The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

     I bought this book as a Christmas present to myself (yes, I am the kind of crazy person that does that). I was a little hesitant about it because I wasn't sure if all of the science and cell research would go over my head but I was pleasantly surprised by how accessible this book was. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot tells, for the first time, the full story behind the infamous HeLa cells.

     HeLa was the first immortal human cell line grown in a laboratory by George Gey in 1951. The cells were taken from Henrietta's cervix while she was still alive, without her knowledge. Those cells have since been used in the creation of a variety of drugs to treat conditions such as leukemia, influenza, and Parkinson's disease. HeLa cells have also been used in the study of polio, human cloning, lactose digestion, as well as many others. One scientist calculated that if you could lay all HeLa cells ever grown end-to-end, they'd wrap around the Earth at least three times. This is quite incredible considering Henrietta would never know about them and her family would not learn about the cells for more than 20 years later.

     Rebecca Skloot tells a story that is as much about the family's struggle with this process as it is about the history and scientific progress of the HeLa cells. While scientists were learning how to grow HeLa cells and discovering new ways in which to use them, no one thought to consult the family or even consider from whom the cells had come. By the time the family learned that their mother's cells were still alive, HeLa had already been commercialized and wrongly accredited to names such as Helen Lane. When Henrietta Lacks was recognized in an article, a tribute to George Gey, as the donor of the cells, scientists and reporters began asking the family for blood samples and information without bothering to explain to them why the cells had been taken or what they were being used for. By the time Rebecca Skloot began researching this book, the last thing the family wanted to see was another reporter/scientist promising them answers in return for access.

     Henrietta's daughter, Deborah, was extremely anxious about helping Skloot because she was afraid she was once again being used for information; in the end Skloot provided Deborah and her family many of the answers that they had been hoping for throughout the years. Henrietta died at the age of 31 so her children never really got the opportunity to know her; therefore the most important things to Deborah were finding out information about her mother and ensuring that the world recognized the woman behind the HeLa cells.

      Rebecca Skloot has the incredible ability to present a book about science that reads like a novel. She depicts the human aspects of scientific research so fully that one cannot help but be drawn into this book about the overlap between science and family.
    
     The photo shown on the book cover is the most commonly used image of Henrietta Lacks however, despite the condition, I prefer the below image of Henrietta and her husband David (Day).

In the photograph below, Deborah Lacks is shown holding a picture of her mother's cells.

Sarah's Key

     Wow. This book is completely astonishing. I absolutely could not put it down; honestly I don't know how anyone does! I will start by saying that this book will break your heart, or at least it did mine. Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay is a story about lives affected by the Holocaust, specifically the Vel d'Hiv' roundup on July 16, 1942. During this roundup, the largest of any on French soil, oven thirteen thousand men, women, and children were taken from their homes and most adults were sent directly to concentration camps whereas families were kept in the Velodrome d' Hiver stadium for 6 days before being split from their children and sent to different camps.

     This novel traces two completely different lives, 60 years apart. Sarah is ten years old, Jewish, and living with her family in Paris in 1942. Julia is 45 years old, American, and living in Paris with her French husband and daughter. The story begins at Sarah's home on the night of July 16th, when the French police came to pick up her family. Sarah's father was already in hiding in a local shop because at this time it was believed that the police were only rounding up men, which left Sarah, her mother, and brother at home. When the police knocked on their apartment door, Sarah was not afraid. She believed that because the French police were at the door, not German, her family would be safe. When the police asked them to gather their things to leave, Sarah's four year old brother was afraid and refused to go, saying he would hide in their secret place. He climbed into a secret cupboard and Sarah locked him in from the outside, placed the key in her pocket, and promised to let him out soon, when it was safe. From the apartment the family was taken to the Veledrome stadium and only after they had been kept there for several days under horrendous conditions did Sarah realize that she would not be returning home. After six days they were transferred to an intermediary camp, away from Paris, so that the children could be separated from their parents. From that point on, Sarah learned at a very young age the cost of survival and that some wounds never recover.

     Julia is a writer for a magazine, directed towards Americans living in France, and is assigned a story on the 60th anniversary of the Vel d'Hiv' roundup. Julia has never heard of this roundup and had no idea that France played such a significant role in the Jewish exterminations. As Julia continues to research that horrific summer she discovers a secret held within her husband's family that links them to Sarah. Once the secret is uncovered, Julia will stop at nothing to find out what happened to Sarah and her family, whatever the consequences.

