My thoughts

OMG this book was good. Right up there with all of this author's books. It's about a time that I have not read a lot about but was born during. The Vietnam War... The Women of Vietnam. And yes they were there. A very emotional book.

I think this author did a perfect job of making this story flow right off the pages into the heart. Making you feel the pain that these people felt upon returning from Vietnam. The struggles that they all felt but mainly the women who were told repeatedly that "there were no women in Vietnam." Yes there was. In this story they are the brave nurses that worked hard to help the men who were brought in to be sewn up or operated on. Holding a hand while they died. Watching as women and children from the villages were brought in burnt and wounded from a war that they wanted no part of. The emotional turmoil that these women went through, both over there and back at home.

This story tells the story of Frances McGrath. Also called Frankie. It's her story from beginning to end but also tells about some of the friends she made while serving her country. Other nurses, Doctors, soldiers. The Many things she learned about life and especially herself. She was only twenty-one years old when she arrived in Vietnam. Scared and lonely. Not knowing what to expect except what she was no prepared for it in any way. Frankie learned though. She was a good nurse. One of the best. She had two close friends in Ethel and Barb. They became lifelong friends/sisters. She lost so much over there. Friends. Loves.

Coming back to the states was so hard for Frankie. The way people treated her was atrocious. Deplorable. Pretty awful considering she was a vet returning home from a war that should not have been. Even worse was the way the young boys that were shipped right out of high school were treated upon return. They were called names. Spit on. Shunned. Suppose to be silent about Vietnam. Now the same things happened to the women but for some reason it seemed worse for these kids because our country forced the boys to go. Took away their youths. Their lives in so many cases. It was an ugly time for all that served.

Then you get to see how Frankie coped after returning. All she went through. And repeatedly told that women didn't serve in Vietnam. Well they did. They came back with many of the same horrors the men did. Some with even more wounds. The kind you can't see but they are there.

Many of the homeless in this country are vets. From many wars but mostly the Vietnam war. This country literally turned their backs on these women and men. They fought for recognition. To be heard. To be helped. Yet it seems they are still fighting in many ways.

Quote from the book:
1974... "Civil rights and women's rights were a constant battle and the Stonewall riots had put gay rights in the news, too."
Think about that. In 1974 and in 2024 it's almost the same thing and seems to be going backwards at an alarming rate. We all have the right to live in a free country and be treated with respect. Equals.

Thank you #NetGalley, #kristinhannah, #stmartinspress, for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.

FIVE stars and I'd give it more if possible. It's so good.

4.5 stars rounded up. The Women opened my eyes to the women who served in the military during the Vietnam War (and despite living in DC, I didn't know there was a memorial on the Mall devoted to their service). While the book covered topics that weren't always easy to read about, it was compelling and moved quickly. Thanks to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC.

This is the story no one wanted to hear or think about - it’s about the women who went to war in Vietnam despite so many saying there were no women in Vietnam - this is about being erased and how even as vets they weren’t given the consideration that the men did. It’s about lasting friendships and bonds formed quickly in horrific circumstances.

The Vietnam war was protested, the soldiers spit on when returning home, the USA did not treat them with the respect they deserved after serving their country. The military has no say on whether they fight or not so the protests and treatment of these vets only made their already horrific war time experience worse. However the men had the advantage of help from the VA, the POW's were seen as heroes returning home but he women, the nurses and volunteers who were there seeing the broken bodies and minds of young men - who worked under some of the most basic and difficult circumstances were cast aside and forgotten.

This one will stay with me for a long time - bring your tissues and prepare to have your heartstrings tugged. Brilliant and powerful Kristin Hannah was the perfect person to bring this story to light as historical fiction. If there is any of her works that would make a brilliant and moving movie this would be it. The stories of these brave women is one that needs to be brought more attention.

Kristin Hannah has done it again. This may just become my favorite of hers. I loved this book for so many reasons. I didn't know the history of women serving in Vietnam during the war and this was so eye opening and intriguing. The scenery and emotions Hannah evoked throughout this novel was nothing short of incredible and it had me enthralled the whole time. It was heartbreaking and beautiful all at the same time. I loved the female friendships and empowerment throughout the novel. All the female characters were wonderfully portraited and you couldn't help but love them all. Frankie, the main character, was so well developed and through her ups and downs I was constantly rooting for her.

