Book Review
There is a good chance that if one were to check which phrase appeared most frequently in the pages of Kristin Hannah’s “The Women” – There were no women in Vietnam! – would take the top spot. But women were in Vietnam, and they weren’t just in protected areas, far from the front lines, quiet and safe.
To begin with, Hannah had been planning to write a novel that would serve as a tribute to the women who took part in the Vietnam War for many years. These women were sent there as support personnel, which also meant nurses who ended up working in hospitals literally flooded with casualties – both American soldiers and Vietnamese people. The problem was that for a long time, the American government refused to acknowledge that these women were veterans just like the men, with the same struggles and traumas as the soldiers returning home. They were told they weren’t on the front lines, they didn’t shoot, they didn’t fight. And while that’s true, they were on the front lines of the fight for other people’s lives.
It all started because of the very polarized opinions on the author’s work. They made me want to see for myself how I’d find Ms. Hannah’s writing, and I must say, I am pleasantly surprised.
When you add to this the general atmosphere in the United States – for whom this war was a loss on many levels, and where those returning were long judged as murderers blindly following orders that led to massacre after massacre – you can imagine that it was no peaceful return to everyday life. It was a continued struggle: with trauma, with PTSD, with the opinions of others, and a constant need to prove that the truth was different. This is exactly the story Hannah wanted to tell, and she did it brilliantly.
We meet young Frankie McGrath at the exact moment her older brother is saying goodbye to family and friends to head off on his mission to Vietnam. According to her family, Frankie has other duties – marriage, children, being an exemplary wife – but she has a different plan for her immediate future. She signs up for training and soon finds herself in Vietnam as a nurse. A woman in the 1960s, in stockings, heels, and a narrow regulation skirt, is suddenly thrust into a reality that resembles nothing she knows. From the very first hours, it feels dangerous, as shelling can hit anything, anyone, at any time. Fortunately, two other nurses quickly take her under their wings and teach her what she can and cannot do, and above all, how not to go crazy – how to survive.
Frankie survives two tours, working in Vietnamese evacuation and field hospitals, but upon returning home, she finds the battle continues. A battle for the truth, for saying out loud that women were in Vietnam, they were on the front lines, and thanks to them, thousands of soldiers and Vietnamese people survived. But it’s a battle against windmills, as society condemns the war, families don’t want to talk about it and are even ashamed of what their daughters and wives did, and the state ignores the problem and provides no support. Will Frankie cope with what she faces? Will society learn to look at what happened in Vietnam more objectively, noticing that the victims of this war were also American soldiers sent there without proper training or equipment, but bound to follow orders? Finally, will families start providing support in a way that actually helps, rather than hiding the truth?
In my opinion, a great plus is the way these events and experiences are narrated. There’s no excessive dramatism, but it is blunt and detailed, specifically to heighten the reader’s emotions and allow them to feel what the characters felt. Yes, there is no shortage of bloody scenes, descriptions of surgeries performed under fire, or tales of the emotions that literally overwhelmed the protagonists – but it all feels balanced, deliberate, and never overdone. Hannah made good use of conversations with people who survived the Vietnam War, as well as information she gathered while preparing for the novel, including reading the diaries of nurses and support staff.
A quick side note – before I started, I shared a review claiming Frankie was “as bland as unsalted potatoes” and that the book was just a “cheap romance.” Now that I’ve finished, I can officially say – I couldn’t disagree more. Neither bland, nor a romance. We all have different tastes, but for me, this was a rock-solid 7/10.
Aga J. Mackiewicz
for Intensive Chapters
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