Monday, February 26, 2024

The Women

The Women
by Kristin Hannah
St. Martin's Press, 2024. 471 pages. Historical Fiction

Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances "Frankie" McGrath hears these unexpected words, it is a revelation. Raised on idyllic Coronado Island, California, and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing, being a good girl. But in 1965 the world is changing, and she suddenly imagines a different choice for her life. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, Frankie impulsively joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path. As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is overwhelmed by the chaos and destruction of war, as well as the unexpected trauma of coming home to a changed and politically divided America.

Kristin Hannah is known for writing richly detailed, dramatic historical fiction focused on women's lives and experiences, and this book is no exception. If you've seen the television show M*A*S*H you'll have an idea of what Frankie goes through, but I appreciated that this book was not only about her experience in Vietnam as a highly capable casualty nurse; this book also covered her experience after the war. Frankie comes back to a home where people are ashamed of her service. My heart broke for Frankie as she dealt with the horrors of war, and the way she floundered when she returned home, dealing with undiagnosed PTSD. Although this book is not a cozy read, it is a compelling one, and one that will sit with me for a long time. I highly recommend it.

If you like The Women you might also like:

by Alice McDermott
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2023. 324 pages. Historical Fiction

As she exchanges letters with the daughter of her former mentor, Tricia recounts her experience maneuvering in the social politics among the American families stationed in Saigon leading up to the Vietnam War.


The Fire by Night
by Theresa Messineo
William Morrow, 2017. 306 pages. Historical Fiction

In 1940s war-torn France, Jo McMahon singlehandedly struggles to keep her patients and herself alive in a cramped and freezing tent close to German troops. She fights to hold on to joyful memories of the past, to the times she shared with her best friend, Kay, whom she met in nursing school. Half a world away in the Pacific, Kay is trapped in a squalid Japanese POW camp in Manila, one of thousands of Allied men, women, and children whose fates rest in the hands of a sadistic enemy. Surrounded by cruelty and death, Kay battles to maintain her sanity and save lives as best she can, and live to see her beloved friend Jo once more. When the conflict at last comes to an end, Jo and Kay discover that to achieve their own peace, they must find their place—and the hope of love—in a world that's forever changed.

MB

1 comment:

  1. LarissaApril 11, 2024 at 9:34 AM

    I just finished listening to this audiobook and it is, by far, one of the best books I've read in the past few years. What an incredible mashup of beautiful characterization and horrifying, realistic history. My parents were children during the Vietnam War, and it has been very interesting to talk to them about their opinions/memories of what America was like during that time. I feel unsurprisingly disgusted by the way that Vietnam veterans were treated upon returning home to the United States, and I also feel unsurprisingly furious that an estimated 10,000 women served in Vietnam and received no support after returning home. This book is a must-read!
    ~LKA

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