     The most significant moment of the book for me was when a Frenchman that Julia is interviewing asks her why she is so interested in finding out these details, to which she responds that she would like to apologize to the family. The man is surprised and wonders what on earth an American would have to feel sorry about regarding the Vel d'Hiv' roundup in France. She replies, "Sorry for not knowing. Sorry for being forty-five years old and not knowing." I was touched by this admission because I am ashamed to admit that I had also not heard of this terrible event. I was unaware of how large a part France played in the Holocaust.

     This book is devastating in the best kind of way because it makes you realize that the things you think are problems really aren't. At least that's how it was for me. I think this is a hard but important book to read because it helps to understand the magnitude of this tragedy, to honor the lives that were lost, and to remember what is really important in life.

Ghost Stories

     I began reading The Turn of the Screw because it was one of the books on my "To Read in the Future" list. Once I had finished it my need for suspense and mystery had not yet been fulfilled so I thought it would be interesting to then read a ghost story written by a different author during the same time period. I am absolutely a fan of Edith Wharton. I read several of her novels in college and immensely enjoyed The Age of Innocence (earning her the honor of first woman to receive a Pulitzer Prize in fiction). I had never read a ghost story by either of these authors, but having read other works by both, I was confident that they would be impressive in their own ways.

     The Turn of the Screw by Henry James begins with friends sitting around a fireplace telling ghost stories, as was apparently the tradition on Christmas Eve. The story that everyone is most anxious to hear is told by a man that has come into possession of a woman's manuscript through a friend. The actual narrator of the story is a twenty year old woman that remains unnamed throughout the story. This narrator began her journey by accepting the position of governess to two small children, Flora and Miles, in the wealthy home of their benefactor. The governess is immediately taken with the beauty and charm of the children, though the boy is mysteriously expelled from school for unknown reasons. In fact, the job seems to be perfect until she sees the ghost of a man staring down at her from the house. She has never seen this man before and when she describes him to the housekeeper she is informed that the description matches that of the master's deceased valet.  She then sees the ghost of the children's former teacher, who was also the previous valet's lover. What is most shocking to our narrator is that the ghosts seem only interested in the children. They seem to only watch the young boy and girl which leads the governess to believe that they mean the children harm and she must therefore protect them at all times. As the story progresses it becomes obvious that we are dealing with an unreliable narrator. After situations or conversations that the reader has been privy to, when asked about such events, she appears to be making things up rather than relating the truth.  Another odd thing is that the governess is the only one that can see these ghosts. Every time she attempts to prove their existence by pointing them out to another person, it becomes clear that this narrator is alone in her visions. For me, most of this book was spent trying to decipher whether or not this woman was in fact seeing ghosts or suffering from some sort of psychotic break. To add even more confusion to the plot there also seems to be a strange sexual tension between the governess and the young boy which is a bit disturbing. By the end of the book I was convinced that this woman was seeing illusions resulting from her internal struggles, and not the ghosts of previous employees.

     The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton on the other hand seems to contain actual sightings of ghosts and other haunting disturbances. Of the stories I read I chose to discuss The Lady's Maid's Bell because there were quite a few similarities to James' story. This story tells of a young woman that has also recently taken position in a wealthy home. Hartley is the new maid/companion of Mrs. Brympton, a sickly woman that has lost both of her children. The ghost that Hartley begins to see is also a previous employee, Emma Saxon, the former lady's maid. This ghost does not seem interested in Hartley, but in Mrs. Brympton alone. After Emma Saxon died, Lady Brympton  refused to ring the bell for any future maid. Therefore, when Hartley begins hearing the bells in the middle of the night, she knows something is wrong. When she arrives at her mistress's door however the husband asks, "How many of you are there?" This must mean that the ghost of Emma Saxon greatly resembles Hartley and that she arrived as soon as the bell rang, before Hartley. The questions that stood out to me were, "How involved is this ghost with the family's daily lives?"  and "How can she be confused for a living person?". Another interesting similarity between these works is that both stories end with a sudden death. The most significant difference between these two works however is that in The Lady's Maid's Bell, several people are disturbed by Emma Saxon's ghost therefore presenting the existence of a ghost as fact whereas The Turn of the Screw is famously ambiguous and leaves most of its plot up to the reader's interpretation.
 
