(2/20/2024)
The Women by Kristin Hannah
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC audiobook
Narrated by: Julia Whelan and Kristin Hannah reading authors note
I’ve always enjoyed Julia Whelan’s narrations and she does another excellent read once again.
4.5 Stars rounded up to
1960’s—turbulent times, Vietnam War, a nation divided by war
Kristina Hannah knows how to pull a reader in from the beginning of a book and keeps the pace running through to the end. Frankie, a young naive unrealistic girl, joins the Army Nurse Corps shortly after her brother was killed in Vietnam.
Frankie sees what war truly is and with the comradeship she forms with other nurses is what helps her survive during her tour in Nam. Frankie becomes a rockstar in the OR in Nam, and then….
Upon coming home and having people cussing and spitting and calling you baby killers is something Frankie most definitely wasn’t prepared for. People not believing women were in Nam and dismissing her. The emotional toll of war, death, and people expecting her to be her old self upon coming home, leaves Frankie alienated and unable to cope with things. Frankie could not pull herself back from despair. The naive unrealistic girl she was before is gone.
This is the first book I’ve read about the women in Nam and what they endured during and after the war. Parts of this story resonated with me, having had family members in Nam; losing some of them to cancer that was most likely due to, Agent Orange.
Vietnam—the war no one wants to remember.
Coming-of-age story of war, death, trauma, love, friendship, PTSD, POW/MIA, Agent Orange, addictions, family, and learning to navigate life after war.