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A review by taylorhathcock
The Women by Kristin Hannah
5.0
“How did you know if you had the strength and courage for a thing like that? Especially as a woman, raised to be a lady, whose courage had been untested.”
“We were forgotten; all of us Vietnam vets, but the women most of all.”
This was my first ever Kristin Hannah novel and I have to say I absolutely fell in love. Her writing style is addictive and emotional. I really struggled to put this book down the entire time I was reading. The writing honestly transported you into the story. Frankie quickly became a character that I fell in love with. She knew she wanted more than the role her family expected of her and once she heard "women can be heroes" it grew in her until she signed up to go to Vietnam. She wanted to earn a place on the family wall of heroes and thought this was the best way.
I think I enjoyed the way we quickly see how unprepared Frankie is for what she faces at first but she develops into this amazing combat nurse. She finds love and friendship and all the turmoil that entails when at war. I swear I spent so much time reading this book either angry at what was happening or crying at what was happening and I loved that it evoked such emotional responses. I don't know why I thought things would be change when we shifted to the back home dynamic. I thought it would be smooth sailing and happy endings but Hannah really showcases the struggles of reintegrating into society the vets faced.
One thing I loved about this book is that it opened my eyes to an element of the war I had never even thought about. The women. Subconsciously it makes sense that women nurses existed but my head never considered the combat nurse dynamic and how they would have experienced the high combat areas. The thing that really blew my mind was the lack of help for the women who came home. This book does such an amazing job of highlighting that. I adored all the characters and the vastly different ways they coped with life during and after. They all felt so real. Basically I adored this book and all the things it made me feel. I cannot wait to check out another book by Kristin Hannah.