     As an added bonus, both books come with an author's note explaining their thoughts behind the work. The autobiographical note at the end of this Edith Wharton collection is especially interesting because she admits that after suffering from typhoid fever as a child she developed the greatest fear of all things supernatural. The following is from her note,

"I had been naturally a fearless child; now I lived in a state of chronic fear. Fear of what? I cannot say--and even at the time, I was never able to formulate my terror. It was like some dark undefinable menace, forever dogging my steps, lurking and threatening...But how long the traces of my illness lasted may be judged from the fact that, till I was twenty-seven or -eight, I could not sleep in the room with a book containing a ghost story, and that I have frequently had to burn books of this kind, because it frightened me to know that they were downstairs in the library!"

I think it is fascinating that a woman with this plaguing fear would one day overcome it and go on to write an excellent collection of incredibly haunting stories. The following illustrations are by Laszlo Kubinyi and are featured in The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton.

The Lady's Maid's Bell



Afterward

Mr. Jones

Empire Falls

    

     More often than not, when I am reading a book all sorts of questions, themes, and ideas pop into my mind and remain with me long after a book is finished. That was not exactly the case with this book, in fact I had some trouble going back and picking it up again, a rarity for me. It's not that this book is bad; on the contrary, it is actually quite intricate and affecting. Richard Russo has an incredible ability to layer in memories with present events that make the entire story come together in a profound, intriguing way.

     Empire Falls is a small town in Maine consisting of life-long residents that never quite got back on their feet after the local shirt factory closed down decades earlier, leaving many people unemployed. This town is full of individuals that did not live up to their own expectations, that think they have more figured out than they really do, and that turned out exactly as everyone had expected. Miles Roby is the central character that, much to his own chagrin, has been working at the Empire Grill for the past 20 years. His adolescent ambition was to be a professor or writer which did not pan out due to his return home from college when his mother became ill. Years later he still runs the restaurant that is owned by the wealthiest woman in town, with continued hopes that she will give him ownership upon her death. The side stories of Miles' ex-wife and daughter provide different perspectives that add depth to the central character and also illustrate Richard Russo's ability to create greatness out of the seemingly mundane. Unique characters such as Miles' dad Max, who's deepest desire is to score $500 so he can drink it away in Key West, and Walt Comeau, Miles' ex-wife's new husband that owns a health club and visits the diner daily due to his own guilt and vanity, are what develop this novel's humanity and remind us of the greatness found in small-town, blue-collar America.

     If you were to read a book after me, you would inevitably be disturbed by the markings I have placed all over the book, i.e. lines or quotes that I want to remember, questions that I have and hope are resolved in the end, etc. Shockingly, I only marked one passage of this book but the emotions were so perfectly and beautifully conveyed that I believe it provides a nice glimpse into Russo's arsenal of impressive writing.

"Today's photo was of the old Empire Shirt Factory's office staff, taken in 1966, the year before the factory closed, and the only person in the second row not looking at the camera was a young and beautiful Grace Roby. Miles quickly checked the caption below, relieved to see that his mother was among the identified, because it would have broken his heart to see a "Does anyone know this woman?" affixed to her. Still, seeing his mother so unexpectedly gave Miles a sensation not unlike the one you'd have standing on railroad tracks and feeling, or imagining, the far-off trembling of something large racing your way--not danger, exactly, unless for some inexplicable reason you were duty bound to remain right where you were. Perhaps it was the fact that Grace was not looking at the camera, but rather of at an oblique angle, that suggested she might have been listening to that same distant rumbling. If indeed it was an intimation of her own mortality she was hearing, Miles reflected, it had been closer than she thought."  (p.297)

The Time Traveler's Wife

 Wow. I kept thinking about what to say as an introduction to this post but the only word that kept coming to mind was: Wow. This novel, The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, is a complete love affair/ time traveling powerhouse. I knew immediately that I would love this book because the excerpt before the first chapter was from Rainer Maria Rilke...it was clearly meant to be a favorite. I would also like to begin this post by stating that there are not enough good things I can say about this book and I am absolutely sure that nothing I can say will in any way do it justice. You simply must read it.

