Heather Adores Books's Reviews > The Women

4⭐
Genre ~ historical fiction
Setting ~ California, Vietnam, Virginia, Montana
Publication date ~ February 6, 2024
Est page Count ~ 480 (35 chapters)
Audio length ~ 14 hours 57 minutes
Narrator ~ Julia Whelan
POV ~ single 3rd
Featuring ~ nurse, sexism, some graphic scenes, death, miscarriage, PTSD, reckless behavior, substance abuse, suicide attempt, infidelity

Part 1 ~ 1966 ~ California & Vietnam
21 year old Frankie is missing her brother after he heads off to Vietnam with the navy. She enlists with the Army since they're the only branch that will get her over there quickly. This part is full on war and all the chaos that it entails.

Oh Frankie, I salute you for your service, but not for your decision making when it comes to men.

Part 2 ~ 1971 ~ 1982 ~Virginia & California & Montana
She has completed her tours and is understandably having a tough time. It really dives deep into how getting back into civilian life is not easy to do. She joins the protests. She tries to look for support, but gets turned away for being a woman and not having actually been in combat. Her journey to get her mental health in check is a long one, but eventually she gets there and uses her experience perfectly in the end.

It was really hard to listen to her father disrespect her time and time again, but different times I suppose. The friendships she made with Ethel and Barb were ones to last a lifetime as they each know what the other has lived through. They'd drop everything to be by her side when she needed them the most (not sure how they were able to get to her so quickly, cuz it's fiction I guess).

Overall, as expected, it was well researched, but I do think this could have been cut down quite a bit.

Narration notes:
A superb job as usual. She really brought the story to life.

*Thanks to the author, Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the audio copy. I am voluntarily leaving my honest review*

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