about a strong, funny woman that happens to love her job and is not afraid to admit fragility...well that's just a great thing. I don't know if it was like that for everyone else who read this book, but I could almost hear her voice while reading. It's written in a very...shall I say friendly way?. Let's go with that. You feel like someone is there, next to you, telling you some funny anecdotes and her view on the world. 

What about the main character?

Did I mention I love Tina Fey?. Is hard to describe her as a usually do in this bullet point since she is, you know, real. But I want to say something. The Tina I got from her book is exactly the Tina I pictured in my head after watching her rise on SNL, kicking some butt in 30 Rock and rocking it in the last Golden Globe awards.

She is quirky, nerdy, smart and funny. She is silly and is not afraid to be. She knows she is lucky to have a job she likes and she is grateful for every part of her life. 

          Nerd no more, this new cut let people see the real me that was inside -a mother of four who was somehow also a virgin.

The 10% moment

Wait, what? 10%? I past the 10% of the book without noticing. I'm telling you, it was readable as it gets. If it wasn't because of things in the lab I would've finish it in one big gulp. 

Final thoughts

It's been so long since I laugh so much while reading!. My boyfriend kept looking at me a little bit worried I was losing it. This was a perfect gift from him. I enjoyed every moment of it, including the end where she is answering some questions to readers.

I also enjoyed all the mother moments. I'm not a mom yet, and I'm far away from being one anytime soon (Grad school people) but her prayer for her daughter is so beautiful. I'm sure by now you've seen it somewhere, as well as her critic on the what now is consider the perfect woman.  But a part that kept resonating for me was when she says that in every princess story she changes the word blond to yellow (about their hair) because she doesn't want her daughter to think that " somehow blond is better". 

Why this part in particular? Because it touches a close fiber. My baby cousin was very sad when she was 3 because all princesses seemed to have long, blond, straight hair... she has the most beautiful black, wavy hair. It took a while for her to understand that it wasn't better, that she was indeed as pretty as the princesses if not more. 

Then why am I giving only 4 mushrooms to this book if I liked it so much. Because there was something missing, something that would've forced me to stay up reading all Sunday night. I can't tell you what it is. Maybe the fact that I didn't feel a need to know what was going to happen next, since I kind of already knew. 

But I will tell you this, read it, laugh your pants off with it. It will be a great ride. Also, and this is great news: Amy Poehler's book is in the making people!! That is a sure read for me.