Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

The Women by Kristin Hannah

56 reviews

horsegurl1's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, War, Grief, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Infidelity, Child death, Drug abuse, Sexism, Alcoholism, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Car accident and Miscarriage

molsreads's review

challenging emotional sad slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Sexism, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Car accident, Drug abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Drug use, Medical trauma, and War

msteasam's review against another edition

2.0

I don't understand the hype for this book at all. There were several niggling problems that blew out to be extremely frustrating and obnoxious by the end of the book.

1. The writing. Is so bad. Not only is it shallow, rote, and repetitive, it occasionally crosses the line into being melodramatic. The writing can be summed up as "this happened, then this happened, then this happened." Or maybe "chick lit with dead babies". No offence to chick lit, but the style doesn't fit the heavy and poignant tone this topic deserved.
The pacing is completely off and I was never sure how much time had passed.
It felt like every single (female) outfit was described, but most descriptions consisted of "she was wearing an oversized t-shirt and shorts with sandles". Why do I need to know this in every scene?
It almost felt like the author was struggling to convey the time period so she used the easy shorthand of just constantly naming a bunch of songs that would have been popular in the 60s and mentioning peasant tops a lot. It felt lazy and cliche.
By the end of the book we're just being told information we already know point blank? "She'd first begun journaling in rehab, at Henry's urging." "A rap session, Jill at the center had called it." - we saw all of this happen literally one chapter ago.

2. There were three love interests (and three horrible, bland romances) but not a single named Vietnamese character in the book (with the exception of a child that only appears on one page and is rarely mentioned again). Half of this book is set in Vietnam. There are Vietnamese people injured in the hospital, Frankie visits their villages to provide healthcare, she spends a couple of nights in Saigon. There are Vietnamese people in the US when she returns home. But the book completely disregards them. We're given nothing.  
At the same time, the book feels incredibly sanitised. I'm sure there was some brand of anti-Vietnamese xenophobic propaganda going on at the time, at least among the US soldiers, but there isn't anything mentioned here ourside of vague references to "Charlies". The North Vietnamese people as a US enemy are almost a non-entity. This could be set in just about any war ever with no changes needed.

3. The plot is basically a terrible soap opera featuring war, affairs, people returning from the dead (x2!!!), miscarriages, drug and alcohol abuse. All it needed was an amnesia plotline. None of these topics were handled in a way that felt legitimate. I'm not surprised at this point that the author was intending to create fictional Vietnamese places to set her book - nothing about this book feels authentic.

4. The other characters barely exist. The other nurses that Frankie befriends, Ethel and Barb, are one-dimensional cut-outs. Barb doesn't want a bar of her and they have a single scene together, but suddenly they're best friends even though Frankie and Ethel had much more time together on the page. It feels like something was cut out for length. We don't actually see these women bonding, we just know that they're ride or die best friends...out of nowhere. I understand that war and trauma cement bonds quickly, but there was next to no effort to develop this on the page.

Once again I'm an extreme outlier in option for a popular book. What I did like:
-This was very readable for such a long book.
-The way the horrible romances all ended was kind of vindicating? But I think the 'twists' were meant to be a surprise and we were meant to find the romances...romantic. so I'm not sure.
-The reaction of the public to Frankie upon returning home from Vietnam was by the most impactful thing in the book. She's expecting to be welcomed back as a war hero but quickly finds out that public opinion has turned. People spit on her and call her a baby killer, and she discovers that her parents had even lied about what she had been doing for two years. Heartbreaking.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and War

Moderate: Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Miscarriage, and Suicide attempt

jvantland's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-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

4.0

This was a hard read. I felt so beat down by the middle I had to put it down for while. The end helped weave together a lot of the loose ends and questions, but the jump 7 years into the future was a little disorienting after being SO in each moment up until then. 

It was really powerful to read this, especially the second half about the student and veteran protests, while watching a similar state violence unfold against student protests against Palestinian genocide in the US this week.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Drug use, Grief, War, Medical content, Drug abuse, Colonisation, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Death, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, and Violence

llamallama527's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring fast-paced

4.75

All in all, a pretty incredible read. I learned, I loved, my heart broke, I found myself, and so much more. At parts hard to read, a bit predictable, esp toward the end. Please check content warnings before you read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Cursing, Sexism, Death, Blood, Mental illness, War, Violence, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Drug abuse, Classism, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Suicide attempt, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Forced institutionalization, and Racism

gondorgirl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Medical trauma, Addiction, Drug abuse, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and War

Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual content, Infidelity, Suicide attempt, Child death, Infertility, Confinement, Car accident, Forced institutionalization, and Torture

kimveach's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

When I first started reading, I was worried that the hype about this book might be too much.  I'm pleased to say that I loved it.  It was fascinating, and I learned a lot about nursing in Vietnam.  Kristin Hannah's ability to make you feel like you are reliving that period is masterful.  She weaves details of music, clothing, cars, food, etc. to transport you back in time.  I hadn't realized the author was the same age as me.  Unsurprisingly, she knows how to set the stage for a book in the 1960s and 1970s.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Torture, Toxic relationship, War, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Vomit, Child death, Classism, Excrement, Gore, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Terminal illness, Violence, Car accident, Sexism, Misogyny, Self harm, Abandonment, Addiction, Gun violence, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Drug use, Grief, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

rsboquet's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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, Blood, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death, Medical trauma, War, and Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Sexism, Drug use, Miscarriage, Addiction, Suicide attempt, and Misogyny

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Car accident, Infidelity, and Forced institutionalization

ashleyjean6's review

challenging emotional informative 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

3.0

This is a difficult book to rate; it's so hard to read. Explicit and dark, but also something that should be told and read. Triggers abound! The plot is a rollercoaster; so much up and a LOT of down. I wished there was a little more good or humor to help you along, but it's a tough subject. I learned a lot. I'd definitely recommend it, if you can get through it. 

*ADDITION* 
The longer I thought about this book, the less I liked it. I've never gone back and changed a rating, but I am now. The romances, yes plural, bugged me. But honestly at the end of the day I think it was the thin, disingenuous characters that threw this whole thing off for me. It was almost a good book, but there are some major flaws here. The author is good at smoke and mirrors though, so it takes a minute to see all the gaping holes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Blood, Death, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Gore, Grief, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Child death, Mental illness, Vomit, and War

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Drug use, Addiction, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Terminal illness, Police brutality, Cancer, Classism, and Drug abuse

sharu901's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, and War

Moderate: Mental illness, Addiction, Alcoholism, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Alcohol, Miscarriage, Child death, Medical content, Death, Drug use, and Pregnancy

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Forced institutionalization, and Suicide attempt