The Women by Kristin Hannah (St. Martin’s Press, 2024) is a painful look at the Vietnam War from the perspective of the women nurses serving in the traumatic emergency surgery’s. Frankie McGrath joins the war in order to bring respect and honor to her family, since patriotic service is a family tradition. But from her first experiences as a nurse in Vietnam, she discovers the horrors of war first hand. The book is violent. It is harsh. It is not a book for the weak in heart.
Frankie’s subsequent recovery can only be described as ignored. As a woman, she is denied Veteran benefits and support, as her role as a non-combatant is dismissed as being “just a nurse.” Add to that the condemnation of war and toward those she served, and her undiagnosed PTSD overwhelms her life. Relationships, nursing, and her daily life all turn to twisted difficulties as she strives to deal with the rejection and the stress of her service.
The book as a whole covers the violence of war as well as the politics and mental illness as a result of it. I enjoyed the story and the characters in general (although Frankie was particularly frustrating). However, I can’t see myself ever re-reading (or listening in my case) to the book, given the disturbing nature of Frankie’s story overall. It is a powerful and new perspective on the struggles of those who served in the Vietnam War.
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