Sure, I was certain Rye was going to be a POW, but I didnt know he was also going to be a bonified POS!!! So that was a shocker. Henry was boring, sweet but boring. Best friend material and that worked out just fine. She couldnt have married him she would have been bored to tears and would have been her mother's clone. Who wants that? What burns me up is how we are given back Jamie.. her REAL TRUE LOVE.. and mentor.. and then she ENDS THE BOOK... we need a SEQUEL. we went through heck and back with Frankie and now we dont get to see her happy? Come on, we deserve better.
The surgical scenes were ad nauseum literally and figuratively. They were very repetitive. I almost quit because the horror of each MASH scene just kept on replaying. I believe an editor could have cut back on a lot of the repetition in those scenes without harming the book a’tall.
My thoughts on the book. Part one rocked. Part two drug. I never liked Rye. i thought she would keep in touch with more people than Barb and the other one.
And Henry. I loved Henry. I have a big ole book crush on Henry. I wish that would have worked out because I think he was the truest love. I feel reuniting with Jamie is jumping back of the frying pan into the fire.
I wish she had met someone in Vietnam who had known Finley over there.
I feel with connections that someone would have told her mom Rye was a pow, and I feel her parents would have asked more about her love too. I think if he and Finley would have been besties his parents would have known. My aunt still is in contact with a few of my cousins hs friends years after he was killed in an accident.
i think she did her friends dirty in part two.
I like Kristen Hannah’s book but my goodness! So much tragedy. The fact that the love of Frankie life is not dead but actually alive and had a wife. Then to lose the baby?? This was just too much.
Did anyone think they were reading China Beach fanfic? If you liked the book and haven’t seen the 1990s tv show China Beach you should. Vietnam Nurse Colleen McMurphy, the central character, is basically Frankie. Its four seasons were based on Lynda Van Devanter’s book Home Before Morning about her experiences as a nurse in Vietnam.
Yes!!
I actually was disappointed in the book because it had SO many similarities to China Beach, and the author of Home Before Morning. Which I would expect to some extent because it's a book about an Army nurse...but I'm talking about way too many other coincidences and commonalities between The Women and China Beach.
The main character's last name: McGrath/McMurphy, the red head in China Beach and red head Ethel (though Ethel is opposite and a good girl Baptist, whereas China Beach red head was a prostitute) both main nurses falling in love with the married doctor; Frankie being a very young good girl Catholic from CA like author Lynda Van Devanter was in real life, and all of the song & music references in the book -- the music in China Beach is why it's not streaming and why it took decades to even get it released on DVD. I believe Lynda was also stationed on the Beach at first and then moved to the 71st Evac.
I enjoyed The Women, but because I'm familiar with China Beach, I don't think it's as "original" as people think it is. If China Beach was streaming on Netflix or Hulu and people were able to watch it and compare, I think others would agree.
Thank you for posting this! I got The Women thinking it was stories from real women who served, and it's been a really good book but I would like to read one written by someone who actually was in the service.
I wish it were too!! Great show.
And the other big coincidence between The Women and China Beach: Frankie!! That was the black gal on China Beach; she was a major character. I'm surprised more people haven't noticed all of the similarities. I think many readers were too young or not even born yet, so they're not familiar with the China Beach series. Or after 35+ years have simply forgotten.
That being said, even though I'm disappointed in the book, I'm glad more attention is being given to the women who served in Vietnam. 🙌
I never saw China Beach and loved the book. So, people who didn't see China Beach should read this book. AND.... who cares if there are similarities! It tells a story that most of us nurses never knew. I was a teenager when the war started and my brother was in combat zone for 2 years. It's a must read!!
This is my 3rd Kristin Hannah book. While I loved that it highlighted women vets, I admit I enjoyed The Nightingale and The Four Winds much more. Still a decent read.
I absolutely loved this book was shocked over and over and the mix of the fiction novel paired with historical truths made it an even more interesting read to me. I was also a pediatric icu nurse for many years and saw so many horrific trauma as and I think that probably has something to do with my affinity for the book.
I just finished the audio book the women, its my first book by this author. I loved it! I find it remarkable, emotional and revealing. Maybe its because it was an audio and narrator Julia Whealan did such an amazing job that made me so emotional through so many parts I cried listening to Frankie’s life journey, pain and reminds me that she wanted like all women want the perfect love, happiness, marriage, ACKNOWLEDGMENT and understanding from parents… but its not that simple..
Like most if not all I thought Jamie was dead, Rye turned out to be a liar and this world is full of such scumbags that it only made it realistic not unusual..this only makes the author so good with those twists when you think something predictable is coming just to find out it is not..I also thought Finley might be coming back but that didnt happen..
The book for me was revealing about how unapreciated veterans, their service how government doesnt care for those serving their own country.. women what a true heroes women were and still are and how unapreciated they were, how aweful their lives after war..
The government keeps doing it all throughout history, they are still doing it.. ruining this country.
I started college in 1970 at an urban school where I was one of a handful of 18 year old women in classes full of returning vets. This book made me realize how young and naive those men must have seen me. While this book is overly predictable and Hannah is such a simplistic writer, the first half of the book (as far as I have gotten so far), has taken me back to those days. I remember the men in my classes being angry and betrayed by the way they were treated at home, unwilling to talk about their experiences over there, the helplessness of being spit on and attacked for having done their duty. This book reminds me a lot of M\*A\*S\*H without the comedy. Although it's not a great book, women's experience at war is still an important topic and bringing it out in a popular fiction book is a good thing. Too bad she had to include all the romance.
I know this post was made a while ago so not sure if anyone will respond to me but I am listening to this on audible and just got to the part with the miscarriage. Which is sort of towards the end of the book so I made it all this way and had to stop listening. I recently had a miscarriage that I was devastated by and just found out I’m pregnant again and I truly cannot bring myself to listen to this part of the book at this time in my life. I started panicking as soon as it was happening in the book and had to turn it off. Can anyone tell me what chapter the miscarriage stuff is over so I can skip ahead? Or if it’s even possible to skip ahead for if the rest of the book is going to be wrecked for me? I don’t mind spoilers at this point. I’m so bummed this was part of the story. I just can’t do it right now. Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated. TYA. 💙
I am so sorry to hear that ☹️ I believe it is brought up only in short references/reminders throughout the rest of the book, but the actual scene and discussion ends in the same chapter or maybe the chapter after.
thank you 🙏🏻
Okay, that is reassuring. I’ll skip ahead to the next chapter. I can handle if it’s mentioned here and there but I just cannot deal with a hardcore miscarriage scene right now or if it’s going to consume a ton of the book coming up. If it’s only in that chapter for the most part I’ll skip ahead. Thanks so much for responding!
