The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Henrietta Lacks was a poor black women who died in the 1950s from cancer. Her cells were harvested (a routine procedure for almost every medical treatment even today - do you ever read the consent forms that you sign?) and are still alive today. The HeLa cells are still being utilized for scientific research around the world and are the basis for many medical advances. Skloot does a great job of explaining the science behind all of this so that the average person can understand it.

The other side of the story is about Henrietta's family, a real study in how poverty impacts every aspect of someone's life - health, education, and ability to climb out of that situation. I found the family story fascinating from a sociological perspective especially since I worked with people in similar situations in the GED program in Baton Rouge.

My book club had a great discussion about medical ethics (a retired pediatrician joined us for the meeting to give us his perspective). Some of the members felt that Skloot inserted herself into the story too much but after reading about her background (her own father was involved in medical trials when he was dying of cancer) I feel like her involvement was appropriate.

Skloot raises important questions about medical ethics, disclosure of personal information, who owns the cells that are harvested for research and who should profit from that research. As Henrietta's son says, why can't her family even afford health insurance when others are making billions from her cells? Very thought provoking as well as a good read!

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

Interesting book about Ernest Hemingway's first wife, Hadley, and their life together in Paris between WWI and WWII. Reminded me very much of Loving Frank - why do "geniuses" get away with behaving like jerks and why do smart women allow men to treat them so badly? In relation to When Everything Changed (see post by Lisa), some of this was due to the period they lived in but I also realize that it still happens today. Earlier this year I read part of The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein (NOT a book that I recommend)about the same group of people living in Paris during that time so I enjoyed getting a different view point. I confess that I haven't read anything by Hemingway but may do so in the future just to find out whether or not I agree that he was the genius that he and everyone else thought he was. The book is very well written in the genre that I recently discovered is called "creative non-fiction" - a story based on facts.

1000 White Women: The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus

This book was recommended by Elizabeth and I absolutely LOVED it!

The story is based on the premise that back in 1875 the Cheyenne Indians requested the US government trade 1000 white women for 1000 horses. The idea being that in the Cheyenne culture, children are raised in the mother's tribe/culture so any children produced from these unions would be raised in white culture and it would be a learning process for the Indians, who were being decimated by whites, to become acclimated in the culture.

Naturally, in real life, this proposal didn't fly and everyone went home without a resolution but the book takes the idea that it DID happen and how the program unfolded through the journal of the main character, May Dodd.

May was in an insane asylum for promiscuity (sex does make you crazy, doesn't it?) when she signed up for the program - what better candidate to shack up with an Indian husband for two years after all? The journals take the reader through her time in the asylum, the cross-country trip to meet up with her tribe and then the gradual learning of the Cheyenne culture and working to integrate a conflicting set of values/morals into her own life.

Its an amazing concept and very well executed book. I loved all the characters, the descriptions and the writing. What really blew my mind was that it was written by a man - just like in Memoirs of a Geisha - a man being able to fully express a woman character is astonishing to me.

I hope others read it, would love to hear what you all think!

Doing my Pat Conroy Dance

Currently Reading: The Lords of Discipline

Wow, the profanity is rampant thus far. The book focuses on a South Carolina Military Institute that "makes maggots into men," etc. Pat can always take human suffering to a whole new level - his descriptions of the degradations and creative torments (that I'm sure all have a basis in truth) are astonishing and horrifying. I have no doubt that this type of treatment exists in these types of schools. I've heard people joke about "plebe" week/month/year before but I guess they have to repress the memories of how awful it truly was or, to the point that Pat makes, once they survive it, they become a part of the "the system" and embrace the madness.

As I have mentioned in prior PC posts - our main character, Will McLean, is a replica of Leo (South of Broad), Jack (Beach Music) and Tom (Prince of Tides) - all emotionally damaged men with a penchant to lash out due to an innate inability to express all of their inner torments. What I do love about these men though is that they see beauty and culture and would wrap themselves in a blanket of it but they all have that edge, that dark edge, that keeps them from the possibility of ever being fully happy.

As with other PC books, the story takes place in the Southland - Charleston, SC to be exact - and makes the reader jealous to not be from this mythical place that Pat creates. I've never been to most of the places he sets his stories in but I'm afraid that even when I go, I won't see it through these character's eyes and I can never as fully be in love with a place as he maintains someone can be.

I'm only half way through right now, can't wait to see where we go from here!