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Ann Fadiman's The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down

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Literary Reviews Laura Miller of Salon write, “Indelible . . . Much like Ann Fadiman’s The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, this is a heroic work of cultural and medical journalism. With it, Skloot reminds doctors, patients, and outside observers that however advanced the technology and esoteric the science, the material they work with is humanity, and every piece of it is precious.” In Miller’s review of “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” she focuses almost solely on the aspect of Henrietta’s family and the injustice done to them. She lightly mentions what these cells have done for ethics and medical research but how most importantly Skloot was able to tell a story from “the Lackses’ perspective.” I agree wholeheartedly with this statement and I do not believe this book would have been near the success that it is without including the Lackses’ side of this story of unjust ethics and racism in the medical and research field. …show more content…
We have not yet made it to this section of the book, but I think this the arrogance and insensitivity also describes how doctors acted toward Henrietta. Specifically, when Skloot told of the medical records regarding Henrietta’s treatment, and how Henrietta was never informed that the treatments she was receiving would cause her to be infertile. The fact that at this time doctors could care less about informing their black patients about extremes like this is astonishing, and one of the reasons this book is addicting to many

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