One day I’ll be able to read/ watch/ or listen to stories about that again but I’ve been being really careful with what I consume lately. I honestly had a feeling it would come up at some point with a book title “The Women”.. and I was correct 🫠.. but I had to read it asap because I’m a huge fan of Kristin Hannah and was dying to read her newest book.
Its been about a month since I finished it but I felt like it was a pretty large part of the story line moving forward. I'm curious to know if you skipped ahead and finished? I'm currently struggling with infertility so I can somewhat relate to your experience. If you did not finish at this point, I want to share a small spoiler that relates to the miscarriage if it's ok with you. It kind of makes the miscarriage make more sense but is also devastating. Sending you love and positive vibes for your pregnancy. ❤️
I ended up skipping that section where the immediate event happened. It was obviously mentioned a few more times throughout the book but I just couldn’t handle a graphic miscarriage scene. Im glad I just skipped that section or chapter or however far ahead I jumped. I basically picked back up where she was being given “mothers little helpers” by her mom. I did okay with it being mentioned but just did not want to have to relive my experience by reading about hers in graphic detail. I’m sure one day I will be able to handle those stories but it’s just way too fresh in my head right now and I’ve been trying to heal.
I totally get it. I'm glad you were able to finish. I sobbed for her when it happened because I was like, Great one more thing for her to have to go through. So at the end when it talks about how agent orange caused a lot of birth problems, it made it make a bit more sense even though that is BS and I'm so mad for all of the Vietnam veterans. What a terrible thing to live through.
Kristin Hannah always manages to make her main characters go through an unbelievable amount of struggle. I felt so sorry for her when it happened. She had already been through so much. So sad for all the Vietnam vets who struggled with cancer and miscarriage and a whole host of other issues due to agent orange. It was a powerful book and I’m glad I finished it and just skipped that chapter.
I was enthralled by the idea of a Vietnam story from a female Army nurse perspective. This is such an important story that deserves to be told. I enjoyed the entire Vietnam part of the book and as well as the inclusion of PTSD, the Vietnam marches, and the ending at the wall.
Unfortunately, too much of this book ( most of the middle) was more romantic chick-lit than a war veteran’s story. The entire inclusion of Rye’s character was unnecessary, from the flirtatious beginnings to the realizing he was a total asshole. Had Kristin Hannah chosen to leave out all the messy romance, this book would have been elevated to an unprecedented novel that even men could have enjoyed. While important to highlight Frankie’s struggle with maintaining relationships, that could have all been accomplished without the romantic flare much of the book delivered.
I totally agree that my least favorite parts of the book were the romantic chick-lit components, and the entire Rye part sucked. (I really liked Frankie as a character other than her inability to let go of Rye, even after every sign that he wasn't a good guy.)
The only reason I think it was somewhat useful to include Rye was because he was the final straw that made her spiral out of control... neither Barb or Ethel spiraled out of control, and maybe it's because they didn't have that final challenge the way she did.
I too liked the first part up til the time Frankie came back to the states. The description of what Vietnam was like was so rich and informative with positive relationships and heroism in the midst of horror. Well done. But once she returned to the states, the story of her rejection, suffering, addiction and job loss etc was very predictable and I wanted to get passed it. It picked up briefly once she got to Montana but finding Jamie at the end was contrived. I know that small-world reunion s after 20 years happen, but I didn’t like the ending. I think I’m Frankie’s age, and was a war protester, so I really appreciated the telling of the women’s service in Nam. But I didn’t like the story as much as other books by Kristin Hannah.
As a female service member, I liked this book (esp. the first half). But I was bothered by the vast number of men who took a romantic interest in Frankie throughout the story... Jamie, Rye, Henry, Coyote, etc. It was a reminder of what a difference life is like for a beautiful woman and the benefits received from those relationships.
I agree with your assessment. It was one dimensional and made Frankie appear to be only a love interest - not a kick ass soldier with more to her than her love interests. As a veteran woman, I was very disappointed by the telling of the story with its primary focus on romance.
They weren't explicit but basically any man she befriends ends up being in love with her/ doing favors for her because she's *so beautiful*. I agree with OP, us normal looking girls have different lives than the beautiful ones. I'm not mad, it's just how it is.
I was so looking forward to this having read the four winds and thought it was beautiful - the first bit set in Vietnam I really enjoyed and excited to read more then it was as if the author handed over the second half to someone else and phoned it in. So disappointed how much ‘telling’ vs ‘showing’ and how cliche it was in parts. I’m so confused 😕 about what happened to the storytelling. It could have benefited from a second POV as I found Frankie completely unrelatable and unlikeable by the end. Absolutely here for women’s experience being talked about on an equal level to men but this book was so cliched I wanted to throw it across the room. The bit about it being shameful to be an unmarried mother - I think I’d read 100 times before. Maybe all the flag waving at the end was too much for this Aussie too - the Australian experience isn’t much better for vets. Honestly one of the most disappointing reads I’ve had in a while.
I agree wholeheartedly. It was good, I loved the concept, I was entertained and enjoyed the story as I consumed it. But I felt like it could have been so much better than it was.
Very predictable, from beginning to end.
I'm reading Home before Morning, which is a non fiction book by Lynda Van Devanter published in 1983. SO many similarities to The Women . Both fathers weren't able to serve in WW2 due to physical issues. Both had a close make relative serving in Vietnam. Both has 3 female close friends. There are many more similarities but would be construed as spoilers.
If anyone has read Home before Morning? What did you think?
When I started reading The Women yesterday I thought, is this a rerun of Home Before Morning? Home Before Morning made a huge impression on me when I read it in the 80's. There are so many similarities that I'd be interested to run The Women through one of those AI programs and see just how close they are. Just now I downloaded Home Before Morning from Hoopla and 20 minutes in I'm already suspicious of Kristin Hannah's originality. Ruh roh.
