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Reviewed by: Kathy Jaccarino, High School Librarian Title: The Women Author: Kristin Hannah Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Year: 2024 Good for Grades: 10-Adult Genre/Type of Book: Historical Fiction
Content Warnings, or things that other School Librarians should be aware of: Some drug use and very graphic description of war Recommended for a school library: Yes Reason(s) for choosing the book: I have read other books of Kristin Hannah and enjoy her work- Nightengale, The Great Alone, etc...I also thought the topic of this book was very necessary- women in the Vietnam War. If you were tasked by the publisher with writing a short quote for the back cover of this book, what would it be: Hey, they were there. They are heroes too.
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Review:
Kristin Hannah’s novel, The Women, is the story of one woman’s coming of age during the turbulent times of the Vietnam War. It is the story of Frankie McGrath, a well-to-do socialite, who graduates nursing school during the Vietnam War. Her beloved brother, Finn, graduated from the Navel Academy and goes off to Vietnam. At his going away party his friend Rye, says to Frankie, “Girls can be heroes too.” His words resonate with her. She is inspired, and at this point she realizes that she needs to do more and enlists in the Army (the only branch that will take her with no clinical experience) to join her brother Finn for a “grand adventure” in Vietnam. Before she deploys, she learns that Finn has died in action. Her parents are devasted and place her brother’s picture on the “wall of honor” in her father’s office…along with the other MALE members of the family that have served. Frankie arrives in Vietnam woefully unprepared! It takes time and much training to develop into a “kick ass” surgical nurse. While in Vietnam she meets two women, Barb and Ethel, who become each other’s lifelines during their time in the trenches, and when they get home. In Vietman, Frankie loses two men she loves- one she thought she would marry. After two years as a nurse in an army hospital, one on the front, she comes home.
The second part of this book is Frankie’s story of trying to adjust to life after Vietnam, her trials start in the airport when she arrives back in the states as she is spit upon, and are magnified when she gets home and realizes her parents told everyone that she was in Florence, for a study abroad program. They were embarrassed that their daughter joined the military- no place on the wall of honor for her! Thus begins the struggles Frankie suffers because of this very unpopular war, whose horrors were never truly exposed. Ethel and Barb continue to be there for Frankie as she suffers from what we now know of as PTSD. I think the hardest part of her journey, to me, is when she reaches out to the VA centers for help, and is twice told to leave, women didn’t serve in Vietnam! Events and hardships in Frankie’s life vividly illustrate the struggles veterans suffer- from addiction to miscarriages- life is not easy for Frankie until ultimately, she gets the help she needs.
I love that Hannah has shared the mostly untold story of these women in Vietnam. In the author’s notes she lists several non-fiction books about these nurses that she used for research. I am interested in exploring them. I think this would an excellent book to use in a US History class to explore the turmoil of this period, in addition to women’s rights and civil rights. I could see it being on a list of historical fiction novels that students could read to supplement the curriculum.
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