Synopsis

Frankie grew up with the backdrop of the “hero’s wall” of portraits of her esteemed forefathers in the regalia of their service to their country prominently displayed in her family home. When she went off to be a nurse in Vietnam, she fully expected to return home and see her portrait on that wall. Why was her service not worthy of a place of honor? Why did she not return to the same fanfare as her ancestors?

My Overall Thoughts

I didn’t really learn anything I didn’t already know about the Vietnam era, but the things I already knew was made real. I had read in books and heard my father tell me how poorly vets were treated when then returned, but it was just something I knew. This book made me FEEL it. The anger. The hurt. The outrage. The confusion. All of it. I can’t even to pretend to know how they really felt, but I have the empathy now. That is what Hannah gives me. She knows just how to evoke all those raw emotions. As soon as I started to get comfortable or at least complacent she would wrench me in another direction. This book just felt like a marathon. I was exhausted after reading it, but felt like a better person for it.

Potentially Offensive Content

language
adult situations
sex
graphic violence
mental illness
drug and alcohol abuse

What I Loved

No one can make you feel all the emotions like Kristin Hannah.

I Would Recommend This Book To

anyone who loves reading great period fiction that really puts you in the setting. This is not a light read. You need the time to be really invested.

Another gem by Hannah....even though it is focused on a very difficult topic, it was a story that needed to be told. Hannah expertly weaves history in with fictions and share about the Vietnam war and its aftermath

Kristin Hannah never disappoints. Loved this book and learned so much about Vietnam and the women who served.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I received a Digital ARC from St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I do not think I can write a review that will do this novel justice. i felt like I was in Vietnam with Frankie. Frankie, her fellow nurses, her family, and friends will stay with me.

I was surprisingly disappointed with this one! I started reading it as a digital ARC but because I was feeling no emotional connection AT ALL (somebody was shot and... it was supposed to be sad.... and I just... didn't care???) I had to put it down at 30% and wait for the audio book to be released to finish it.

The audio book DID HELP and made it better for me. It helped me actually feel an emotional connection to the characters and story line. Plus, I think the back half of the book was just more interesting of a story, but it took 200+ pages to get there which I struggled with.

The Women is easily Kristin Hannah's best - historical fiction centered on the women who served as nurses in the Vietnam War. Although it was a little unbelievable at times, the book still packs a big emotional punch and makes you care about all of the women who were forgotten through the years.

I’ve read a number of Kristin Hannah’s novels and she has yet to disappoint me. I work in a book store and I’ve been recommending this book like crazy the entire time I’ve been reading it. It had me hooked from page 1. Growing up I don’t remember learning very much about the Vietnam war so my knowledge was pretty limited. This novel made me want to research and learn every thing I could about this time in history. Reading The Women made me feel like I was transported through time and witnessing everything firsthand.
If you like historical fiction, and honestly even if you don’t, definitely pick up The Women by Kristin Hannah.

Amazing! Hannah does it again! I liked it as much, if not more than her others. I learned so much about Vietnam and my heart broke for the characters in this book.. such compelling storytelling.

Just when I think I couldn't fall in love more with another Kristin Hannah book, I read this one. I was transported on the journey with the main character from home to Vietnam and all the places she traveled. I was invested in the character and her growth into womanhood. This story touched me so deeply that I plan to read more non fiction books on this topic. Women were in Vietnam, so sad to see the way they were treated through the writing of KH. She knows how to take your heart apart and put it back together in a beautiful way with her writing. Though she leaves her mark on the end. I highly recommend this book! Thank you netgalley and publishers for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

What an emotional rollercoaster this book is! Kristin Hannah did a wonderful job of showcasing the women who were in the Vietnam War. This book does not sugarcoat how it was over there or coming back; instead, it puts a spotlight on it. This book is hard to read or listen to, but well worth the read. I listened to this book on audio, and the vivid details that you hear make you feel like you are in Vietnam.

