The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Notes Part I

One passage that I found to be very interesting was found on page 19 of chapter 2.  It reads:

"...As children, Henrietta and Day awoke each morning at four o'clock to milk the cows and feed the chickens, hogs, and horses.  They tended a garden filled with corn, peanuts, and greens, then headed to the tobacco fields with their cousins Cliff, Fred, Sadie, Margaret, and a horde of others.  They spent much of their young lives stooped in those fields, planting tobacco behind mule-drawn plows.  Each spring they pulled the wide green leaves from their stalks and tied them into small bundles--their fingers raw and sticky with nicotine resin--then climbed the rafters of their grandfather's tobacco barn to hang bundle after bundle for curing.  Each summer day they prayed for a storm to cool their skin from the burning sun.  When they got one, they'd scream and run through fields, snatching armfuls of ripe fruit and walnuts that the winds blew from the trees."

I found this passage to be very descriptive in telling the reader about each of the activities that would go in to living on a tobacco farm.  I also really liked how the author said, "...a horde of others." Instead of saying a bunch or several others, she uses a word that is very descriptive and makes me think of a crowd of others.  Not only is this word descriptive but it also adds in a sence of comedy as well.  I think it will be very interesting to see how the character Day will play into the story later in the book.  

Another passage that I found pretty interesting is found on page 22 of chapter 2.  It reads:

"...Henrietta often yelled for Day, but sometimes she cheered for another cousin,  Crazy Joe Grinnan.  Crazy Joe was what their cousin Cliff called "an over average man"--tall, husky, and strong, with dark skin, a sharp nose, and so much thick black hair covering his head, arms, back, and neck that he had to shave his whole body in the summer to keep from burning up.  They called him Crazy Joe because he was so in love with Henrietta, he'd do anything to get her attention.  She was the prettiest girl in Lacks Town, with her beautiful smile and walnut eyes."

I really like this passage because it gives the reader a really good insight at what could be a very interesting love triangle between Henrietta, Day, and Crazy Joe.  Before this passage it tells us that Henrietta spends a lot of time with Day and has potential to be an interesting relationship later on.