BookBrowse Reviews The Women by Kristin Hannah

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Kristin Hannah's latest historical novel tells the story of one young woman's experiences as a nurse in the Vietnam War and her post-service struggle to return to a normal life.

Kristin Hannah's latest historical epic, The Women, is a story of how a war shaped a generation and a tribute to all the women who served in the Vietnam War. Hannah tells the story of Frances "Frankie" McGrath, who, at the age of 20 in 1966, joins the Army Nurse Corps, inspired by a family friend's assertion that women can be heroes, too. After a hopeful, patriotic start, readers are thrown right into the action—bloody uniforms, gaping chest wounds, dying men screaming for their mothers as bombs fall overhead—allowing them to empathize with Frankie's chaotic entry into combat nursing. As soon as Frankie arrives in the war zone, she is repeatedly sent to take care of men suffering from some of the worst injuries imaginable. Although she's wildly unprepared, Frankie does what she can, knowing that even if her nursing skills can't save a man, offering a soothing voice or a hand to hold is sometimes enough. Eventually, Frankie finds her feet, becoming not only an excellent nurse but also a confidante, mentor and friend.

While at war, Frankie is forced to live in the moment, primarily because that may be all she has. None of the service members know if they'll make it out alive, and so they take chances and make decisions that might otherwise seem rash. The dangerous, emotionally intense setting pushes Frankie to form relationships with people with whom she never would have associated in her sheltered, privileged pre-war life in Southern California. The most significant of these relationships are her friendships with fellow nurses Ethel, a white farm girl from Virginia, and Barb, a Black woman from a small town in Georgia. The intense, unyielding bonds among these three women prove to be lifelines for Frankie throughout the rest of the novel.

Upon her return home, Frankie is treated with anger or disdain not only by much of the general public but also by her loved ones. Her service is seen as unladylike rather than heroic, and she's pushed to fit back into a more domestic mold. Although Frankie's rebellions against these expectations are dramatic, they highlight her distance from her former peers. Additionally, the leisurely pace of life contrasts starkly with the constant adrenaline rush of the war, leaving Frankie feeling purposeless. She attempts to find a place in nursing, but her skills are written off by administrators who don't believe combat experience is equal to hospital nursing experience. Further discouraged, Frankie visits a veterans' hospital to get therapy for what readers will recognize as post-traumatic stress disorder, but because she wasn't in active combat, she isn't considered a true veteran and so is ineligible for assistance, instead being told to simply forget about Vietnam the way so many other Americans have seemed to.

Interestingly, although the first part of the novel, set primarily during the war, is traumatic and somber, the second part, which stretches from Frankie's return home in 1971 to the early 1980s, feels much more hopeless. While still suffering from horrific nightmares and internalized shame, Frankie endures several tragedies and betrayals but is repeatedly told to soldier on. Frankie's postwar experiences reflect those of many service members, and, sadly, like many other veterans, Frankie turns to drugs and alcohol to cope. Despite enduring their own struggles, Ethel and Barb are by Frankie's side every step of the way, demonstrating that some experiences can only be fully understood when shared. But Frankie does eventually find support from other, unexpected sources, giving her a long-needed ray of hope.

Frankie takes that hope and passes it on to others, finding relief from her trauma only once she is able to share her story. That is also the reward for readers; having endured Frankie's hardships over many pages, they'll harbor their own hopes that Frankie, after sacrificing so much to help others, will finally find some measure of happiness. The novel ends on an optimistic note, seeing Frankie reunite with other veterans at the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and vowing to find a way to remember all the women who served (see Beyond the Book). Based on years of research and guidance from real-life Vietnam War nurses, The Women vividly describes the horrors of war and the beauty of friendship and forgiveness while honoring the women whose service in Vietnam has been largely ignored.

This review first ran in the February 7, 2024 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.