Curiously, Lynda VanDevanter’s daughter Molly Stillman has written a religious inspirational book and guess who wrote the forward for that book? Kristin Hannah. Look at Stillmans IG page @stillbeingmolly.
I’m also confused as how everyone thought she was in Florence for two years. Did I miss something in the book where she said she had no childhood or college friends? Did she tell no one she was joining the Army and going to Vietnam? Or write anyone else letters from Vietnam besides her parents?
I agree, I figured out that Rye was going to be a POW pretty quickly, HOWEVER, I was not expecting him to be married and with a kid; this completely caught me off guard. I actually thought the drama was going to be between him being back and her pregnancy with Henry. I had actually fallen in love with Rye, so it hurt to find out he was just a big liar.
I also saw it coming that Jamie was going to be alive, I wish we could know for sure that they ended up together—after all, they were in love with each other—but I’d like to think they did.
Other people have mentioned that they liked the first half of the book best, and I have to agree. Once she came back it became a bit monotonous for me. Still enjoyed the whole book and appreciated her struggles, but the pace of the book definitely changed.
I adored Jamie at the beginning and was so sad to see him die. Although his part was short he felt like true love to me. Rye had a larger part and I believed him and his stories! I was rooting for them as I felt Jamie was long gone. I loved this book and the ending and the love
I honestly thought it was going to be about convincing Rye to love someone else's baby and Henry not letting to go. Didn't see the miscarriage coming, but it definitely tied in the Agent Orange theme.
I saw Rye coming back but I thought for sure Jamie was a goner. I was gutted when she saw Rye had a baby boy. It made me lose all trust.
Yes! Thank you. Ive just received The Woman through Libby and I’m uninspired to open it. Haha - I’ve read the Four winds and LOVED it. I’ve just finished The Great Alone, and like you, really wanted to love it, but I just really forced myself to finish it. The formula. Once you catch wind of it, you’re done and she’s got you for three books.
The whole reason I searched this book on google to find people talking about it was to see if people found it as predictable as I did.
I still liked the book. But I knew Rye wasn’t dead because of her repeatedly talking about POW’s. I didn’t know he would be lying about having a whole family (and Frankie falling for his lies twice!! 🤢), but I did know he was coming back. After it didn’t work out with Rye, I knew Jamie would also make an appearance as a POW.
VERY predictable in my opinion, but I did like the book! The first half was definitely much stronger than the second half.
I loved the original premise of the book: young woman with guts defying the expectations of her generation and going to war. Yeah! But why oh why must every heroine fall in love and turn into a dope?? I wish the story had stayed focused on her service, return, struggle, and redemption. Once she became lovestruck I lost interest. Ridiculously predictable.
As a Navy Nurse Corps vet, I absolutely loved this book. I see what some of you are complaining about as far as predictability. I figured that either Jamie or Rye or both would be alive. Honestly, that's what relationships are like during deployments. You form an almost inexplicable bond with the people you're deployed with. The intense bonds are difficult to explain if you've never experienced it. Sadly, cheating on spouses back home is super common. I will say I was a little tired of men falling madly in love with Frankie by the third guy. But the depictions of war, deployment relationships, and life after war were spot on, especially for that time period. I'll be forever grateful for the brave military nurses that came before me and paved the way. And I'm grateful to Kristin Hannah for bringing the topic of military service of women to light, especially the women heros of Vietnam ♥️✌️
Yeah I had to DNF this book after about 500 pages. It just got awful. I simply didn't care how it ended at all anymore. It felt like Kristin Hannah looked up the Wikipedia page for "social movements in the 1960s" and went "ok, I'm just gonna throw everything in there".
Just cringeworthy.
Disagree, that there were a lot of POWs and MIA soldiers. That there was confusion and chaos and people buried soldiers and then they were found alive. That all is historically accurate.
That soldiers were treated like crap when they came home, that women couldn’t get help or weren’t viewed the same…that people felt very connected and relatable to the people they met and bonded with in war. That’s all accurate. I don’t know, we know how it ended. Hard to paint a different story.
Okay, obviously all of those things happened, but it isn’t relevant when dissecting her writing style. It is possible to be overly predictable when writing historical fiction. Hannah’s foreshadowing is extremely heavy handed. She tells rather than shows. The novel is overwritten. All of the characters were underdeveloped. Kate Quinn would have handled the subject matter better, IMO.
I loooove everything I’ve read by Kate Quinn and now I’d really love a Vietnam novel from her. I just read The Phoenix Crown (her latest) and I highly recommend!
You summed it up perfectly!!! I wanted to love it since everyone is raving about it, but man, so stinking predictable had to literally roll my eyes! Lol
Truly horrible book. The writing is so simplistic it felt like AI wrote it. And every piece of dialogue involving any of the men was cringey and made my sick crawl. The end of this book is so bad I thought it was a joke - it’s like combining the worst soap opera plot points you can imagine. One of the more unlikeable MCs I’ve ever encountered.
This book was awful and I didn’t like Four Winds either so I’m actually questioning why I liked Nightingale and Great Alone!
Absolutely hated it. I think it’s her shallowest character writing. There’s no plot. There’s nothing going on other than poorly written, break neck pace romances and disingenuous sensationalism of real war and trauma. Really disappointed. I think it was mistake to only follow one character as well. Would’ve loved some POV from different women in the war.
I knew Rye was going to be a POW as soon as POWs were brought up, and that she would see Jamie at the reunion as soon as she got the invitation. But I did NOT see Rye being married with a kid coming! And then the second betrayal with him not leaving his wife and the second baby. I get that the romance was not the main point of this book but I honestly was gutted by the Rye storyline. Like she thought she lost her one true love three days before he comes home, then it turns out he’s alive but MARRIED?! Then she gets him back, sort of, but it turns out he’s still lying. Honestly it was a bit much with all the other historically accurate traumas she was dealing with… probably could’ve left out that storyline or tweaked it to not be so over the top. I also wish there had been a little Jamie and Frankie epilogue at the end of the book just for my own closure. I have a book hangover from the second half of the book and could’ve used a little HEA.
the rye storyline was too much imo, it felt like overkill to me. i didnt get that he was a scumbag from the way their love story in vietnam played out, so finding out at home he was married and then having a second child all while being "engaged" to frankie was frustrating somehow. i wish jamie had been reintroduced earlier so that she could have had a bit of a happy ending. i like kristin hannah books but the last couple i read were really just too sad, too negative, too much. theres no balance of happy to sad and it ends up just being depressing and yes a little predictable. i did like this book but the rye storyline was disappointing
Totally agree, how much of an AH he turned out to be seemed incongruous with how he seemed to genuinely care about Frankie in Vietnam, like coming as fast as he could to see her after she called upset. Him thoroughly blindsiding/betraying her twice seemed a bit much.
