Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

The Women by Kristin Hannah

312 reviews

bringmybooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

✨Bring✨ | Borrow | Bypass

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, & Macmillan for the opportunity to read and review this book before it's publication date! This in no way affected my review, opinions are my own.

Review: One of my favorite authors, Kristin Hannah continues to prove that she has an unbelievable way with words. It's unbelievable how quickly she sucks you into a novel and makes you care so much about all of the characters. There are parts of her books (especially her more recent ones) that are a bit melodramatic and require a bit of suspended disbelief, but to be honest I don't know that it bothers me so much. 

While there is a bit of heightened drama on the interpersonal side, the research and care that Hannah provides to the historical aspects of her novels is top tier and so welcomed. I feel like I learned a ton about the Vietnam War that I was not aware of before (mostly the women's experience of it), and I was very grateful for this book so that I could do more of my own research. 

I did really enjoy the characters in this novel, even when they're making the most piss poor decisions - but my favorite part of the novels, and pretty much all of Hannah's novels, is the way she writes relationships between women. I do think this book is her penultimate example of that, and the relationships between the Frankie and her two best friends will stick with me for a long time.
 

Overall Rating: ★★★★★ / 4.63 
 
Rating each element of the book out of 5★ 
Characters ★★★★ 
Atmosphere ★★★★★ 
Writing ★★★★ 
Plot ★★★★ 
Intrigue ★★★★ 
Logic ★★★★ 
Enjoyment ★★★★ 
Pacing ★★★★ 
Dialogue ★★★★ 

★ did not like / ★★ it was okay / ★★★ liked it / ★★★★ really liked it / ★★★★★ loved it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Drug abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Addiction, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Infertility, Torture, Miscarriage, Murder, Child death, Cursing, Drug use, Pregnancy, War, Alcoholism, Cancer, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Self harm, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

ashrad's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

2 stars because I finished it, but it’s not for me. I felt compelled to finish it- who knows why!? It was too sad and too long. I really didn’t like any of the characters. There were moments that made me tear up a bit because of (what I’m assuming is) historically accurate depictions of how veterans and veteran women were treated after coming home from Vietnam and all the fallout of the terrible atrocities they witnessed.

The fact that not one, but two, of Frankie’s loves were presumed dead and were actually alive really had me rolling my eyes. I also hated that so much time in the second half was spent on Rye… would have been great if that part of the book didn’t exist. Like I get she had to “hit rock bottom” but don’t you think all the trauma she experienced (literally the entire book) was enough to get there? And then when Jamie showed up at the end… Come on… 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Violence, Child death, Death, Medical content, War, Grief, Gore, and Addiction

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Miscarriage, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Car accident

ksanderss's review against another edition

challenging emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Deportation, Blood, Addiction, Drug abuse, Medical content, War, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Child death, and Violence

jessiedoodah's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, War, and Sexism

Moderate: Suicide, Misogyny, Miscarriage, and Addiction

Minor: Alcoholism and Car accident

jeggert10's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Toxic relationship, Child death, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Alcohol, Drug abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Pregnancy, Racism, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Cursing, and Miscarriage

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Torture, Abortion, Cancer, Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, Police brutality, and Rape

jclanders's review

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Violence, Medical trauma, and War

Moderate: Miscarriage, Child death, and Addiction

mkl18's review against another edition

emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Addiction, and War

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Miscarriage, and Child death

lyshreads's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Words cannot fully express the emotional rollercoaster I wear on with this book. As a military spouse, in an era of harsh criticism towards those going to war, this story hit hard.  It was hard, heartbreaking, beautiful and eye opening. I grew up with stories of my grandfather's service and later worked at a real estate company owned by a Vietnam veteran. This shed even more light on the world they faced coming home. I cannot recommend this book enough. You may want a box of tissues to go with it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Medical trauma

Moderate: Addiction

Minor: Miscarriage

booklvrkat's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad 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

5.0

“The women had a story to tell, even if the world wasn't quite yet ready to hear it, and their story began with three simple words. We were there.” 

 

How do you write about a story that is so excellent, one that is jammed in your brain, which was considered a book club read for the #governerdbookclub, and emotionally jolted you into the past? I have been pondering on this for a week now, and I still don’t have the answer, so I will offer you my reasons that you should read it, and my feelings on the story. 

 

·         Historical Fiction that reads like a true account 

·         Vietnam War, behind the scenes of a hospital 

·         Women in the war, particularly the nurses 

·         The absolute profound descriptions of the MCs life before and after 

 

Truly, I will recommend this story to anyone that needs something new in their reading life, to bump you out of a slump, and to remind you that women have come a long way since this war. Women stand for plenty in this country, this book proves it, and we need to stand strong for everything they did for this nation. I could pick up this book, pick a chapter, and fall right back into the story, Kristin Hannah blew it out of the park for me, and I was already a fan. 

 

“Women can be heroes.” 

 

CW/TW: War, Violence, Addictions, Miscarriage, Suicide Attempt, Infidelity 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Violence, and War

Moderate: Addiction

Minor: Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Infertility, Suicide attempt, and Miscarriage

your_geekygf's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The only reason it doesn't get a 5 is the main character is a nurse and some of the medical descriptions/narratives recalled kind of went over my head because I am not a nurse and am squeamish 😅

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, War, Medical content, and Violence

Moderate: Suicide, Alcohol, Addiction, Death, and Miscarriage

Minor: Infertility, Cancer, Drug use, Car accident, Child death, and Torture