Wow what a book. While this was very overhyped and widely popular, I still wanted to read it and had very low expectations. Overly hyped books tend to fall short in terms of plot and pacing, but this book was so good. It was unlike any I’ve read, especially since I don’t normally read historical nonfiction. I really liked how the entire book wasn’t centered on Vietnam per se, but life afterwards. I was wondering how many chapters would be devoted to her time serving as a nurse. I could’ve used a few more chapters but it was not a deal breaker. I think it was a realistic portrayal of life for women during that horrible time. It was a bit frustrating how Frankie was unable to get help and that point felt a little too extended, but it was probably pretty accurate even if a tad frustrating because times like that now are definitely not the same. The ending was good and I was definitely surprised by a few characters that came back into the picture. Overall this was a great book and I’m glad I gave it a chance. Did I cry? No. But I was fully invested.

Unlike all of Kristin Hannah's other recent publications, I really struggled to get into this one! I think this just wasn't the right time in life for me to pick this one up- I am eager to try it again in a few months, because I've gotten so many rave reviews from our patrons!

I’m calling it now, this book will be tough to beat as my favorite of the year. I’ve read countless WW2 books and several WW1 but never have I read a book about the Vietnam War. Even if this wasn’t 100% accurate, I feel like it taught me about about the war than the day we spent on it in high school and it left me going down google rabbit holes and searching for other books and movies about the war. The story itself wasn’t exactly what I was expecting (I expected the entire book to take place in Vietnam) but I loved that it showed PTSD and how veterans were treated during that era. I couldn’t put this book down and found myself walking around the house reading it instead of picking it up during quiet times.

Where to start with this book?

This was one of my most anticipated reads for 2024 and I just devoured it.

All the stars? Yes, Yes and more YES.

This book is a very touching and moving glimpse into the lives of female nurses during the Vietnam War, it shows how extremely complex and tumultuous that era was. It is set against the backdrop of a nation divided by war, politics, and social upheaval. Tracing the journey of FMC, Frances McGrath, a young woman from a privileged background who embarks on a transformative but challenging years long experience of self-discovery and resilience.

Frankie enlists as a nurse in the Army Nurse Corps against her parents wishes, especially her Father’s, it takes her from the sheltered confines of her Coronado Island mansion into the heart of a war zone. She is quickly put face to face with the brutal realities of combat medicine, and any innocence she had left is thrown out the window, and fast. She discovers the harsh truths of mortality.

I absolutely loved the writing, it was so vivid and gritty and visceral. I felt consumed by the emotional turmoil experienced by Frankie and her fellow nurses, Ethel & Barb, as they maneuver the chaos and devastation of Vietnam.

I really loved how not only were the physical and psychological tolls of war explored but also the societal attitudes towards women in the military, the despair of returning veterans, and the long lasting scars of trauma and loss. I especially liked the deep meaning of Frankie’s father’s “Hero’s Wall” in his office. The wall of veterans, but only for men.

The book really shows how one starts out with this idealism and camaraderie of war that quickly turns to disillusionment and isolation. I found Frankie’s post-war struggles to be so authentic and really showed the challenges faced by veterans struggling with PTSD, substance abuse and alienation.

“The Women” is a stunning tribute to unsung heroes, it’s a look into the heart and soul of these women, it is very much worth the emotional investment.

This book was so good. This is my second Kristin Hannah book that I've read so I'm really behind.. The story of Frances (Frankie) McGrath who is a nurse in Vietman during the war. She see the horrors of the war, and experiences the shunning and hate for her and those coming back from the war.. This book made me angry at times, and made me sad at other times. I highly recommend The Women .

I could not put this book down!

Frankie's story will grip you, tearing at your heartstrings and evoking numerous tears, as you connect with her fears, heartbreaks, pains, anger, and frustrations. You can practically hear her internal screams and the words she's forced to bottle up because nobody wants to listen.

The book takes us on a 20-year journey with Frankie, spanning two terms of her life as she struggles to save herself. Frankie's painful journey, marked by her substantial losses, her battles with addiction, and her anger toward those who betrayed and disrespected her, is portrayed with remarkable realism. You can feel her emotions; they're everywhere.

Only half of this story is set in Vietnam; the other half is about coming home and living afterwards. It's not easy to say which one is more difficult. There was no hero's welcome for those returning from Vietnam.

The characters are fully fleshed out and feel real. I felt for them, rooted for them, and cried with them. Well written, gripping, shocking, and thought provoking.

What a fantastic book! The story was amazing & the writing phenomenal. I felt all the emotions reading this book and I loved to have a historical fiction book set in time other than WW2.

The Women by Kristin Hannah is a wonderful yet heartbreaking novel about the lives of women who were nurses overseas. The amount of hate coming from their fellow Americans when they arrived back from war, is disgusting. We have this book in our library in the adult collection.

Review of The Women by Kristin Hannah

Another amazing, beautiful book by Kristin Hanna. The Nightingale is one of my favorite books of all time, but truthfully, I’ve never disliked a book by this author. The women is definitely going to be in the running for one of my favorite books of the year. It was absolutely beautifully written. It told such an important story about the Vietnam war and how veterans were treated. But even more so it’s spoke about how the women’s specifically contributed to the war and how they were treated even more horribly than the men veterans when they returned home. I was completely in this book and I never wanted it to end.