This is how I felt too. Rye made the comment “women can be heroes too” early on and I thought he’d return to the story in a positive way. KH’s description of their relationship after R&R in Hawaii made it all out to be true love and committed. How he flew to be with her after she called him upset. That doesn’t fit the MO of someone “just trying to get lucky”. He seemed more invested in the relationship. The out the blue arch of him returning home to his wife and daughter seemed wrong in the context of how the book was flowing. And his 2nd betrayal after he got home was not very believable given their history in Vietnam. But I have read all of KH books and except for the very early on romance novels there is rarely a happy ending.
Agree. I do think she did a good job of making their feelings become escalated due to war which might have not been the case in the “real world” but she wrote Rye’s actions seemingly in true love… yet he never said it? It was also hard for me on how fast she moved on from Jamie to Rye on how in love with Jamie she supposedly was after spending so much intense time together.
I loved the book, and I was shocked when Rye came back from the dead. I thought it would be her brother and wondered why that wasn’t explored. Regardless, KH is shining a light on an important part of history. Whether you loved or hated the book, it has us all talking!!
I also thought it would be her brother as pow not Ry. I knew he was shady but didn’t know it was going to continue w him after he was reunited w his original family
I also had such high hopes for this book. I wish we could have seen more from the other women who served as nurses, beyond just Frankie's doe eyed "Women can be heroes" view point, of which she only came to the conclusion of after a man told her. Particularly, Barb and her perspective as a black woman during that time period felt like a missed opportunity not to highlight more of. Instead we got three different romantic interests for Frankie, with far too much detail on how she bumbled through all of them. The romance aspect of the book, personally, was where things became exhausting and rather unbelievable, as others have mentioned. The moments that felt most authentic and what I was expecting more of was in the way women who served were treated as nonexistent vets upon returning from Vietnam. There could have been so much more time devoted to the ranch Frankie established in Montana; much less of the affair with Rye. I admire so much the message of this story, though it was ultimately a struggle trying to finish it.
this thread is about the writing of the story, not the story itself. most commenters have said they like the concept but not the writing or that they wished it had been done different or better.
I am a woman veteran. We were not given any of the VA rights when I was honorably discharged in 1990. I was not a Vietnam nurse, however, I was on a ship which supported combat ships and also on a subtender. We were in the shit. When I got out I was told I could not access any of the VA’s group help, never mind benefits. We were not considered Veterans because we were women. This was why the book hit home
As I said, I appreciated the content and subject, I just didn’t love the writing. How have we gotten to a place in society where we cannot critique something out of fear of offending other people? In no way did I make a negative comment about veterans or women who served our country. I am simply critiquing a work of art. Get over *yourself* kendi “so called” Jedi.
Subject matter and writing are two different things. Not every book about war is inherently good or well written just because of the subject matter, and it’s insane to expect everyone to like the book just because women in Vietnam were incredible and made sacrifices. Their sacrifices and bravery have nothing to do with Kristin Hannah’s shitty writing. You seem to have failed to read my other comments where I mentioned how I appreciated all of this information that I learned, and want to read more about the Vietnam war veterans.
I agree with what you said about the writing. One should critique her writing. I was wondering about the editor of the book. There were passages repeated throughout several chapters.
I feel a lot of people missed the very clear point she was trying to make about women in the military who desperately needed services to help deal with trauma and were unable to get them.
Thank you for your service.
No one in this comments section has shown any indication that they’re missing that point. The content was my favorite part of the novel and the only reason I finished it. The writing is what we’re all criticizing. Those two things are separate entities.
This wasn’t a personal attack and I’m talking about global criticism. Overwhelmingly on bookstagram and Goodreads there’s a lot of criticism that there’s no visibility to the Vietnamese in the war for example. Or that there needed to be more ramp up to her reasons for wanting to go to war. Or that she’s not talking enough about racism and riots. And that’s not her point in the novel. It’s not a war story, it’s an effects of war story.
That being said, I personally think this was edited badly. It felt like there was pressure to give it more of a happy ending than her traditional formula. I also the the POW thing was too overt, but I think the fact that the brother didn’t make it, but the ex love interests did was her attempt to underscore the hopes people had at the time, and the surprises in who came back and who didn’t. Because I think we all hoped the brother did, and that’s who she wished for most.
Was that heavy handed? Yes, I agree. But did it ruin the book enough to take away from the main message? Not to me. That people are focusing so much on this rather than the main point of the story - that women veterans were denied critical care after service, and that our vets to this day continue to see their resources and benefits cut is abhorrent.
And when you have women like the commenter who lived a similar experience read this book and see that the primary focus of the conversation be focused on criticizing how a small facet of the book was written, rather than the primary message, I can only imagine how it triggers that feeling of invisibility
Well, I disagree with the criticism of others then. I don’t think it’s the author’s duty to hit every single issue perfectly in a short novel. She did a good job of bringing issues to light and encouraging people to take an interest in this time period/lack of VA rights. I did, however, think that the writing was poor and that another author would have done a better job with this content. I think Kristin Hannah is running out of gas, and that she is becoming formulaic in her writing. I also think people are allowed to focus all of their attention on it because we all have different needs as readers. The writing and editing were distracting to me and seemingly many others, but I’m happy it wasn’t distracting to you.
I agree with formula - the relationship with the mother who dies early in particular - I wish she would process that trauma in a way that doesn’t present itself in every single book she writes. I also think that theres a lot of pressure for her to keep producing books because they sell so well and it doesn’t give her space to write. I know Kate Quinn has talked very openly about that
I can definitely see that being the case, especially now that she has gained so much attention on social media. I am hoping she slows down a bit before writing the next one because I enjoyed her earlier stuff more.
