Rating: 
Summary: Atomic Farmgirl
Review: I have always been intrigued by the eastern side of Washington and its close proximity to Hanford. Shortly after reading the book, I was able to drive through the setting of the book, including the town itself. It was so beautiful with the wheat blowing in the wind. It was difficult to believe the sadness of cancer lurked in the air. A very interesting read. I have recommended the book to many of my friends in the Columbia Basin.
Rating:
Summary: Atomic Farmgirl
Review: I have always been intrigued by the eastern side of Washington and its close proximity to Hanford. Shortly after reading the book, I was able to drive through the setting of the book, including the town itself. It was so beautiful with the wheat blowing in the wind. It was difficult to believe the sadness of cancer lurked in the air. A very interesting read. I have recommended the book to many of my friends in the Columbia Basin.
Rating: 
Summary: Someone find this person an editor!
Review: Memoirs are, by nature, self-indulgent. But what made this particular book so disappointing for me, was the fact that Teri Hein had a spectacular story to tell, but it was utterly lost in the rambling, endless (and often meaningless) names and events. I started out wanting to love this book, and it WAS truly funny and endearing in parts (hence, the 3-star rating). But by the second half, I was wondering where the real "meat" was...the promise of a larger, more important story that was simply promised, never realized. Add to that the growing feeling that under all the snappy wit and intelligence, this is not a particularly nice person...her work with cancer victims aside. Perhaps she's trying to pay penance for a sometimes venomous take on people, but some of the depictions truly left a sour taste in my mouth. All in all, I hope this author takes another stab at writing, but I hope she finds a much better editor the next time out!
Rating: 
Summary: Our past is here with us
Review: Teri Hein is a wit. Her writing, like her perceptions about life, is sharp, insightful, and full of joy. ATOMIC FARMGIRL is not just a nostalgic look into the lives of people who worked and laughed their way through struggles on a western wheatland. Here is a book about all of us who found our way through adolescence and tried to understand the adults around us. When I was half way through the book I found myself wanting to slow down, not wanting to reach the end this captivating narrative. Hein better be working on her second book because her readers will be wanting more.
Rating:
Summary: Atomic farmgirl - a tribute to rural family courage
Review: Teri Hein's book about growing up downwind of Hanford is a gem. Clean, honest recollections are buoyed up by elegant research into the area and the families that lived there. The facts are presented and the reader is allowed to draw his/her own conclusion about the impact of radiation exposure from Hanford. A gripping read that everyone in Washington should have in their library.
Rating:
Summary: Atomic farmgirl - a tribute to rural family courage
Review: Teri Hein's book about growing up downwind of Hanford is a gem. Clean, honest recollections are buoyed up by elegant research into the area and the families that lived there. The facts are presented and the reader is allowed to draw his/her own conclusion about the impact of radiation exposure from Hanford. A gripping read that everyone in Washington should have in their library.
Rating:
Summary: The pleasure of the wheat, pain of the lies
Review: Teri took me back to the wonder of early spring greening fields, unmatched in color anywhere in nature, and followed the wheat to harvest. All glorious in my memory, rekindled with her words. She shares her family that watches TV together, a marvelous new pastime back then, then shows us the slow dying of family, neighbors and friends. Luckily Teri chooses not to hammer the indisputable facts of Hanford poisons, but weaves it into this enhanced life story, rather like following the wheat from plowing to harvest. Easy to read and like warm bread with fresh bread to this reader.
Rating:
Summary: a funny, touching, and powerful book that hits close to home
Review: The debate over the Hanford Nuclear reservation, and its effects on the environmental, medical, and spiritual health of the land and the people of the Pacific Northwest has been raging for years. Teri Hein puts a face, I should say, puts faces to that debate as she weaves a touching true story of growing up on a farm downwind from Hanford, where her family and surrounding families must live with the health effects of the nuclear age. It's a story of the land, the people, and the forces which can bring the ugly and tragic to the serene and beautiful. Don't pass this book up. As funny as it is sad. A quick read, that will not fade quickly.
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