38.3k reviews for:

Kvinnene

Kristin Hannah

4.51 AVERAGE

emotional tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous challenging hopeful inspiring tense
adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

6⭐️

The Women is by far the best book I've ever read. The way Kristin Hannah writes makes you feel like you are in Vietnam with these women. Some books change you and this is one of them. I don't think I've ever felt as much emotion when reading a book as I felt with this one. I would recommend this book to everyone. It's a must read!
challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced
emotional

What a rollercoaster of emotions! So amazing and so frustrating!! As a nurse, this speaks to me, especially the traumas of every day that other people just can’t understand. I can’t imagine doing that in a combat setting. Although this did have a happy ending, it took a lot to get to it. What a testament to female friendships. So good.
emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This was one of my top two books this year. It was and exceptional exploration of the women who were integral to the Vietnam War. The way that Hannah makes you feel deep emotion through her writing is absolutely stunning -- I cried so many times throughout this book (so much I lost count). 

Frankie, our FMC, goes into war as an idealist and comes out an entirely different person. The writing about wartime, about what she had to do, the things she saw, was gutting. But equally, the friendships, the love, the way we saw Frankie fall over and over again but then get back up, was beautiful. She went through so much, during the war and after. 

I knew Ry Walsh was going to be trouble from the moment we met him, and I had a sneaking suspicion that he would come back as a POW, but I didn't predict that he would be MARRIED. I could totally understand how Frankie fell into an affair, and believe the things he was saying to her, even if from the outside, everyone could see that he wasn't being truthful and that he was never intending to marry Frankie. Seeing her make her way through that heartbreak and come out on top had me cheering for her. 

Seeing her relationship with Henry, who ultimately was a safe space for her, made so much sense after the war. Seeing her try to differentiate between safety and passion, and what love was even supposed to feel like, was deeply identifiable. I loved that in the end they were able to remain friends.

And Barb and Ethel!!!! The true MVPs of the story. To have friends like that is special and I appreciated seeing how they all bonded during the war and remained so close afterwards. 

Finally, the political sentiment woven into the story felt deeply relevant, especially with the government actively lying to the population about the things that were happening in Vietnam. It reminded me that we have been through dark times as a nation before, and that we somehow made it through. It gave me hope. 

Ugh, just everything about this story was absolutely gorgeous. I would recommend to anybody.