I read a lot of books and this is one of the best I've read in a LONG time.

THE WOMEN
Kristin Hannah

THE WOMEN is Kristin Hannah’s latest piece of historical fiction, this time focusing on the women who served in the Vietnam War.

In THE WOMEN we are following Frances (Frankie) McGrath, a Vietnam combat nurse. We follow Frankie through every war, every love, and everything that felt like both.

Told in part through letters between Frankie and her friends over the years. Frankie sharing parts of her life she felt able to disclose, withholding everything else. Others wanting her to move on- her unable to.

Let's talk about a few of the things I thought were exceptional in THE WOMEN by Kristin Hannah.

Kristin Hannah builds attachment to characters swiftly and fluidly, and it feels effortless. The writing is exceptional and extremely easy to read. It is historical but not the boring historical fiction you’re used to. The story is fascinating and feels like a much-needed change in the topic of conversation.

The forgotten women of Vietnam are the needed reminder that we are living history. That every breath taken today will be a moment in time written about tomorrow. THE WOMEN is challenging and rewarding and one of the best pieces of historical fiction I have read lately. I recommend it to fans of the genre and those wanting to jump in feet first.

I was thankfully provided an audiobook copy and my exceptional reading experience was due in part to Julia Whelan’s performance. She shines with Hannah’s material.

Thanks to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press, and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copies!

THE WOMEN comes out on February 6, 2024, and is available for pre-order where books are sold.

THE WOMEN…⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Women written by Kristin Hannah is much more that a book about the Vietnam War. It is also a tribute to the women who served in the war and were not given the recognition that they deserved. I am embarrassed to say that I am the same age as the author and knew almost nothing about this war.
Francis, (Frankie) McGrath decides to enlist as a nurse when her brother goes to Vietnam. The first half of the book takes place in two MASH units in Vietnam. The descriptions of the bombings, attacks, the wounded American and South Vietnamese are vivid. The second half of the book deals with the Vietnam Veterans returning home to war protests and trying to assimilate back into their lives.
The Women is riveting, filled with an abundance of factual information. Ms. Hannah did extensive research. In the author's note, she mentions that the idea for this book began many years ago. Kudos to Kristin Hannah for writing this marvelous, compelling, difficult to put down novel! Five stars all the way! Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advance readers copy of this "must-read" novel!

Kristin Hannah has outdone herself with her latest novel, The Women.
Covering a topic in history rarely talked about, women who served in Vietnam, this book is both eye opening and heartbreaking.
The story follows the life of Frances "Frankie" McGrath as her brother ships off to Vietnam and she ultimately follows him. We watch as Frankie becomes a skilled nurse while struggling through the horror of war.
When she returns home she is devastated to learn that most of the country do not even acknowledge that women were in Vietnam, let alone appreciate them.
Frankie battles PTSD, addiction and more as she fights to regain her life.

I expected this to be a really good book. It was even more. Ms. Hannah has taken a subject very few know much about and educated the reader about a very painful time for our country. I was thirteen when the Vietnam War ended. I was aware of the war but certainly never had the insight into what those who served went through, much less how traumatic it was for the women who served.

The story of Frankie's service as a nurse, her return home, and her resuling PTSD was deeply emotional and filled with despair. It was definitely not an easy story to read, but such an important story to read. It makes you stop and ponder your own beliefs about the war and those who served their country and were ridiculed for it. It made me stop and think about my husband's service in Afghanistan and his resulting PTSD (and yes, they really do wind up on the floor during nightmares). It makes me wish I had spent more time listening to him when he came home. This story has made me determined to listen to him more about his service and ask questions.

Thank you for this book, Ms. Hannah.

I listened to the amazing audio version of this book narrated by Julia Whelan, who did an amazing job, mixed with reading the book.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for the gifted copies. All thoughts are my own.

I am not old enough to know the Vietnam war in real life so I only know what I’ve been taught in history class. Reading this book was eye opening for me. I knew vets were not treated well when they returned home but had no idea how much worse women were treated. Frankie became a real person on these pages. Her experiences were powerful and she is not a perfect person. I’m glad this book has been written not only as a great read but a great way to teach us a little about history.