HOLY COW!!! This book is LONG af, but i finished it in less than two days! I'd sort of stopped reading Kristin Hannah because it got to the point where i was certain her entire goal was to make us cry. Id found myself willingly not attaching to any characters so because i knew someone we loved would inevitably die at the end. I may have teared up a little, but i wasn't sobbing out loud like before lol.

We follow Frankie as she heads into the Vietnam War as a nurse where she witnessed some utterly horrible injuries, and as she came home to an America that was not only against the war, but also against those who served.

It's a love story and a friendship story. We all need an Ethel and Barb in our lives!

Kristin Hannah is an amazing author who always takes on subject matter that causes the reader to become totally enveloped in her descriptive text.
The Vietnam War is the setting for her latest. Frankie McGrath, a child of wealthy, conservative parents in California joins the Army Nurse Corps following in her brother's footsteps to defend their country against Communism. What sets this book apart from many others in this genre is the terrific writing. The expressive portrayal of the geography of the country made you imagine the horror and tragedy of a land far away where the enemy was difficult to discern.
What was even more fascinating was the graphic depiction of Frankie and fellow participants in the Vietnam War upon their return to the United States. The prose brings home the lack of appreciation and abhorrence of fellow Americans.
The only drawback was, perhaps, the unbelievable maneuvering of Frankies' romances which seemed a bit too contrived.
Fascinating all in all!

A very thoughtful and truthful book about women in Vietnam. This book will have you feeling all types of emotions. This book was so powerful and made you feel as if you were right in the war zone. A wonderful must read for 2024. The book also deals with many issues that even today we are facing as a nation.

A few years ago, I visited Northern Vietnam, where I went to a Vietnamese History Museum, which had a section on the Vietnam War (or the American war, as it’s called there). I visited the Hanoi Hilton and learned about the horrific conditions our soldiers were subjected to. I got back home and wanted to learn more about the war, but couldn’t find many legitimate sources. Under the “official” definition of historical fiction, the event must have been at least 50 years old, which means we’re right on the cusp of the Vietnam War being part of that genre. I hope The Women is just the first of many, that will hopefully bring these stories to the light.

At many times I disliked Frankie, but reflecting back, I realized that her struggle was real. I spoke to older friends who confirmed that returning soldiers really were treated with the same disdain that Frankie experienced at the airport. Her inability to receive help is no surprise as our soldiers are still treated this way when coming home from our modern wars, but it was still interesting to watch her struggle. I had a feeling about one of the male characters, that ended up being right, but ended up being more of a surprise than I had anticipated. I do like that Frankie ended up finding a way to live with the terror that she experienced. I highly recommend this read even if only to learn more about the war.

First I would like to thank NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me the ARC of this book.
I am a huge Kristin Hannah fan! I have read almost all of her books. The detail she puts in her writing is always so satisfying. You truly feel like you know her characters personally by the time you finish the story.
The Women is no different. Kristin Hannah’s attention to detail in this story was amazing!
I loved every minute of this story! It is truly unlike any other book I have read! I also learned a great deal about the Vietnam War that I never really knew before. We all have heard of this war but have never really learned about it. In school it was quickly glazed over but we never fully dove into it. I always knew the vets that returned home were never treated very well and seeing how many of them were left homeless and uncared for is alarming! But to know how many women that were there and came back were treated this badly, never taken seriously about their troubles, and definitely not given any help is absolutely disgusting! My heart broke for Frankie in this story and for all of the women just like her! I am very glad we take mental health care much more seriously these days but we still have a long way to go to make it even better! Thank you, Kristin Hannah for writing this story and bringing awareness to these amazing and brave women!

Wow. This book came out less than two months ago and already 155,000 ratings. Kristin Hannah books kind of intimidate me because they are long, hard reads. But I do think she creates great characters that you feel like you know and you want to check on them later and see how they are doing. I usually have to remind myself that they aren’t real people. I read this on flights yesterday and I sat by someone who had recently finished it. She thought it was predictable and I do agree with that.

