If America's servicemen felt disregarded on returning from Vietnam, it was even worse for the 10,000 American women, mostly nurses, who served. "There were no women in Vietnam," they heard.
Bestselling historical fiction writer Kristin Hannah attempts to set the record straight with The Women. Her protagonist, Frances "Frankie" McGrath, comes from a privileged Southern California family that reveres its military veterans as long as they are male. Fresh out of nursing college, Frankie impetuously follows her brother to Vietnam, joining the Army Nurse Corps. Hannah doesn't spare any horrific details about the conditions of the wounded soldiers and of the military hospital where Frankie develops into a skilled surgical nurse.
The circumstances Frankie experiences in the US after returning from two deployments are less dangerous but no less traumatic. The country turns its back on Vietnam veterans, her parents are ashamed of her, and her peers and even male veterans disavow her service. Frankie struggles for years with anger, shame, depression, and addiction -- PTSD before it was widely called that -- that rupture her work and relationships. She starts to heal only when she enters a psychiatric center where she finally can open up about Vietnam.
Hannah's thoroughly researched novel pays tribute to not only women's wartime service but also female bonds. While Frankie is betrayed by her parents, peers, a lover, and the greater society, the people who support her are her two best friends, nurses with whom she served in Vietnam.
The Women is Kristin Hannah's 29th book.
Home
My reviews
My friends'
reviews