Sometimes I put off reading book that are getting a lot of buzz. But I've been looking forward to The Women for a long time. And let me tell you, it did not disappoint.
I felt like I was right in the story as soon as I started reading. Frankie McGrath and her brother Finn had grown up in sunny California in an upper class conservative family. But it's 1965, a time of change for the country. Frankie's in nursing school when her brother ships off to Vietnam, but soon Frankie is also on her way overseas so she can serve her country as well.
Frankie and her fellow nurses and doctors may not have been in active combat, but the trauma they endured was just as life-changing. Friendships are formed, people come and go- some that return to the States, and some that are killed in combat, and when Frankie returns herself she can't quite come to terms to the world she now inhabits.
Hannah's story shows how Vietnam affected its unsung heroes. We follow Frankie through her struggles, loves and losses, and her need to come to terms with what she experienced in Vietnam.
I've read many of Hannah's books and this one ranks right up there with my favorite, The Great Alone.
1 comment:
I just finished a book about a woman serving on the Titanic. She subsequently worked on several ships converted to hospitals . Her life was never the same.
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