A review by amateur_bookworm
The Women by Kristin Hannah

challenging emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

My summary: 

Frances McGrath grew up in a wealthy family in Southern California. Her beloved older brother is shipping off with the Navy to the raging Vietnam war. A nursing student, Frankie graduates early with the goal of enlisting with the Navy to also serve in the war.  Frankie ends up in the Army, the only branch willing to take a new nurse with no experience. After arriving in Vietnam, Frankie quickly realizes she’s in over her head and woefully unprepared as a nurse. Fellow nurses, Barb and Ethel, take Frankie under their wings and Frankie soon becomes a proficient combat nurse. But as her tour ends and she returns home, Frankie finds out that surviving Nam was just as hard as returning home—and it’s often the women in our lives that are always there to hold us together so we can keep going. 

My thoughts: 

I am absolutely not ok after reading this book. Honestly, I don’t see how anyone could be. It’s fiction, sure, but it’s really not. 

This is an incredible yet brutal story. But as brutal as the war is described, I’m sure it is still probably a puppies-and-kittens version of what it actually felt like to be in Vietnam and then suffer the lifelong after-effects of the trauma from living through it. 

If books had sponsors then this one’s should be Kleenex. I absolutely sobbed through what has to be at least half the book. Kristin Hannah’s writing is just so REAL. I felt like I was there. I felt like I was experiencing every trauma and heartbreak and unfairness right along with Frankie. And then I cried some more because it’s not just realistic fiction, it’s likely similar to many people’s true story. 

I put off reading this book for months because I knew I wasn’t ready for the emotional devastation I knew it would cause. And, yeah, it was even more emotionally devastating than I had expected. That being said, I think this is an incredibly powerful story that NEEDS to be told and put in people’s hands. I can’t think of enough accolades that Kristin Hannah deserves for such a moving story about such an important subject. 

Have you ever wondered which modern books will become classics? Which ones will win literary awards? I feel like this one fits the bill in both respects. It’s hard to think of many others that are as deserving as this one. 

I think Kristin Hannah is unmatched in her writing ability to tell this story that is so evocative and doing it in such a way that feels real while honoring the women (and men) that lived through the front lines of the Vietnam war. 

On the lighter side, I loved all the music references throughout the book. Even in some of the saddest parts, it made me smile a bit. I also loved the lifelong friendship that Barb, Ethel, and Frankie had with each other. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings