After reading the summary of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, I feel like this could be another kind of story about an African American who was oppressed around the time of the civil rights movement. However, there does seem to be a huge difference with the fact that Henrietta Lacks’s cells are still being used today. I can see how this could become a problem for the author since she could make the story swing either way. If she talks too much about how wrong it is for the family on the fact that they are African American, it could become another segregation/ inequality story. On the other hand, she could push the story more to an “unfair treatment of family by those who could have helped her” kind of story. But, like the other type of story, this could prove to be another “Erin Brockovich” type of anecdote that we have all heard before. However, if she pushed the story to somewhere in between these two points, Skloot might be able to capture the broader audience she is looking for.
With such a broad audience, also comes the need to entertain and educate simultaneously. This could prove very difficult, especially since it is hard not to sound somewhat boring when someone is just naming facts. Also, making a true story actually entertaining seems really hard when done through a book. Movies can make it seem way easier than it looks.
I personally don’t feel like there will be too many challenges when reading the book, mainly because it actually seems interesting to me. However, to those who it won’t, it might be a contest.
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