Author: Kristin Hannah
# of Pages: 471 (hardcover)
Genre: Adult, Historical Fiction, Romance
Rating: ★★★★★
Synopsis: Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path. As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is overwhelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets―and becomes one of―the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost. But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.
Review: “Thank God for girlfriends. In this crazy, chaotic, divided world that was run by men, you could count on the women”
A great read; somewhere between 4 and 5 stars (high 4, low 5).
Kristin Hannah gets you to learn so much about the Vietnam War without making it feel like you're learning about the Vietnam War. Instead, the reader follows the life of the young protagonist Frankie who is a nurse in the Vietnam War. Unlike other war stories that focus on the harrowing experiences during the war, The Women spends a considerable amount of time focusing on what happens to the veterans, especially the women who served, after coming back from Vietnam. The reader learns that the struggles Vietnam War veterans went through can measure up in a different way to the horrors they experienced in during the war.
For a book called The Women, I actually thought the book would be MORE focused on the women than it actually was. Yes, the reader will see women supporting women, but there's a surprisingly amount of that support through the lens of fixing the turmoil caused by romantic relationships with men. Frankie's loneliness that is seemingly not sated until she's with a man was not an aspect of the plot that I was expecting.
The start actually felt rushed, especially for how slow and repetitive latter parts of the book are during/after the war. However, I kept being drawn back to this book after I'd try to put it down, so I was engaged in Frankie's story despite her character growth and life trajectory not being clear.
Kristin Hannah does a great job at writing flawed characters. I found myself annoyed at Frankie's naivety and recklessness, but she felt more realistic because of those traits. I also actually strongly disliked qualities of most of the male characters, but in a morally grey way where some of their actions/feelings can be debated as being justifiable.
This is also not a classic underdog story; Frankie comes from a well-off military family in San Diego. Yes, she's a woman, but she definitely starts off privileged and entitled. This doesn't mean it's not a story worth telling; it's just perspective that I'm not used to reading about, and it made me feel uncomfortable (which is a good thing!).
The biggest complaint I have that some of the series of events were incredibly coincidental and unbelievable. Readers will be able to anticipate what will happen next and then find that it indeed does happen against all odds!
Overall, a well-written and engaging story with fallible characters. I would recommend this book!