I never thought another Kristin Hannah book would top The Nightingale, but this one might. Cried throughout. The female friendships 🥹😍😭 the horrific realities of war and the aftermath 💔💔😭😭 the terrible homecoming back in America 😭😭💔💔 this book brought it all to life in the most incredible way. 5+/5 ⭐

I have to start this off with some personal background- I have a one year old baby and since he was born I went from reading 100 books a year down to 25. I read this book in two days!! It completely broke my slump. I really didn't have a grasp of the day to day reality of what it was like serving in Vietnam, nor did I completely understand how cruel Americans were to the returning heroes. Hannah once again completely immersed me in a time period and historical event I really should have known more about. I loved the Nightingale and Great Alone (and Magic Hour from her earlier work), but I think this officially takes the cake as my #1 Kristin Hannah book. Five stars!!!

A BIG thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's press for advanced copy for honest review.

I'm sure you know, Kristen Hannah needs no introduction. And I am also here to tell you The Women will be another be hit! Book clubs get ready for this one! Surprise - two book subscriptions book clubs have this on their radar :)

The women can be heroes too!

The Women by Kristin Hannah is one of her best books. It was an amazing about a topic I knew nothing about and the struggles faced by women involved in the Vietnam conflict and the struggles they faced both during the war and coming home.

*Thank you, NetGalley, for a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and unbiased opinion

Kristin Hannah tells the untold story of Frankie McGrath and the other women heroes of the Vietnam War. Detailing the harshness of a harrowing war and then the heartbreak of coming home to be shunned and excluded, Frankie's story is all consuming as she navigates her return dealing with love, loss, social unrest, and family acceptance.

Frankie is only seventeen when her brother is killed in Vietnam, and she decides to become a combat nurse. After some quick training, she is shipped off, where you learn on the job immediately. Some friends and mentors help her, and she begins to gain confidence in herself and her relationships. When she returns from war, she has experienced more loss and trauma than most twenty-year-olds. Now Frankie must figure out how to return to normal life and decide how she can go on.

This book is very intense and sad and riveting. You immediately love Frankie, worry about her decisions, and root for her. I also loved (and hated) the side characters. There is lots of talk of war injuries and surgeries, but I felt like if you can handle Grey's Anatomy, you can handle this book. It is also confined to the first half of the book as the second half is much more relationship drama, mental health discussion, and Frankie trying to find her way. I loved the music and culture of the times that was inserted and the political ties-ins (although Hannah doesn't really make this a political novel, it is more of just the context of the story.)

I knew little about Vietnam and I thought this book was a very accessible way to read about it. The subject matter is dramatic, but this book is very readable. It is now vying for the spot of my favorite Hannah novel, and I definitely felt bits of her other memorable moments in this one with touches of the friendship from Firefly Lane, PSTD and trauma from The Great Alone, living in extreme hardship from Winter Garden, and courage and resilience from The Nightingale.

The only thing I don't love about this book is the title. It is about women, but it is primarily about Frankie, and I thought this title was bland and unhelpful. I wish it would have been titled "We Were There" or "The Long Haul" or just something more memorable. The good cover is memorable, but the title is completely forgettable.

I cannot wait for my book club to read this for March so we can discuss it.
Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy for review. This one is a must read.

Eye-opening, gut-wrenching and powerful. The Women is an intense book about female nurses in a forgotten war. I was immediately drawn to this book being a nurse myself and it will, without a doubt be one of my top books for 2024.

Frankie McGrath wants more for herself than the typical expectation of getting married and having children. Her brother was celebrated for enlisting and hearing that “women can be heroes,” she has decided to do the same.

After arriving in Vietnam, Frankie quickly realizes she was naïve and unprepared as a new nurse for what lay ahead of her. She forges ahead and finds she does not come out of Vietnam the same person that went in. Serving during war is only part of the story. Arriving home, to a thankless country in chaos leads to a more tumultuous integration back into life.

