Book Review: The Women by Kristin Hannah
“The women had a story to tell, even if the world wasn’t quite yet ready to hear it, and their story began with three simple words. – We were there”. Kristin Hannah
The Women is one of the most powerful books I have ever read.
It is an extraordinary and captivating account of the role of women in the Vietnam war. Kristin Hannah has managed to take a well-trodden topic and tell a completely original story that is heart-breaking and eye-opening.
It would be the journey of a lifetime . . .
‘Women can be heroes, too’. 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. Frankie will also discover the true value of female friendship and the heartbreak that love can cause.
I know a lot about the Vietnam War; I have an understanding of what happened, I’ve studied it, read memoirs, seen multiple films, I’ve even visited the country. Throughout all of that, I’d never for a moment considered the role women played in the conflict, I hadn’t given them a second thought. The Women showed me I’m not alone in that, because these women and their service were completely forgotten.
Frankie is a young woman from a privileged background when she’s told “Women can be heroes too”. In the world she inhabits, she’d never considered there could be a different path to marriage, she doesn’t have to be a well-behaved woman spending her spare time in the country club. Her desire to earn the respect of her parents and follow her beloved brother into a warzone leads to her (rather rashly) signing up to the Army Nursing Corp. It isn’t a decision that is welcomed by her parents who are horrified.
Frankie, like many of the troops sent to fight, is little more than a child when she arrives in Vietnam a few short weeks later. Inexperienced and totally unprepared for the realities of war, Frankie is thrown into her first MASCAL (mass casualty incident) pretty much immediately and is soon questioning whether or not she’s cut out for the job.
Frankie soon builds strong bonds with the women she’ serving with. Thanks to their support and guidance from her colleagues, Frankie finds her place and becomes resolute in her mission to do some good, to bring comfort to the injured and dying, and to help the Vietnamese people caught in the middle of the conflict.
Kristin Hannah paints vivid images of war; there times I felt like I was in the operating room with Frankie. I could see the villages she visited. Against the backdrop of war, Hannah manages depict the lighter moments too; the camaraderie between the women, the celebrations when people finished a tour and that unbreakable bond between people who were there. Those ‘lighter’ moments never felt too jarring, it’s a reality of war and even during those moments of “downtime” the threat of danger was still present.
As fascinating as it was to spend two years in Vietnam with Frankie, for me, The Women really excelled in part two, when Frankie returned home.
If she was unprepared for the realities of war, there’s no way she could have foreseen the reception awaiting her at home.
It’s well documented that those returning from Vietnam were treated as pariahs; they were labelled ‘baby killers’ and were spat at for their service. Many were left with life changing injuries, struggling with PTSD, they were shunned and left with little support.
For women like Frankie, there was nowhere to turn because “they weren’t there”.
They’d seen the same horrors, they’d lost people they loved, suffered injuries, and been left traumatised, only to find themselves written out of history, their service erased. For women like Frankie, there was nowhere to turn to, no place where they belonged.
Frankie’s reintegration into ‘normal life’, is as distressing as her time in Vietnam. It’s like watching someone slowly drown. Yeah, she makes some bad decisions, she can be frustrating and isn’t always easy to like but it’s clear how much pain she’s in and how alone she feels.
Despite how badly she’s treated, Frankie never loses her capacity for love, she’s empathetic, and she still has the ability to forgive others.
The Women is an incredible read, it’s an epic story about a distressing period in history – Hannah does not shy away from the crimes committed and the uncomfortable truths about what America did. At the heart of it though, is a story of humanity, it’s about heroic women who made huge sacrifices for their country.
You can tell how much time, care and research Hannah has put into this book, it is astonishing and an untold story that will leave it’s mark on you – it’s 5 star read.
And never forget “women are heroes too”.
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radiosarahc View All
Journalist, writer, traveller, music lover, collector of hats, news addict, bookworm
Sarah Collins Bookworm 
I’m glad that you enjoyed this book as much as I did Sarah! Wonderful review!
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Thank you. It was such a good read!
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Awesome review, Sarah! I’m glad the author was able to paint such vivid imagery, which is especially important with a book like this. Thank you for sharing!
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An excellent review, Sarah. I also thought this was an excellent book and it brings to light the women who were forgotten. I agree, the second part was shocking to me and I loved the care Kristin Hannah used when she told this story.
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