"There were no women in Vietnam." As Kristin Hannah states in the Author's Note to her magnificent new novel The Women, this sentiment – that no women served in Vietnam, despite numerous first-hand accounts of women who were there as nurses, medical personnel, news correspondents, volunteers, etc. -- was the prevailing one during a time period that saw a country torn apart by a senseless war that should never have happened in the first place. As someone born in the late 1970s, long after the war was over, I of course had to rely on history books to learn about the Vietnam War – books that I realize now were mostly lacking in detailed information. In fact, the mentions of the Vietnam War were always so brief to the point that I had no idea how bad things actually got in America: that there had been a period of "collective amnesia" spurred on by the government where even the mere mention of "Vietnam" was taboo; that Vietnam vets were shamefully mistreated by both the government and ordinary citizens to the point that many had to go into hiding and were even afraid to mention they had served; and most frustratingly, that women's efforts in the war were rarely (if ever) acknowledged and their experiences were largely discounted – in being constantly told that "there were no women in Vietnam," they were rendered invisible, forcibly forgotten and "disappeared" from history. With this novel, Hannah brings these women's experiences to the forefront and once again, delivers a heart-wrenching, emotional story that provides more depth of insight into aspects of American history than many history books are able to do.
The woman at the center of the story is Frances "Frankie" McGrath, a nursing student from a wealthy, conservative family, who decides to follow her brother's footsteps when he ships out to serve in Vietnam in 1965. At the age of 21, inexperienced and with barely any training, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and arrives in Vietnam without the faintest idea what she would be up against. Surrounded by devastation and destruction everywhere she turns, Frankie comes face-to-face with the atrocities of war on a daily basis and learns to survive amongst the chaos. In Vietnam, she meets two other nurses – Barb and Ethel – and together, they endure horrific violence, death, loss, and heartbreak mingled with moments of incredible courage, bravery, and hope. In circumstances where both life and death hang by a thread, the deep friendships that Frankie forms with those whom she works untiringly side-by-side every day, along with a strong belief in the good they are doing for the war effort, carry her through the darkest of days. But when Frankie and her friends return home to a country deeply divided, where tensions run high and the overwhelming sentiment is to forget the war ever happened, the women realize that what they endured in Vietnam was only the beginning of a long battle for justice — for themselves as well as for those who sacrificed life and limb for a country that doesn't want to recognize their existence.
I will be honest in saying that this was a difficult read for me, but also one that I couldn't put down (I finished this one in two sittings, as I couldn't stop myself from turning the pages, desperately wanting to find out what happens next). Hannah has proven time and time again that she definitely knows how to tell a gripping, atmospheric story with complex female characters who are deeply flawed, yet realistic and relatable in ways that you don't see coming until you're so immersed in their world that it's too late to pull back. It wasn't until I finished the book that, upon reflection, I realized that perhaps the book was a little longer than it needed to be and some scenes were a bit repetitive and maybe not really necessary. But overall, this was a well-thought-out, meticulously researched story, poignantly told in a way that, I felt, did justice to the history and complexity of the Vietnam War era. I especially appreciated Hannah's Author Note where she talked about the decades-long process of how this novel came to be and I definitely feel she made the right choice to wait until she was ready to tackle this subject. In my opinion, she did a magnificent job!
Kristin Hannah has become one of my favorite historical fiction authors whose works are high on my "must-read" list (though admittedly, I still have many books in her extensive backlist that I need to get to at some point). While initially, I had felt bad about not getting to this one before publication date (I realize I missed it by a few days), I now know that I need not have worried, as Hannah's work pretty much speaks for itself. I'm sure this will be one of the buzziest, most-read books of the year (and deservingly so in my opinion).
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