A review by athenatran
The Women by Kristin Hannah

2.5

• This book is titled “The Women” and then focuses TOO MUCH on men for my liking.
• Thought this would be a historical fiction centered on different women, but rather got the story of (1) woman and her multiple relationships
• There was so much potential with her best friends Barb and Ethel, but they tended to just serve as “life savers” for Frankie. Overall the supporting characters in this story were hardly dynamic in my eyes. 
• Not a single Vietnamese character, which I found odd. 
• Why did we bring back not one, but TWO male love interests that we thought were dead. 
• Minus 0.5 stars for making me read “The woman at the desk was beautiful in an exotic way.”
• “It broke Frankie’s heart to think of how many orphans were being made by this war. Who would care for these children and babies when it ended?” I dislike when the emphasis gets placed on babies/children in context of war when the *adults* did not deserve to die either. Always feels like a “perfect victim” narrative to get people to care.
• “More Vietnamese were dying, leaving their children alone in the world. The tragedy of it all was overwhelming.” Dislike the passive voice here. The Vietnamese were being killed, and then phrasing as “leaving their children” hints at a blame to them. Odd phrasing choice to me. 
• I did like learning about a nurse’s perspective when she was serving. The first half of the book felt stronger to me.
• I felt like the story had so much potential and was important to tell, but I’m left dissatisfied with the execution. 
• Minus 1.0 stars for surprise pregnancy that was framed as “going to save her” 
• Henry reappearing at the treatment facility was a… choice. Again, it constantly felt like her experiences/encounters with her 3 love interests were always driving the story and that felt disappointing.