The Women by Kristin Hannah
(Format used for this read: Audiobook)
An intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided.
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 over- whelmed 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.
I placed this new release book on hold in my Libby library app, thinking it was my monthly book club’s pick for the month of April.
Since I’m currently in a show and have been busy AF with rehearsals (we open TOMORROW!) and about to be busy with show runs, I was trying to get ahead of the game to be sure I was all read up for our next meeting.
Annnndddddd wouldn’t ya know….after I finished it, I realized that this is our book pick for MAY.
Talk about reading ahead 🤣
I’ll have to read my own review to remind myself what I thought before we meet for that discussion 🤣
Anyway.
I knew going into a Kristin Hannah book that it would probably be an emotional read. I have read her stuff before and there are always some tears involved.
Plus, knowing the subject matter of this book was the Vietnam war I knew this would not be a “breezy” read either.
I knew it would be heavy, and raw, and hard to take in at times.
And I was very right about all that.
I have said before that one of the reasons I enjoy historical fiction is the opportunity to learn about real history while I’m reading an imaginary story.
I had ZERO idea that any women served in ANY capacity in Vietnam…but they sure did.
90 % of women served as nurses in active combat zones…and the main character in this book was part of that group.
Even though these women were not engaging in actual combat themselves, they were witness to many of the atrocities that happened on the front lines and also suffered many of the same emotional and physical traumas as the men who did. They performed millions of amputations, stitched up massive wounds, and held the bloody hands of those who weren’t going to make it. Their work and presence was a blessing to so so so many…..and was completely underappreciated.
And when their service to their country was complete and they came home a mental, physical and emotional MESS, there was hardly any proper care available for them.
Services were not provided to address or assist ANYONE’S trauma. The American public ostracized them.
It was extremely bad for the male veterans that came home….but for the women, it was even worse. Their peers didn’t even consider them “real veterans”.
As you can guess, there are many many complicated layers in this story….it took me longer than usual to get thru it because I just could not listen in large amounts as I usually do with audiobooks.
This story follows one woman, Frankie, from her time as a young recruit to her years following her return…the struggles she has throughout all her years as well as the traumas and also her relationships.
The one thing about this story I found a *bit* annoying was the “romance behind the front lines” situation…it just seemed a little too cliche for historical fiction.
But whatevs. I mean, she was a naive young woman when she joined up so I guess it wasn’t EXTREMELY far fetched….but STILL.
The rest of the story I felt had good perspective on what serving your country in war time can do to you physically and emotionally, how the government can fail it’s own people, how complicated it is to serve yet at the same time be against the war you are participating in, and also the severe effects untreated PTSD can have on a person, their family and society at large.
Kristin Hannah did her homework very efficiently when she wrote this story…at the end she talks about all the real life Veterans she spoke with to create this story, as well as those who also helped her edit it to keep it as realistic as possible.
I absolutely recommend this read, but know that it is one that weighs heavily….as it absolutely should.