  This novel tells the story of Henry DeTamble and Clare Abshire as they spend their lives together and apart. Henry (an intelligent, sometimes volatile time traveler) meets Clare (a spirited and extremely patient artist) when he is 28 and she is 20; whereas Clare meets Henry when he is 36 and she is 6. This may sound confusing, and it is, but after you adjust to the discontinuity the resulting story is an immensely powerful journey that is so gripping it makes longing and separation seem somehow appealing.

Henry is a "Chrono Impaired" individual that has no control over where or when he travels. He compares it to epilepsy, in that stress and flashing lights can often prompt these bouts of travel. Things like sex, meditation, and running help him to stay rooted in the present. Henry is unable to take anything with him when he travels so he always end up at his destination stark naked. As you can imagine, this makes things quite difficult and results in Henry's great ability to lie, steal, and run for his life.

Clare, on the other hand, seems to be the most patient and understanding woman in the world. Though it is frustrating for her, she handles being continuously left behind with such security and grace that it makes you wonder how she manages to live this way her entire life. Clare is a character of such strength and spirit, it is almost impossible to not love and admire her.

This dazzling novel will leave you completely entranced and wondering, "Why is love intensified by absence?" The following two excerpts were my favorite from the book and I feel as though they encompass the ideas and feelings behind each moment of this book.

Oh not because happiness exists,

that too-hasty profit snatched from approaching loss.

But because truly being here is so much; because everything here

apparently needs us, this fleeting world, which in some strange way

keeps calling to us. Us, the most fleeting of all.

...Ah, but what can we take along

into that other realm? Not the art of looking,

which is learned so slowly, and nothing that happened here. Nothing.

The sufferings, then. And, above all, the heaviness,

and the long experience of love,--just what is wholly

unsayable.

                                             --from The Ninth Duino Elegy,

                                                             Rainer Maria Rilke

"What is it? My dear?"

"Ah, how can we bear it?"

"Bear what?"

"This. For so short a time. How can we sleep this time away?"

"We can be quiet together, and pretend--since it is only the beginning--that we have all the time in the world."

"And every day we shall have less. And then none."

"Would you rather, therefore, have had nothing at all?"

"No. This is where I have always been coming to. Since my time began. And when I go away from here, this will be the mid-point, to which everything ran, before, and from which everything will run. But now, my love, we are here, we are now, and those other times are running elsewhere."

                                  --A.S. Byatt, Possession

Olive Kitteridge

    
     To be honest, I did not like this book at first. In fact, I stopped reading after a few chapters because I just didn't like it, and I happen to be a firm believer that life is too short to keep reading a book you do not like (obviously school and work materials are exceptions). To be fair, I did not like the book because some of the character flaws I found in Olive I recognized in myself and that is never fun for anyone. Needless to say, I was completely fine with my decision to move on to greener pastures when a friend at work mentioned that this was one of her all time favorite books. You know those people in your life that no matter what the subject, whether it is books, movies, or restaurants, you always trust their opinion? Well this friend is a trusted literary go-to. After talking with her I decided to give this novel a second go and I must say that I am glad I did. While I do have mixed feelings about this book, it is absolutely worth a read.
    
     The premise of this novel by Elizabeth Strout is the character of Olive Kitteridge as seen from 13 different points of view. The 13 stories all present a different facet of Olive, but more often than not she comes across in a less than favorable light. This is not a novel about a lovable heroine that the reader is drawn to; in fact, the author said in an interview that she wrote this novel in short story format partly because she thought the reader might need an occasional break from Olive. She was right. The piecing together of these narratives present Olive as a blunt and over-bearing wife, mother, and former school teacher. She is unapologetic, harsh, and sometimes callous with fleeting moments of real depth and insight that force the reader to wonder "Who is Olive Kitteridge?" and "How did she become this way?"