Synopsis:

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 over-whelmed 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.

With her latest novel, "The Women," Kristin Hannah once again gives us a compelling novel peopled by fully-developed characters in a beautifully-detailed historical setting, this time the Vietnam War. I found the first half of the book riveting reading: It gave me a fresh perspective on the war by highlighting the unsung role women in the Army Nurse Corps played in the conflict, and the bond between main character Frankie McGrath and her fellow nurses Barb and Ethel and their support of one another amidst the horror around them was the beating heart of the book. The second half of the novel, depicting Frankie's return home and her attempts to reconcile her experiences in Vietnam with a divided and tumultuous America, is definitely a tougher reading experience, but one made completely realistic for the reader by virtue of them having experienced the events of the first half along with Frankie. Which made me disappointed, then, that Hannah sacrificed this hard-won believability with two unrealistic deus-ex-machina sequences that seemed to exist only to move the plot along.and pander to reader satisfaction. Still, Hannah is a great storyteller, and I enjoyed the book and appreciated the spotlight it shone on the women of the Army Nurse Corps and their sacrifices.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an ARC of this title in return for my honest review.

Wow, this book was amazing! I know so little about the Vietnam War. It is crazy to me how the soldiers were treated upon their arrival home. There were definitely times I needed to wipe my eyes, because my heart was broken for Frankie and the other women.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to this book.

Kristin Hannah does it again. This story is heart wrenching in the best way with a heartwarming ending that I will remember forever.

Kristin Hannah has done it again. She tackles the Vietnam conflict from the perspective of an upper class young woman. Her thoroughness in dealing with the many facets of the time for women is well researched and presented in a meaningful context. All young women should read this and realize how much is owed to prior generations. Not only from the perspective of the war, but also on the home front.

The Women is another epic novel by Kristin Hannah. This novel follows Frankie, a nurse who enlists with the army during the Vietnam War and takes readers through the gruesome realities of medical facilities and surgical units. Frankie meets two veteran nurses, Barb and Ethel, who lean on each other throughout the war and after, when they return home and struggle to adjust especially as people across the country treated veterans, especially women, so poorly on their return.
Highly recommend!
Thank you @netgalley for ARC.

Thank you to the publisher for my advanced copy!!

This was my first Kristin Hannah book and I am so glad to have finally read one of her books! It was so tough to read about tragedy after tragedy the characters, especially Frankie, endured and all the suffering that occurred. I did put the book down a lot to read something else. As tough as it was, I am glad Hannah writes such tough books and makes us all sit with that discomfort to help us learn and grow.

I’m in awe of all these women in Vietnam endured both abroad and at home and I’m so happy I read this book during #womenshistorymonth

I absolutely loved this book! Such an emotion filled story. I truly wanted to continue reading about Frankie because I felt so drawn to her character.

Historical Fiction focused on a trio of army nurses who served during the Vietnam War in the late 1960s, their time in Vietnam and the difficulties they faced in the 70s and early 80s after returning stateside.
The parts of the novel which take place in Vietnam gave me flashbacks of the TV series China Beach.
Kirsten Hannah books have the reputation for making readers emotional. The prevalent emotion I felt in reading the second half was anger, mainly at Frankie's choices but also at the VA. I also guessed correctly at the ending, although dumbfounded that it took the completion of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial a decade later to spark that particular resolution. I had high hopes Finley was going to have the same outcome as Rye, but alas he didn't.

Well, this was easily the best book I've read this year. It almost certainly will be the best book I read for the rest of the year. You know how sometimes you read a book and it just sits with you after you're done. That's how The Women was for me. I finished it two weeks ago and am still thinking about it. I would expect nothing less from Kristin Hannah. She is a must-read author for me.

The Women follows Frances “Frankie” McGrath, who at 20 and fresh out of nursing school, volunteers to be an Army nurse in Vietnam in 1967. Frankie served two tours in Vietnam during which she had a trial by fire crash course in how to be a surgical nurse, witnessed some of the most horrific injuries imaginable, met her two best friends, and fell in love. The Women follows Frankie through her two tours, and then afterwards as she returned home to an America that was no longer supportive of the war in Vietnam and went so far as to deny to Frankie's face that women even served in Vietnam. Frankie was denied mental health support from the VA not once but twice after her return to the US. The Women continued to tell Frankie's story until the Vietnam Memorial was dedicated in Washington DC in 1982.

The Women tells an important story of the women who served in Vietnam, that I personally was not familiar with prior to reading this book. Kristin Hannah gives voice to her characters in such a way that you cannot help but get swept up with them as they follow their journeys.

10/10. I cannot recommend this one enough. It was released at the end of February 2024 so there is plenty of time to read this one before it gets voted to be one of the best of the year.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy for review in exchange for my honest opinion.

An absolutely superb historical fiction book. Frankie was a young, idealistic woman when she volunteers to join the Army as a nurse to follow her older brother to Vietnam. This book follows Frankie to Vietnam and home again, vividly describing the obstacles faced in country and on her return home. I read it in a day....I loved it. Highly recommend!

Absolutely the best book I have read this year! I love historical fiction and I had never read anything from the Vietnam era. This book checked all of the boxes for me and I could not recommend it enough!