The Women

About the Book:

Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances "Frankie" McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.

As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over-whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.

But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm's way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.

My Comments:

One thing about getting older is realizing that you've lived through what is now considered history.  The Viet Nam War was part of my early childhood.  I was an Air Force brat who attended schools that were overwhelmingly military kids from first through fifth grade---you were the new kid of the week, and replaced the kid who left last week.  The dads of kids I knew got sent to Viet Nam.  I don't know if any did not come home. 

I say all of that because my memories of the war are probably colored by where I lived and with whom.  We were out of the country from late 1967 to late 1969, and when we returned, we lived on one of the biggest Air Force bases in the country.  Being in the military was normal.  Hippies were those weird people we saw in California before we left for Turkey, and my dad said they were people who didn't work and didn't take baths, and that's all I knew about them. 

The Women tells the story of a young society girl who joins the Army Nurse Corp to follow her brother to Viet Nam, and to be a hero in her own right.  It follows Frankie to Viet Nam and home again, home to a country and family that do not welcome her as a hero.  Like many veterans, she struggles and while she is lucky to have friends and family who help her, no one official seems to think nurses, who didn't go into combat, needed help.  All of the Veterans' organizations are for men only.  No one seems to get what she went through or how she is feeling, except her war buddies.  

Kristen Hannah brings in a lot of historical details like the POW bracelets, the anti-war marches, "mother's little helper" pills, birth control and the ever-present cigarettes (so glad those aren't "normal" anymore).    I listened to this as an audiobook and my husband walked in on me when the term "donut dollies" was used.  He, my chauvinist conservative over 65 husband said the term sounded insulting.   I reminded him that until very recently, it was very common to use cute and infantilized terms for women in a lot of jobs.  You can read about Donut Dollies here.  

I don't usually listen to audiobooks; I can read much faster, but browsing my library I found this one and decided to try it in this format.  I'm sure I picked up on details I wouldn't have had I read it at breakneck speed.  

I haven't written a blog post in two years, so I guess the fact that I chose to write about this means it touched me in a way other books haven't lately.  I highly recommend it.