The Women by Kristin Hannah

April 8, 2024

This book explores the Vietnam War era through the eyes of one woman, Frankie McGrath, who serves as one of the few army combat nurses in Vietnam. The imagery is intense, and I felt and related with her emotions very strongly. This could be because I was actually alive as a child during the Vietnam War. I remember how people and families at that time thought and felt. I remember the complete disillusion people felt with the president and the U.S. government.

What an overwhelming change this nation was going through! I remember the fear many people felt when they talked about the “Vietnam Vets” and their mental problems. I remember the protests and intense involvement felt for the first time by the mass of young people of that age against the powers that be. Reading this story brought me to authentic tears and anger.

Frankie’s lack of emotional response at her brother’s death in Vietnam can be easily understood when you remember the mores of the early 1960s. Outbursts of emotion were not welcomed, especially among the upper classes. Women were charged with keeping peace in the family.

While it would have been great to know more about the other characters in this story, especially the other nurses, this simply isn’t a story about their experience. It is a story about Frances McGrath’s experience as a combat nurse. All the other tangents would have been impossible to pursue without turning this into a saga. In fact, everyone who has ever been in combat comes away with a different experience, different traumas. 

This is Frankie’s story.

In regard to her romantic involvements, again, we have to remember that she was just a kid with absolutely no experience in that regard. I applaud her morality in refusing a married man, while I feel deeply her loneliness in the heat of battle when you just want somebody, anybody, to feel alive again. I cried as she was unable to connect after returning stateside. I was so angry when she was lied to and left heartbroken.

I admire this story because it tells about how one woman survived. It shows that when you have other women as true friends, despite differences in background or location, that friendship can help save you. It tells of how Frankie overcame the many disasters of those war years and the years to follow. This is a story of those times. It is colored by those emotions and those experiences.

If you are looking for a romance, this is not the book for you.

If you are looking for characters who have the same feelings as we do today, this is not the book for you.

But if you are looking for an authentic trip to 1965 – 1982, you will love this book. I know I did.