The Women

This had come highly recommended by so many, but I had avoided it as the subject matter didn’t sound interesting to me (it dealt with the war and I typically struggle with war books) and I go up and down with loving and being frustrated by Kristin Hannah. My friend Katie puts it best: Hannah is an incredible story-teller and a medium writer. But when my mom RAVES about a book, I can’t help but read it, and I am so happy I did. I absolutely loved this and devoured it in a couple days. The funny thing is that the war parts wound up being my favorite! That being said, I do think that sometimes Kristin Hannah’s writing can be a little bit predictable; she definitely has a formula. The second half of the book is usually an unusual amount of hardship and then there is a tear jerker ending (and it works, I cried several times reading this!). Frances (Frankie) McGrath is a twenty year old nursing student who hears “women can be heroes” one day and (inspired by her brother who has recently enlisted in Vietnam) decides to enlist in the Army Nurse Corps. Her conservative parents are not pleased. When she arrives in Vietnam, nothing could possibly have prepared her. Constant chaos and destruction. She is thrown into the thick of things as a surgery nurse, dealing with atrocities she had never believed possible. She also makes new best friends and experiences profound loss. . The first half of the book was definitely my favorite. The second half was a struggle at points (again I don’t want to give any spoilers but I just felt like, how much can Hannah put one character through!?) and the ending felt predictable but overall I loved it. This book is a must-read, even if you aren’t usually a fan of war novels/film.