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A review by leslie1187
The Women by Kristin Hannah
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This was an emotionally thought-provoking and inspiring novel. The women who served in Vietnam, particularly the nurses as highlighted by Frankie and her friends, were forgotten even more than their male counterparts. Often told that there weren’t women in Vietnam because they didn’t witness combat. But women still saw the horrors, especially the nurses who treated the injured. Frankie’s story is one that resonates the military nurses who are told to forget and still suffer nightmares from the trauma they witnessed during their service.
It shows that the military women were just as affected by PTSD, a relatively new term/findings of that era, as the men who fought in the battles. We watch as Frankie struggles after returning home, haunted by nightmares and disrespected by fellow Americans when she first touched back down to American soil.
She slips into a dark place for a time, only surfacing after reaching her rock bottom and being admitted into a rehab clinic by her parents. From there, her healing takes her to the mountains to settle on a ranch and ultimately create a place for the women who served in Vietnam to have a place to land. Where they can come together to heal through talking about their experiences.
It shows that the military women were just as affected by PTSD, a relatively new term/findings of that era, as the men who fought in the battles. We watch as Frankie struggles after returning home, haunted by nightmares and disrespected by fellow Americans when she first touched back down to American soil.
She slips into a dark place for a time, only surfacing after reaching her rock bottom and being admitted into a rehab clinic by her parents. From there, her healing takes her to the mountains to settle on a ranch and ultimately create a place for the women who served in Vietnam to have a place to land. Where they can come together to heal through talking about their experiences.