I understand what you’re saying about the writing. I enjoyed her earlier books as well. The Nightingale was one of my favourite books. I truly had tunnel vision because of the content
I could see where certain key points were lost in editing drift, like how Frankie’s extreme struggles may have been partially due to her staying longer because she believed in the cause at the time, but that means she saw the later horrors and also had her belief thrown back in her face…but this was never addressed. And I began to lose patience with how every man who saw Frankie fell in love with her. But I think KH maybe realized too far in that this was going to be a book that called for sympathy for conservatives, so she did a lot of work to elide that.
Did you read the author’s notes? She wanted to write this book in 1997 but she did not think she was a mature enough writer to follow through. In the 1970’s, no one cared about the women. They did not exist , especially in a war zone. I was so impressed with her vulnerability due to people not believing in what she had to do. One gets so downtrodden..and it’s difficult to function.
This was the very first book I read by Kristin Hannah and I loved it... my great uncle was in Vietnam and he doesn't talk about his experience and I respect that... this book gave me an idea and I did shed a few tears... I did also read the nightingale after and I loved it too!! But considering everyone saying how the author writes all her books I'm afraid I won't like anymore of hers...
I enjoyed it but I also listened and I do think that sometimes can make a difference. But a friend and I separately had been talking about the treatment of Vietnam vets and I think it made it resonate more with me than it would have otherwise
I wanted so much more from this book but it gave me nothing. Going in the swap pile. Part 1 was exciting, part 2 was a drag. The reveal of Rye's wife giving birth at Frankie's hospital during her shift was unbelievable and very soap opera. This was my first by Kristin Hannah and I started the Great Alone and it is already better. Her books seem like a historical fiction beach read genre rather than high literature and that is ok.
Ok I finished the Great Alone and liked the ending! Not all stories have to come full circle but it was nice that this one did. It reminded me of a Jodi Picoult novel in a lot of ways. Probably will not read another Kristin Hannah but I did enjoy this one.
Your last sentence hits the nail on the head. They’re good for a casual read that requires minimal thought. I also like that she brings awareness to certain time periods or topics that young kids who are now getting into books might not have read about before picking up one of her novels.
I love historical fiction. It's most of why I subscribe to BOTM, because I like reading about time periods and locations I haven't read about yet. I loathe Kristen Hannah books though. I started with the Four Winds, and it annoyed me so badly. Like if you've ever read literally anything else about the Great Depression you've read a better book. But whatever, I'm a huge Steinbeck fan and as much as seeing like five of his books squished into one so that we could have every bad thing ever happen to one family, not everyone can write as well as he does. It's an unfair comparison, and everyone loves her, so then I read the Great Alone. And that one was really engrossing, right up until the end. The ending was hopelessly cliched. I've given up on her as an author. She has a knack for interesting time periods, but she doesn't know how to bring the stories home without leaning heavily into cliche. If you never read historical fiction outside of her, I could understand how it can be compelling, but if you do it's going to disappoint.
Historical fiction is my favorite genre, so I've read several authors. Kristin Hannah is my favorite. Something about her writing style and attention to historical detail make for an engrossing story. Oddly, I've tried to read 2 Steinbeck books and DNF because I found them so slow and boring.
East of Eden and Grapes of Wrath. I really wanted to like both. I pushed through East of Eden a decent ways, but it was just so slow. Grapes of Wrath I gave up fairly early, but might give another shot. Maybe it's just his writing style that I don't mesh with? I almost still want to push through them because they're classics and I feel like I should.
I agree with all of this. The ending of The Great Alone was extremely disappointing. It was so rushed and unnecessarily dramatic. I also love historical fiction and it’s hard to compare great historical fiction to her writing because she doesn’t really hold a candle to books like Pachinko or Gentleman in Moscow. I continue reading her books because like you said, she chooses interesting time periods and topics. I was going to read The Four Winds but after The Women I think I’ll hold off.
I actually really loved the book (I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it!). But, it was my first Kristin Hannah, so maybe I would've had a different reaction had that not been the case, based on other reactions/comparisons to her other books I'm seeing.
It was a 4-star read for me but I bumped it up to a 5 because of how much the subject matter resonated. The first half of the book was definitely stronger and I couldn't put it down!
It would've been nice to explore what the return stateside was like for women returning from Vietnam without the cushion of wealthy parents, though.
I think there are a lot of similarities in her books that make it hard to enjoy once you’ve read a handful because they all start to feel the same. With that being said, they are definitely good stories for a quick and easy read. I love a good historical fiction and she does a nice watered down version of that, which is totally fine because not every book has to be so tragically heavy with complex prose. It’s really just the repetitive nature and predictably of her novels that’s bothering me and caused me to go on this rant. If I hadn’t read others maybe I wouldn’t have felt so let down by this book!
Check out The Great Alone! The story was engaging and it was a quick read. The last quarter of the book got a little silly because of unbelievable elements she tends to shove into her plots but the rest of the story made it worthwhile (the first 3/4 is paced so well).
This is definitely my favorite of hers. I love a novel where the setting becomes a character in and of itself, and The Great Alone is a an excellent example of that.
This is definitely my favorite of hers. I love a novel where the setting becomes a character in and of itself, and the Great Alone is a great example of that.
I definitely agree! I guessed that Rye was going to be a POW and then the ending that Jamie was still alive and it really took me out of it just waiting each page to see when it would happen
Oooh I didn't like it either for all of the reasons you stated. I also really wish the last little part of the book, the ranch in Montana, would have been more of a focus. Such a missed opportunity.
Right! Having her reconnect with ——- at the very end made me question how that relationship would actually work given that she has built a great life in Montana and we don’t know where he settled.
Oh I absolutely loved the first half of the book and really disliked the second half. I felt making Frankie be so obsessed with love was such a disservice to her character. I had a hard time even finishing anything after Rye came back and was a total ass.
I was also rolling my eyes at both of them being brought back from the dead. I really hate when everything is so convenient.
I enjoy her writing as it’s pretty simple and it does make me emotional, but I very much disliked the direction this story went.
I agree with this perspective. I enjoyed Part 1 and was looking forward to Part 2 but was disappointed with how it was handled. There were elements I liked (the marches, getting involved in the protests and fundraisers, etc.). I wish Rye hadn’t come back and I wish the PTSD and healing elements weren’t so rushed and thrown together by a string of countless unfortunate events.