This was an amazing and awe-inspiring story that represents what women in the Vietnam war may have experienced. Kristin Hannah truly wrote a masterpiece. I cannot stop thinking about this book! All I can say is I fell apart with that ending! I finished this book with an immense amount of appreciation and gratitude for women that have served our country.

Thank you to Kristin Hannah, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for allowing me to review this book before publication.

Kristin Hannah can pull alllll the emotions out of me, and The Women is no exception. The ending had me speechless and wanting to press this book into everyone's hands. Kristin Hannah is historical fiction for people that don't typically like historical fiction because of her propulsive plots and luminous writing. My only gripe is the Vietnamese felt a bit one dimensional. I know this wasn't their story, but there had to have been more.

Another sweepingly epic story by the incomparable Kristin Hannah! I devoured this book in just a few days, gripped from beginning to end. Hannah’s writing is like no other, her research is exhaustive and her characters leap off the page and right into my heart. In this story, Frankie is a privileged young woman, who wants to make her dad proud. He has a “wall of heroes” containing pictures of all the family members who have served their country honorably. So after Frankie’s brother, Finlay, heads off to Viet Nam, she decides to join the Army so she can join him in the fight as a combat nurse. I don’t want to say anymore for fear of giving away spoilers but I learned so much reading this. I was very young when the Viet Nam war was ending. And, unusual for me, but this story made me cry many times over. I’m glad I read it in the privacy of my own home so I could feel all the feels and express my emotions over all the moments that tore my heart in half. Thank you Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press and the author for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be available for purchase on February 6, 2024

Well, I am going to be That Person. That Person who does not rate the book everyone is raving about 5 stars. I just can’t. And here’s why…

First of all, I do want to say that I very much appreciate that Kristin Hannah chose to write a novel about something other than World War 2. It was refreshing to read about the Vietnam War, a war about which very few novels have been written. Furthermore, I appreciate that she focused on the women (and sidenote: I detest this title). Women’s contributions and experiences in history are often overlooked and probably more so in regards to the Vietnam War. I, for one, honestly never thought about it.

Secondly, Hannah does capture the setting very vividly. There are a lot of gory war scenes, you can feel the heat of the jungle, the stress, the exhaustion, etc. Similarly, she captured the experience of PTSD well (as far as I know, not having experienced it myself). I think it’s important to have this experience vividly exposed both for the sake of empathy as well as for those who have gone through it to feel heard and seen. She clearly did a ton of research on PTSD as well as on the war and the time period.

So why not the raving 5 stars? Quite simply, because Kristin Hannah likes to jerk people around emotionally and because the romance in this is obnoxiously awful. Emotionally, this book is seriously “everything but the kitchen sink”. Just throw in every tragic thing you can think of, it’s there. Just when you think something good might happen, nope. The tragedy gets almost repetitive and boring. Like, how many times do I want to read about her bloody clothes and men’s gaping wounds? How many times do I want to read about her drunken pill popping à la Valley of the Dolls? And the romance. Ugh, don’t get me started. I predicted basically what would happen every single time a love interest was introduced and I was right. She falls in love suddenly with no real reason other than feelings like “he brought her back to life”. Gag me. That’s not real, especially not after a 5 minute conversation.

So anyway, I do love that underappreciated women in history are finally getting their time in the spotlight but next time someone does this, can we get some less sappy, sentimental plotlines to make these people real?

I’m a Kristin Hannah fan but for some reason the writing fell flat for me in this one. I love the subject matter and the fact that Hannah is shining a spotlight on veterans who are still undervalued and unappreciated. I also really enjoyed the portions of the book where Hannah really dug deep into what these women faced in Vietnam. Unfortunately, the characters themselves felt crafted out of tissue paper and their relationships came across as surface level at best. For example,
Frankie has two best friends who fly across country at the drop of a hat to help her through a breakup but we never really understand what binds them as friends other than their shared Vietnam experience. The most disappointing was Frankie herself who starts out so exceptionally sheltered and naive (she needs a man to tell her that women can be heroes) and is essentially rescued every step of the way by someone walking in to her life and taking her under their wing. Everything happens to her. Even the climactic moment where her father finally admits that she’s a hero happens as a result of a random soldier thanking her for her service. I really wanted to like this book more.