     Without taking away all of the intensity that is this novel, one central idea in this book is recognized by Olive on p.211,
"Sometimes, like now, Olive had a sense of just how desperately hard every person in the world was working to get what they needed. For most, it was a sense of safety, in the sea of terror that life increasingly became. People thought love would do it, and maybe it did."
The thoughts in this passage are reflected not only by Olive but also by the other narrators that intersect with Olive as they struggle to get by in their own lives. Loneliness is also important to this novel, as that passage suggests. While reading these stories it becomes clear that loneliness is not only the driving force that has shaped her life, it is also what continues to haunt her daily. One of the best examples of this is on p. 68,
"She knows that loneliness can kill people--in different ways can actually make you die. Olive's private view is that life depends on what she thinks of as "big bursts" and "little bursts." Big bursts are things like marriage or children, intimacies that keep you afloat, but these big bursts hold dangerous, unseen currents. Which is why you need the little bursts as well: a friendly clerk at Bradlee's, let's say, or the waitress at Dunkin' Donuts who knows how you like your coffee. Tricky business, really."
Direct interactions and revelations, like this one, were the most intriguing part of the book, for me, and they were made even more significant by the alternating storylines of the surrounding characters.

    One part of this novel that I am taking away, first and foremost, is the idea that maybe the hardships we go through in life are so we can help someone with them in the future. I think Olive Kitteridge continually illustrates this theme, despite her seemingly cold exterior. This novel is above all poignant and extremely thought provoking. Some thoughts, you may wish it had not, but it will absolutely force you to look at life in a different light. Added bonus: the vocabulary in this book was exceptional!
One review of this novel said, "Fiction lovers, remember this name: Olive Kitteridge....You'll never forget her...."
I think they may be right.

Girl with a Pearl Earring

      I love the artist Johannes Vermeer so when I saw this book, I knew it was a must read. A few years ago I went to Amsterdam and my favorite part of the trip was probably the Rijks museum. I was lucky enough to see some phenomenal works, including a few by Vermeer. Johannes Vermeer painted many portraits and the majority of the paintings were of women. The most intriguing part about a well done portrait is always the story behind it. This book Girl with a Pearl Earring is the imagined story of the girl that inspired Vermeer's most popular painting.

   Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier tells the story of Griet, a young maid that is sent to live with the Vermeer family in order to earn money for her struggling family. The story takes place in 1660s Holland and does a wonderful job of illustrating the daily life and social structures that make up the small town of Delft. The story develops as Griet  struggles to find her footing in a new environment which includes a mysterious master and his mistrusting wife, skeptical servants, and an ever expanding brood of children.

      There are many beautiful things to be said about this novel. There are many references to and images of light in this novel and the way it transforms ordinary into beautiful. The most significant quality of this book, in my opinion, is the way in which it describes art and the processes behind it. The following passage in particular breaks down the way Vermeer creates each painting; it also provides a completely new way of viewing life for Griet,

He began the painting of the baker's daughter with a layer of pale grey on the white canvas. Then he made reddish-brown marks all over it to indicate where the girl and the table and pitcher and window and map would go. After that I thought he would begin to paint what he saw--a girl's face, a blue skirt, a yellow and black bodice, a brown map, a silver pitcher and basin, a white wall. Instead he painted patches of color--black where her skirt would be, ocher for the bodice and the map on the wall, red for the pitcher and the basin it sat it, another grey for the wall. They were the wrong colors--none was the color of the thing itself. He spent a long time on these false colors, as I called them...When at last he began to add colors on top of the false colors, I saw what he meant. He painted a light blue over the girl's skirt, and it became a blue through which bits of black could be seen, darker in the shadow of the table, lighter closer to the window. To the wall areas he added yellow ocher, through which some of the grey showed. It became a bright but not a white wall. When the light shone on the wall, I discovered, it was not white, but many colors...After that I could not stop looking at things. (p.100-102)

There were two things that I did not love about this novel. The first being that the author did not foreshadow any of the events, the opposite in fact, she went ahead and told you exactly what was going to happen. I never realized how important I find foreshadowing, but apparently I am a big fan. My other problem with the book was the lack of climax. I felt like I was continually waiting for a big event that never came. On the other hand, maybe that was the idea. Maybe there was not supposed to be a groundbreaking event but rather a series of subtle happenings that create the themes of awakening and self-discovery. I, however, felt a little let down at the end because the things I had been waiting for never occurred. Despite these criticisms of the novel, I did enjoy the book and it is a good read, especially for art lovers!

The following images are some of my favorite Vermeer paintings and are quite interesting to look at and compare while reading this novel.

He saw things in a way others did not, so that a city I had lived in all my life seemed a different place, so that a woman became beautiful with the light on her face. (p. 60)