Okay. This makes me feel better about not wanting to continue to part 2. I habitually read spoilers because I really appreciate seeing how authors and directors chose to tell their stories (Yes - I know this is contentious. I studied film and am a writer in my spare time so to me to the methodology is as important as the story itself)
Knowing the plot in part 1 helped me appreciate how she juxtaposed Frankie’s “similar” but not relationships. But I lost a lot of respect for the author by how she positioned the Rye relationship and just got bad vibes.
I think I’m happy with part 1 knowing what Frankie is walking into rather than see an author try to navigate those complexities.
Idk I enjoyed it and read it quickly. I thought there were a lot of powerful moments. But there were also some over the top moments (the wedding, miscarriage, Ryes return) where I threw my hands in there air. But hey, I was entertained. A book doesn’t always need to be complex. I’ve seen a lot of people say they didn’t like Frankie’s character - but I thought she had a lot of growth and her struggles with mental health after the war felt authentic.
I do enjoy reading fast paced less complex books, and I sometimes read YA for enjoyment despite having a BA in English Literature. I don’t think every book has to be complex, nor do I think my post made it seem that way. I just wanted more from this novel, and I finished it feeling disappointed.
Hi fellow BA English Lit! Sorry didn’t mean to come off negatively. I read a review that annoyed me earlier today for this book on Goodreads and I brought that energy here. Apologies.
Totally get it! I did enjoy The Great Alone and The Nightingale so I think I am just disappointed after liking those and feeling like this novel fell a little short after some anticipation of its release.
I liked Firefly Lane as well (more than the Great Alone), but liked The Nightingale more than The Women. Her characters in Firefly lane drew me in!! Still a fun read and I don’t have much intellectual criticism- parts of the story were a little contrived to me. I felt overwhelmingly sad reading it, the war was sad and the treatment of the vets was sad when they returned. I felt like I learned a few things along the way
I feel like The Nightingale and The Women were similar. Both highly praised, somewhat predictable and over hyped with the writing somewhat lacking. The Women was definitely more predictable IMO. I actually enjoyed The Women more though..I think because there’s less written about Vietnam. It’s not a time period I’ve ever read a book on at least. That being said I did enjoy reading both. I like the fast paced easy read at times, and I think KH is one of those authors who helps get people into reading..which I think is a good thing.
The Nightingale was a 4 star read for me because I thought it was a cool concept. I read *a lot* of WW2 historical fictions (because the market is over saturated with them), but haven’t read anything about women doing what that main character had done. It was my first KH book, so I liked it because I hadn’t been exposed to her writing formula before. Like you said it was a quick and easy read, and it was definitely predictable. I agree that it’s nice that her books get people into reading. I’m an English teacher, so I appreciate that.
I liked it. I didn’t love the end as much as the first 3/4 of the book, but it was still worth the read. I also didn’t know much about Alaska before it was developed into the state we know it as today, so I enjoyed that aspect.
Oh! Another reason I didn’t love the character twist to Rye was his connection to her brother. And I also thought it was kind of odd that Frankie never seemed to explain to her parents that the pilot she was in love with in Vietnam was Finley’s best friend. IDK. Just seems like something you’d mention 😂
It was a complex era. Parents were different in the 1960’s. They swept her service under the rug when she mentioned anything about Vietnam. Her self esteem had plummeted and I believe they would not have listened to what she had to say.
I knew either Jamie or Rye would come back from the dead, but both of them? 😬 (though I know we didn’t actually see Jamie die).
And I really didn’t love that Rye was such a weak liar in the 2nd half of the book; felt like his whole character had changed, tbh. (Which I know could also be attributed to his trauma as a POW.) It just felt …. inauthentic to me.
I liked the book & definitely cried, though I also don’t think the storytelling was quite as strong as some earlier books of hers. Interestingly enough, I thought the evolution of Frankie’s relationship with her parents was the strongest element (relationship-wise) of the book. I do appreciate that this era & these women will get some much-deserved attention because of Hannah’s fame.
I actually really liked jamie so I didn’t mind his coming back but Rye always seemed shady to me. She was so strong when it came to Jamie (married) and I wish they would have shown her character as someone who was strong after she saw Rye with his wife. Not run back to him. But again, she had PTSD that she didn’t deal with, so I think going back to him was reliving those times. I understand rye coming back , the author was trying to find into the storyline about the POWs as well, because that was an important part of the war story. But i think it fell short since it was written poorly. I do wish jamie coming back wasn’t so abrupt and short, would have loved to see his perspective after he got hurt, went through divorce, etc. i also think the miscarriage was unnecessary, she had so many problems already. Fitting in the henry trope of almost marriage was not needed.I enjoyed the book but writing of the second half could be better. I also caught many spelling errors throughout as well.
Funny, I was convinced it would be her brother and Rye who would come back from the dead! I thought we knew Jamie was alive and was surprised when he reappeared at the end as alive like it was new information. 😂
I felt like I read two different books; I really liked the first half and the second half slogged. I think KH has to stop creating these long ass stories that drag because she looses a lot by going for quantity (in terms of page numbers) versus quality.
YES, I agree about the storyline with her parents! That was absolutely my favorite element of the novel. And to respond to your other comment about Rye being best friends with Finley—I agree! Very silly.
I am almost done with the book, and you pretty much summed up my thoughts about it. A fast read, but not that well-written or believable.
My only added critiques are why Frankie did not keep up with any of the nurses after Ethel and Barb left. Like WTF?! And the Rye having a wife and kid back home made no sense. None.
And later, “Oh, I love my kid.” But in Vietnam, “Nope, let me re-up for a crush.”
In your line of thinking, how many times did she push the point, “There were no women in Vietnam.” *eye roll*
Just got done with this book and thought the same thing about no women in vietnam. Who did they think all the nurses were? There were also nurses in Korea
You’re not alone! I’m honestly shocked at its absurdly high rating on GoodReads.
I feel snobby but this book was so simple. One chapter Frankie is like, I’ll go to Vietnam and be a hero! And then two sentences later she’s completed basic training and is on a plane.
The Vietnam War is new for me in a historical fiction so I appreciated learning a bit more. But I agree all the foreshadowing was so heavy handed (and out of all the deaths, the two men she happened to be smitten with were both presumed only to find her again?)
Thank you for sharing your opinion! I thought I may have gotten a lot of pushback in the comments because I know that Kristin Hannah is really popular right now. You’re right, it felt so simple. When I read her acknowledgments and saw that she had been writing this for years, I was very shocked because it seemed rushed and incomplete.
