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wyllow303 's review for:
Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats
by Kristen Iversen
“ ‘I want to write about the two things that have frightened me the most in life’ I say. ‘Rocky Flats and Dad’s alcoholism .’ I can’t tell the story of the plant without telling the story of my family. It all seems connected” … except it’s not, in any way to anyone but the author. No one in her family worked at the plant or even gave it a second thought prior to her sister’s activism in late high school. Her father’s alcoholism, her mother’s pill addiction and staggering denial of everything bad and her severely dysfunctional family history was a completely separate story from Rocky Flats and never should have been included. Between the misplaced narcissistic memoir and halting writing style this book was very difficult to get through. It finally picked up around the halfway point when Iversen, mercifully, put most of the family drama on the back burner.
As for the sections dedicated to Rocky Flats, they are deeply disturbing and as someone who lives within a 50 mile radius, also very concerning. After reading this book and other documents, in no way do I believe this site or it’s surrounding area is safe for habitation or recreation. I’m shocked and saddened at how negligent the plant contractors and government was in operation and continues to be in both truthfulness and cleanup. It’s all about money and saving face. It’s unfathomable that developments like Candelas have sprung up directly on the border of the “Wildlife Refuge” … the people buying these homes that cost approx $1M each have to be educated enough to understand the risks. Is it willful ignorance? True ignorance? Hard to say. I’m not happy to be as close as I am but I certainly wouldn’t be hiking the refuge area or building on its border. Good luck to those who do.
As for the book overall, there is good information on the plant site once (and if) you manage to trudge through the memoir piece of this book. I would very much like to find a different book that focuses solely on the story of the plant, the cleanup and future of the site and surrounding area, but have yet to do so. I would hesitantly recommend this, with caveats.
As for the sections dedicated to Rocky Flats, they are deeply disturbing and as someone who lives within a 50 mile radius, also very concerning. After reading this book and other documents, in no way do I believe this site or it’s surrounding area is safe for habitation or recreation. I’m shocked and saddened at how negligent the plant contractors and government was in operation and continues to be in both truthfulness and cleanup. It’s all about money and saving face. It’s unfathomable that developments like Candelas have sprung up directly on the border of the “Wildlife Refuge” … the people buying these homes that cost approx $1M each have to be educated enough to understand the risks. Is it willful ignorance? True ignorance? Hard to say. I’m not happy to be as close as I am but I certainly wouldn’t be hiking the refuge area or building on its border. Good luck to those who do.
As for the book overall, there is good information on the plant site once (and if) you manage to trudge through the memoir piece of this book. I would very much like to find a different book that focuses solely on the story of the plant, the cleanup and future of the site and surrounding area, but have yet to do so. I would hesitantly recommend this, with caveats.