Rachel L's Reviews > The Women

4 stars!

When her brother ships off to Vietnam in the 60's, Frankie signs up to be an Army nurse. While in Vietnam she witnesses unspeakable horrors, and then returns home to an America that finds her service shameful.

Oh I got lots of thoughts on this one. Stealing this from something a friend said to me but my rating is more about giving the book the recognition it deserves than actual enjoyment level while reading this book. Because boy, what a fantastic work of trauma phonography. Everything that could have gone horrible wrong or bad for this main character would and did happen. To the point where I kept asking out loud, "can we give this woman a break??".

The best parts of the book for me where the parts when I learned something new. I really was never a big Vietnam War interest person so there's a lot about it I learned through Frankie's eyes, how few women there were, what life of a nurse would be like there, and how veterans were treated upon returning home. I knew most Vietnam Vets were severely traumatized, probably more so than any other previous war, but I didn't know how much the country truly abandoned them after shoving them into this conflict. I also loved Frankie's best friends in the book, they were the read MVPs.

Overall I am glad I read it, but I don't enjoy reading buckets of trauma being dumped on me. I loved Frankie the main character and wish her nothing but happiness because we got almost none of that on the page.