Review: The Women by Kristin Hannah

The Borrowers Book Group at Kesgrave Library share their thoughts on The Women by Kristin Hannah, an unforgettable, captivating novel to fall in love with.

Interested in reading The Women? You can borrow a copy from our online catalogue →

সম্পর্কে The Women

They answered the call. Then they fought to be remembered.

When twenty-year-old nursing student, Frances “Frankie” McGrath, hears these unexpected words, it is a revelation. Raised on California’s idyllic Coronado Island 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 path for her life. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she impulsively joins the Army Nurses Corps and follows his path.

As green and inexperienced as the young 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 America. But Frankie will also discover the true value of female friendship and the heartbreak that love can cause.

‘Thank God for girlfriends. In this crazy, chaotic, divided world that was run by men, you could count on the women’.

Book Group Review

This is a stimulating choice for discussion in a book group. Some parts are challenging to read and prompted mixed feelings, especially as we know that it was real. The book focuses on the American women who took part in the Vietnam war as Army nurses, but whose active participation was denied on their return to the US.

The trauma of what they had witnessed, and the brutality and savagery of war that they had coped with, was compounded by the failure of their service to be recognised. Lively dialogue depicts the war from young western women’s points of view, which have not been told or appreciated before.

There were some very interesting aspects of history as the research is very thorough, prompting thoughts about a war and time about which we did not know a lot. We found the politics of the US of the times, distasteful. As US citizens turned against the war, they similarly turned from hailing as heroes the returning veterans, to physically abusing them, except for POWs. PTSD was also not understood then.

A long book, which could have been edited, the relationships among the three women were very interesting and well written. The romances were predictable, but the continuing friendships and support of the women to each other were a strong feature of the book. Also powerfully written was the return to the US with the responses to Frankie of both her family and fellow US citizens.

The book reflects changing generational attitudes to women as well as Americans to America, what it does and how a society can change attitudes.

Recommendation: A really good read if planning to travel to Asia as it showed the reality of its dense jungle. The book increased our historical knowledge as well as provoking a lively discussion.