Book Review: The Women by Kristin Hannah

Rating: ★★★★☆(4/5)

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Introduction:

Quick Facts

• Release: February 2024. Read: February 2025.
• Reading Time: 8 Hours. Had to read it in 30-45 minute blocks.
• Pages: 480
• Reading Difficulty: 3/5 – There were some medical terms that some people might struggle with but it was a fairly easy read for me. I would say someone who watches too much Greys Anatomy would be just fine.
• Format Recommendation: I read the Kindle and loved it. I don’t think the audiobook is needed to enjoy.
• Perfect for: People who love historical fiction and who are interested in a story that is both coming of age, female empowerment, and war related.
• Genre : Historical Fiction
• Spice Level: 🌶️
• Trigger Level:💀💀💀

I have been going back and forth this month (Feb 2025) between dark romances, rom coms, and now historical fiction. I hadn’t touched the genre until this month but I think I am hooked. Frankie the FMC had me invested in a way that I don’t find myself doing when I read. I physically felt hurt in my soul for her like she was a cherished friend going through these struggles.

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Summary: A Brief Overview (Without Major Spoilers)

From Good Reads:

Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she 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. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.

But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.

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What Worked for Me:

The coming of age story: This is a coming of age story set in a war zone. Frankie is green. She’s a twenty year old virgin that hadn’t really even kissed a man. She had this idealized view of her father; that he would be as proud of her service as he was her brother. She thought she was just going to go over to Vietnam in her little virgin white starched uniform and take care of people in a safe space hospital. Her world got ROCKED. She found and lost love, gained life long friends, saw trauma that would haunt her for decades, and grew from a young lady to a fully grown and even grown beyond her years woman.

The Historical Narrative: This is historical fiction and it is a sensitive topic. This was a war that many Americans were against. The veterans that came home were left traumatized and did not face a hero’s welcome. Many treated them like the enemy. In another layer, the women who served in Vietnam faced even being believed that they had served. Hannah tackled this story head on and I loved it.

Frankie: I connected with Frankie. I wanted to cry when she suffered and cheered when she started to heal. She is a gem of a character. Her naivety hurts my soul in some parts because I remember being that age and not knowing how cruel the world could be. She just wanted to make her country and her family proud. She wanted to heal others and she did heal some. She was rewarded with hate towards her service and it takes her on a PTSD filled journey of self discovery.

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What Didn’t Work for Me: Trigger Warnings and Criticisms

War Gore: There are realistic but gory scenes depicted. It’s just a trigger warning I want to make people aware of. It is set during the Vietnam War and the FMC is a war nurse. I feel like depictions of what she would see would be expected but some of the scenes made me cringe and want to vomit. It’s the fact that it’s not an unrealistic scenario that got me. It’s historical fiction but the scenes could very easily have happened in some capacity and it’s hard to stomach. War is hard to stomach.

There Were No Women In ‘Nam: It was repeated multiple times in the novel that people either didn’t believe women went to Vietnam or they did not see the equivalent of men in traumatic front line combat. The novel highlights how the women were treated when they came home. Frankie was spit on, cursed at, flipped off, and called a baby killer just on her bus ride from the airport to home. She had to deal with everything from finding out her parents had lied and said she was studying in Europe instead of serving her country, to people not beliving that women served at all, to being treated like a candy striper after having served in a war zone. It’s rough. Historically speaking there was a large part of the population who either outright opposed the war or acted like those serving were less than honorable. I think it’s a hard subject to navigate. Kristin Hannah even said the idea of the book came to her in 1997 but it took her years to want to write about such a sensitive subject.

Rye: Fuck that guy.

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Final Thoughts:

Read it! I loved it. It was a rollercoaster of a read. The last section of part two dragged a bit but the ending made up for it. I would highly recommend this novel for those wading into the Historical Fiction genre.