The first half of the story mostly takes place in Vietnam. It follows Frances “Frankie” McGrath as she goes to Vietnam to be a nurse. She wants to be part of the war effort so her dad will see her as a hero, after she hears one of her brother’s friends say women can be heroes too. She wants to be more than a wife or even a night nurse. She signs up for the army to go immediately and about the same time realizes what is really happening in Vietnam.

The second half of the book is her story after she gets back and deals with the PTSD from her experience, as well as the shame people direct on her from her service. She is treated as anything other than a hero.

THE WOMEN by Kristin Hannah has secured itself among my top books of the year. I just KNOW it! Woweeewoweewow.

I loved this book. I won’t get into it much, but it’s about army nurses in the Vietnam War. Mostly following Frankie, who leaves her comfortable home on Coronado Island to be closer to her brother. I mean, how bad could the war be? The news says the US is winning. 🙄

Obviously this book made me feel mostly heartache, anger, and rage. Kristin Hannah sure knows how to make me feel feelings. I wanted to punch a certain JERK in the face. A couple times really. Oh my goodness, and the way veterans were treated (ESPECIALLY the women) made me so angry. As always, the historical accuracy was on point.

Thank you @stmartinspress for this gifted book and tote bag! Also, thank you everyone who checked up on me asking if I was ok after reading chapter 28. Thanks to @netgalley for allowing me the option to read it early!

Have you read any Kristin Hannah, and if so what’s your favorite KH book?

🖤🖤🖤

This was actually the first time I've read a book by this author and I was really disappointed after hearing all the hype about her work. As a veteran myself, I appreciated the author's choice of subject material and I did think the depth of research behind the story was palpable. But the pacing is awful in my opinion and especially given the horrific loss and trauma Frankie experiences, the emotional quality of moment after moment that the reader just blows through as the plot hurtles forward falls completely flat. Massive loss happens on one page and then on the next page the story moves on without conveying any of the depth of emotion that could have been present. Her editor should have pushed her on that. I am grateful to the author for introducing me to a few historic names of women from the era about whom I've gone on to read some very compelling nonfiction biographies.

I can honestly say that I would never have read a book about the war in Viet Nam if had not been written by one of my favorite authors. Along comes Kristin Hannah, who writes a book from the woman’s perspective of an Army Nurse who served two years in Viet Nam, and the combination of Hannah and the MC reeled me in.

War is scary and, like all wars, the war in Viet Nam was terrifying, mystifying, and traumatic for most of the U.S. Citizens who lived through it - both in the field and on returning home. Many of the descriptions are grisly and heartbreaking. Hannah succeeds in immersing the reader in a period of lost innocence, the slippery slope where blind patriotism was replaced by skepticism and the knowledge that a country’s elected officials often fail to meet the expectations of the those who elected them, the standards of honesty and transparency. The country took the lives, the limbs, the mental and physical health, and the respect of those who served. The travesty is displayed in all its “glory” in the atmospheric pages of this book.

I have rewritten and rewritten this review and realized I could never do justice to Hannah’s tour de force of a novel. Perhaps because I remember the period so intimately, the trauma of which many veterans are still living through today. I felt like I was reliving the period. The descriptions were spot on: the hair, the clothes, the music, the demonstrations, the venues….Oddly enough, I think the only thing she didn’t mention was the shuddering over of the draft lottery, and how many people scrambled out of the country to avoid (if not dodge) the draft?

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for affording me the privilege of reading this novel, in exchange for my honest review. I think everyone should read this book. Hannah presents an accurate description of the mood in the U.S. during the Viet Nam War, and complexity of many of the core issues, in a less than flattering period of U.S. history.

I was born in 1975, the end of war. Wow. I have learned so much and now want to learn more.
Heartbreaking, raw, emotional, inspiring, incredible. Kristin Hannah has written another 5-star read. This is the first historical fiction book I have ever read about the Vietnam war and it was so incredibly done. She really showed so many different characters and perspectives while also giving us a main character that I absolutely loved.
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Thank you to NetGalley & St. Martin's Press for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review!