The books we are reading this semester are looking to be similar in nature, but different in style. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is the story of poor black women. Whose family is exploited by the medical field. Set in the 40’s through present time. The book explores racism, sexism, education and the government’s exploitation of black people. Some of the legal and socioeconomic topics covered in Henrietta lacks are still resonating today.
Zeitoun is similar to Henrietta Lacks in some very basic ways. First the racism we had will be similar but not the same, because of the time and race. Zeitoun is Arab and Henrietta was black. After September 11th Arabs have been the most resent victims of racism. In the last century it was Black and Hispanic people who suffered the brunt of racism. So I can tell this will be an issue already. You also have two kinds of poor. Henrietta is poor, poor. Zeitoun is, I have so many bills and don’t make enough money to pay them, kind of poor. Now I haven’t read past page 28 but I know Zeitoun is going to get screwed by the “man” just like Henrietta did. So they have that in common also.
The difference in the writing style is noticeable right from the start. Dave Egger the author of Zeitoun has an easier to read style. Egger’s is telling a story a kind of talking to me, in simple easy to understand language. Rebecca Skloot author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks uses a combination of narrative and journalistic fact. It’s hard to understand some of the conversations. The story is more like a research paper then a novel. Not that I didn’t like The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks. I just had a little trouble following the who’s who.
Both of these books look to be good reads. The first was an up down story of triumph in the face of adversity. The second will hopefully be the same.
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