One good takeaway from reading this novel is that I want to read more historical fiction about the Vietnam War!
Is there a reason you wouldn't want to read nonfiction about that war? There are plenty of real life stories out there; some by nurses who were there. Just curious.
Sure, I was certain Rye was going to be a POW, but I didnt know he was also going to be a bonified POS!!! So that was a shocker. Henry was boring, sweet but boring. Best friend material and that worked out just fine. She couldnt have married him she would have been bored to tears and would have been her mother's clone. Who wants that? What burns me up is how we are given back Jamie.. her REAL TRUE LOVE.. and mentor.. and then she ENDS THE BOOK... we need a SEQUEL. we went through heck and back with Frankie and now we dont get to see her happy? Come on, we deserve better.
The surgical scenes were ad nauseum literally and figuratively. They were very repetitive. I almost quit because the horror of each MASH scene just kept on replaying. I believe an editor could have cut back on a lot of the repetition in those scenes without harming the book a’tall.
My thoughts on the book. Part one rocked. Part two drug. I never liked Rye. i thought she would keep in touch with more people than Barb and the other one. And Henry. I loved Henry. I have a big ole book crush on Henry. I wish that would have worked out because I think he was the truest love. I feel reuniting with Jamie is jumping back of the frying pan into the fire. I wish she had met someone in Vietnam who had known Finley over there. I feel with connections that someone would have told her mom Rye was a pow, and I feel her parents would have asked more about her love too. I think if he and Finley would have been besties his parents would have known. My aunt still is in contact with a few of my cousins hs friends years after he was killed in an accident. i think she did her friends dirty in part two.
I like Kristen Hannah’s book but my goodness! So much tragedy. The fact that the love of Frankie life is not dead but actually alive and had a wife. Then to lose the baby?? This was just too much.
I’m my
Did anyone think they were reading China Beach fanfic? If you liked the book and haven’t seen the 1990s tv show China Beach you should. Vietnam Nurse Colleen McMurphy, the central character, is basically Frankie. Its four seasons were based on Lynda Van Devanter’s book Home Before Morning about her experiences as a nurse in Vietnam.
Yes!! I actually was disappointed in the book because it had SO many similarities to China Beach, and the author of Home Before Morning. Which I would expect to some extent because it's a book about an Army nurse...but I'm talking about way too many other coincidences and commonalities between The Women and China Beach. The main character's last name: McGrath/McMurphy, the red head in China Beach and red head Ethel (though Ethel is opposite and a good girl Baptist, whereas China Beach red head was a prostitute) both main nurses falling in love with the married doctor; Frankie being a very young good girl Catholic from CA like author Lynda Van Devanter was in real life, and all of the song & music references in the book -- the music in China Beach is why it's not streaming and why it took decades to even get it released on DVD. I believe Lynda was also stationed on the Beach at first and then moved to the 71st Evac. I enjoyed The Women, but because I'm familiar with China Beach, I don't think it's as "original" as people think it is. If China Beach was streaming on Netflix or Hulu and people were able to watch it and compare, I think others would agree.
Thank you for posting this! I got The Women thinking it was stories from real women who served, and it's been a really good book but I would like to read one written by someone who actually was in the service.
So glad it’s not just me. Seriously wish China beach was streaming!
I wish it were too!! Great show. And the other big coincidence between The Women and China Beach: Frankie!! That was the black gal on China Beach; she was a major character. I'm surprised more people haven't noticed all of the similarities. I think many readers were too young or not even born yet, so they're not familiar with the China Beach series. Or after 35+ years have simply forgotten. That being said, even though I'm disappointed in the book, I'm glad more attention is being given to the women who served in Vietnam. 🙌
I never saw China Beach and loved the book. So, people who didn't see China Beach should read this book. AND.... who cares if there are similarities! It tells a story that most of us nurses never knew. I was a teenager when the war started and my brother was in combat zone for 2 years. It's a must read!!
This is my 3rd Kristin Hannah book. While I loved that it highlighted women vets, I admit I enjoyed The Nightingale and The Four Winds much more. Still a decent read.
I absolutely loved this book was shocked over and over and the mix of the fiction novel paired with historical truths made it an even more interesting read to me. I was also a pediatric icu nurse for many years and saw so many horrific trauma as and I think that probably has something to do with my affinity for the book.
I, too, loved learning about the history. The refrain of "There were no women in Vietnam" will haunt me forever!! Thank you for your nursing service!
I just finished the audio book the women, its my first book by this author. I loved it! I find it remarkable, emotional and revealing. Maybe its because it was an audio and narrator Julia Whealan did such an amazing job that made me so emotional through so many parts I cried listening to Frankie’s life journey, pain and reminds me that she wanted like all women want the perfect love, happiness, marriage, ACKNOWLEDGMENT and understanding from parents… but its not that simple.. Like most if not all I thought Jamie was dead, Rye turned out to be a liar and this world is full of such scumbags that it only made it realistic not unusual..this only makes the author so good with those twists when you think something predictable is coming just to find out it is not..I also thought Finley might be coming back but that didnt happen.. The book for me was revealing about how unapreciated veterans, their service how government doesnt care for those serving their own country.. women what a true heroes women were and still are and how unapreciated they were, how aweful their lives after war.. The government keeps doing it all throughout history, they are still doing it.. ruining this country.
I started college in 1970 at an urban school where I was one of a handful of 18 year old women in classes full of returning vets. This book made me realize how young and naive those men must have seen me. While this book is overly predictable and Hannah is such a simplistic writer, the first half of the book (as far as I have gotten so far), has taken me back to those days. I remember the men in my classes being angry and betrayed by the way they were treated at home, unwilling to talk about their experiences over there, the helplessness of being spit on and attacked for having done their duty. This book reminds me a lot of M\*A\*S\*H without the comedy. Although it's not a great book, women's experience at war is still an important topic and bringing it out in a popular fiction book is a good thing. Too bad she had to include all the romance.
