The Women by Kristin Hannah
Fiction
Narrated by Julia Whelan
2024
Finished on May 26, 2024
Rating: 2/5 (Fair)
Publisher's Blurb:
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.
In recent years, I have read and enjoyed The Nightingale and The Four Winds, two of Kristin Hannah's exceptional historical novels. Unfortunately, her recent book, The Women, fell short of my expectations. I was able to stay engaged with the audio production mainly due to Julia Whelan's superb narration, but had I read the print edition, I would have quit long before the halfway mark. My biggest complaint is that the novel invests too much time on the challenges of Frankie's romantic life rather than on the war. Hannah does not shy away from the conditions of warfare, or that of the aftereffects of PTSD, but not only did significant romantic events play too large of a role in the narrative, they were easily predictable and cliched, eliciting numerous eye rolls from this reader. Repetitious situations and dialogue added to my frustration, but I willed myself to continue listening. I will say that Hannah did her research, and I had no trouble envisioning locations and landmarks in and around Coronado Island and San Diego county, areas with which I'm well acquainted. I also enjoyed the musical references of the era. But overall, despite the glowing reviews, I was not impressed. I should note that many readers with whom I share similar reading tastes thought this book was outstanding. It is readable, but it's not one that I can recommend. Maybe in the hands of Barabara Kingsolver or Mary Doria Russell this could have been a 5-star read. I do want to get a copy of Karl Marlantes' novel, Matterhorn, which I understand to be an accurate account of the Vietnam War.
Ha! We do have different tastes in reading sometimes. Funny I liked this one at all because I didn't like the two previous Hannah books I tried. Personally I'm not a fan of Kingsolver and not sure why you compared the two authors. Oh well, on to the next book, right :-)
ReplyDeleteTina, I really did want to love this one! I know you're not a fan of Kingsolver's books, but she's one of my favorites authors. Yes, on to the next book. :)
DeleteLes, I loved how much discussion you got out of this book review! Like a book club chat :-)
DeleteI was thinking the same thing, Tina! Maybe it will be a good book to suggest to my book club. I could read Matterhorn or Healing Wounds to round out the discussion.
DeleteYour thoughts on this book are interesting, Les. It was mentioned by a couple of people at a recent book group and they shared their experience with reading it. They liked it - well, one loved it, the other loved it until the mid-point and then didn't like the last half. Both said that they had not liked THE FOUR WINDS. We had been discussing Paula McLain's CIRCLING THE SUN and talking about how about half the group liked it and half did not. One younger woman didn't realize that Beryl Markham was a real person. Anyway, we discussed how writing historical fiction is a rather complicated process and readers have their own way of enjoying it or not. It was an interesting discussion. I haven't read this book yet, but we'll see how things go when I get to it.
ReplyDeleteKay, I am not a fan of The Four Winds.
DeleteKay, this may just be one of those novels that receives polar opinions. I always think those type of books make for good discussions since opinions are varied. I haven't read Circling the Sun, but I did read Markham's memoir (West with the Night). Didn't love that one, but maybe I should give McLain's novel a try.
DeleteA friend of my recently recommended this one but yes, seems like reviews are all over the place. I'm am interested in this mainly because I feel like I haven't read many books set in this time frame but will have to go in with low expectations. Maybe I should try this one in audio as that sounds like it helped.
ReplyDeleteIliana, the audio did hold my interest, so maybe you'd enjoy it. I bought Matterhorn yesterday and am hoping to get to it later this summer. It's a big one!
DeleteBetween you and me, Les, I'm not really a Kristin Hannah fan. She does a serviceable job, I think, in writing historical fiction, but the vocabulary she uses with her characters and the situations she creates can be jarringly wrong. Just my two cents.
ReplyDeleteDeb, I'm beginning to feel the same about Kristin Hannah's works. I really enjoyed The Nightingale, but nothing else has wowed me, so it might be time to move on to other authors.
DeleteMaybe I'll give this one a pass. Spending to much time on romantic involvement. It isn't that I dislike a bit of romance, but if it competes with the plot, I get frustrated.
ReplyDeleteJenclair, I don't mind romantic themes in the novels I read, but the situations Frankie found herself in were too predictable and a distraction. Just my two cents, though. A lot of readers loved this book.
DeleteSo interesting to read your review! Hannah's books have been such a mixed bag for me, I don't know what to expect. I read The Four Winds right after The Grapes of Wrath and it felt emotionally manipulative to me - so much misery. The topic here is interesting, but I may turn to the nonfiction Healing Wounds by Diane Carlson Evans first. My daughter's book club plans to discuss The Women next month. Wonder what she'll think of it...
ReplyDeleteJoAnn, I've added Healing Wounds to my list, and I picked up a copy of Matterhorn yesterday while wandering around Manzanita (we're currently camping - yay!), and look forward to diving into that later this summer. It's much bigger than I imagined, so it will take a while to read. I'd love to know how your daughter likes the book. Keep me posted!
DeleteA quick follow-up... she decided to dnf The Women. I was surprised since it's for book club, but she said she was skimming pretty early on and decided not to spend any more time on it.
DeleteThanks for the follow-up, JoAnn. It's always nice to have my feelings validated, and I'm glad I wasn't too critical of the book. I toyed with the idea of switching my rating to 3 stars from 2, but decided to stick with my initial reaction.
DeleteI have a copy of The Women, but I've hesitated to read it. I liked The Great Alone very much, was so-so about The Nightingale, and disliked The Four Winds. The last was a letdown after much anticipation.
ReplyDeleteBybee, it seems to me that Kristin Hannah readers have varied opinions about her books. Some are winners and some are duds. Not very consistent, is she? I think I've now read enough of her books to know that I can skip anything new in the future.
DeleteI know we had a back and forth about this on Instagram, but I want to comment here as well. I see what you're saying about if it was billed as a romance you'd have expected it and liked the book more. I was pulled into the story and really enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteHelen, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I know several of my reading buddies did, which makes me feel somewhat bad about my negative review, but I guess we can't all like the same things, right?
DeleteIt seems like a valid complaint you have about the book. I have not picked it up yet and it is a long book but it is on my summer list since it received some good reviews (even Bill Gates?). I have read just one of Hannah's novels The Nightingale which I thought was fine. I think Hannah comes from a background of romance writing before she turned to more popular kinds of fiction. I don't really read straight romance books so I wonder what I'll think. I'm interested in the nurses perspective on Vietnam. It does sound like easy reading.
ReplyDeleteSusan, I think that Hannah's "romantic" roots have overlapped in her historical fiction works, and the problem I had with this book is that I went into it expecting a more serious novel. The themes of war, PTSD, addiction, etc. are serious, but I felt they were presented more as a backdrop to the story than I would have liked. I'm eager to read Matterhorn, which I picked up at one of my favorite little independent bookstores last week while we were camping. It's a big one, though, and it's not on my summer reading list, so it will have to wait. Maybe it will be the one and only book I take with me when we go to Wyoming this fall.
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