The Women

I should start by saying that a lot of people really love this novel. The Women by Kristin Hannah has over a million 5 star reviews on Goodreads, and it came in high on the Radio National book countdown -- particularly since it hasn't benefited from a film or TV adaptation. It deals with meaty, emotional subject matter -- the experience of American women, specifically nurses, during the Vietnam War, women who suffered physically and psychologically and yet had their experiences dismissed and were frequently told 'there were no women in Vietnam.'

Having pointed out all that, I have to admit this book was not for me. I found it melodramatic, often implausible, and not very well written. There was a lot of telling, not showing, in this novel. Frankie's close friendship with her fellow nurses, Barb and Ethel, seemed very one-sided -- several times, Barb and Ethel drop everything to fly across the country and support Frankie in her many crises, yet Frankie never seems to offer them any support in return. We are told how strong and important their friendship is, but we don't really see it. Frankie's mother has a stroke, from which she makes a full recovery -- this serves no purpose except to fill up a few years of plot time. Every man that Frankie meets falls in love with her. I can handle one character miraculously coming back from the dead, but two strains credulity.

I can see that the strong, eventful story would pull readers rapidly through this novel, and I thought the early sections, dealing with Frankie's war experiences, were vivid and punchy, but for me, after she returned home, the story trailed away. I wish Kristin Hannah all the best and clearly many, many readers adore her work -- and The Women is indeed a story that deserves to be told. This just isn't the version for me.