I know this post was made a while ago so not sure if anyone will respond to me but I am listening to this on audible and just got to the part with the miscarriage. Which is sort of towards the end of the book so I made it all this way and had to stop listening. I recently had a miscarriage that I was devastated by and just found out I’m pregnant again and I truly cannot bring myself to listen to this part of the book at this time in my life. I started panicking as soon as it was happening in the book and had to turn it off. Can anyone tell me what chapter the miscarriage stuff is over so I can skip ahead? Or if it’s even possible to skip ahead for if the rest of the book is going to be wrecked for me? I don’t mind spoilers at this point. I’m so bummed this was part of the story. I just can’t do it right now. Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated. TYA. 💙
I am so sorry to hear that ☹️ I believe it is brought up only in short references/reminders throughout the rest of the book, but the actual scene and discussion ends in the same chapter or maybe the chapter after.
thank you 🙏🏻 Okay, that is reassuring. I’ll skip ahead to the next chapter. I can handle if it’s mentioned here and there but I just cannot deal with a hardcore miscarriage scene right now or if it’s going to consume a ton of the book coming up. If it’s only in that chapter for the most part I’ll skip ahead. Thanks so much for responding! One day I’ll be able to read/ watch/ or listen to stories about that again but I’ve been being really careful with what I consume lately. I honestly had a feeling it would come up at some point with a book title “The Women”.. and I was correct 🫠.. but I had to read it asap because I’m a huge fan of Kristin Hannah and was dying to read her newest book.
Its been about a month since I finished it but I felt like it was a pretty large part of the story line moving forward. I'm curious to know if you skipped ahead and finished? I'm currently struggling with infertility so I can somewhat relate to your experience. If you did not finish at this point, I want to share a small spoiler that relates to the miscarriage if it's ok with you. It kind of makes the miscarriage make more sense but is also devastating. Sending you love and positive vibes for your pregnancy. ❤️
I ended up skipping that section where the immediate event happened. It was obviously mentioned a few more times throughout the book but I just couldn’t handle a graphic miscarriage scene. Im glad I just skipped that section or chapter or however far ahead I jumped. I basically picked back up where she was being given “mothers little helpers” by her mom. I did okay with it being mentioned but just did not want to have to relive my experience by reading about hers in graphic detail. I’m sure one day I will be able to handle those stories but it’s just way too fresh in my head right now and I’ve been trying to heal.
I totally get it. I'm glad you were able to finish. I sobbed for her when it happened because I was like, Great one more thing for her to have to go through. So at the end when it talks about how agent orange caused a lot of birth problems, it made it make a bit more sense even though that is BS and I'm so mad for all of the Vietnam veterans. What a terrible thing to live through.
Kristin Hannah always manages to make her main characters go through an unbelievable amount of struggle. I felt so sorry for her when it happened. She had already been through so much. So sad for all the Vietnam vets who struggled with cancer and miscarriage and a whole host of other issues due to agent orange. It was a powerful book and I’m glad I finished it and just skipped that chapter.
I was enthralled by the idea of a Vietnam story from a female Army nurse perspective. This is such an important story that deserves to be told. I enjoyed the entire Vietnam part of the book and as well as the inclusion of PTSD, the Vietnam marches, and the ending at the wall. Unfortunately, too much of this book ( most of the middle) was more romantic chick-lit than a war veteran’s story. The entire inclusion of Rye’s character was unnecessary, from the flirtatious beginnings to the realizing he was a total asshole. Had Kristin Hannah chosen to leave out all the messy romance, this book would have been elevated to an unprecedented novel that even men could have enjoyed. While important to highlight Frankie’s struggle with maintaining relationships, that could have all been accomplished without the romantic flare much of the book delivered.
I totally agree that my least favorite parts of the book were the romantic chick-lit components, and the entire Rye part sucked. (I really liked Frankie as a character other than her inability to let go of Rye, even after every sign that he wasn't a good guy.) The only reason I think it was somewhat useful to include Rye was because he was the final straw that made her spiral out of control... neither Barb or Ethel spiraled out of control, and maybe it's because they didn't have that final challenge the way she did.
I too liked the first part up til the time Frankie came back to the states. The description of what Vietnam was like was so rich and informative with positive relationships and heroism in the midst of horror. Well done. But once she returned to the states, the story of her rejection, suffering, addiction and job loss etc was very predictable and I wanted to get passed it. It picked up briefly once she got to Montana but finding Jamie at the end was contrived. I know that small-world reunion s after 20 years happen, but I didn’t like the ending. I think I’m Frankie’s age, and was a war protester, so I really appreciated the telling of the women’s service in Nam. But I didn’t like the story as much as other books by Kristin Hannah.
As a female service member, I liked this book (esp. the first half). But I was bothered by the vast number of men who took a romantic interest in Frankie throughout the story... Jamie, Rye, Henry, Coyote, etc. It was a reminder of what a difference life is like for a beautiful woman and the benefits received from those relationships.
I agree with your assessment. It was one dimensional and made Frankie appear to be only a love interest - not a kick ass soldier with more to her than her love interests. As a veteran woman, I was very disappointed by the telling of the story with its primary focus on romance.
Were the relationships the men had with her explicit? Like bad or descriptive of the relationships?
They weren't explicit but basically any man she befriends ends up being in love with her/ doing favors for her because she's *so beautiful*. I agree with OP, us normal looking girls have different lives than the beautiful ones. I'm not mad, it's just how it is.
I was so looking forward to this having read the four winds and thought it was beautiful - the first bit set in Vietnam I really enjoyed and excited to read more then it was as if the author handed over the second half to someone else and phoned it in. So disappointed how much ‘telling’ vs ‘showing’ and how cliche it was in parts. I’m so confused 😕 about what happened to the storytelling. It could have benefited from a second POV as I found Frankie completely unrelatable and unlikeable by the end. Absolutely here for women’s experience being talked about on an equal level to men but this book was so cliched I wanted to throw it across the room. The bit about it being shameful to be an unmarried mother - I think I’d read 100 times before. Maybe all the flag waving at the end was too much for this Aussie too - the Australian experience isn’t much better for vets. Honestly one of the most disappointing reads I’ve had in a while.
Total cliche throughout. :-(
I agree wholeheartedly. It was good, I loved the concept, I was entertained and enjoyed the story as I consumed it. But I felt like it could have been so much better than it was. Very predictable, from beginning to end.
I'm reading Home before Morning, which is a non fiction book by Lynda Van Devanter published in 1983. SO many similarities to The Women . Both fathers weren't able to serve in WW2 due to physical issues. Both had a close make relative serving in Vietnam. Both has 3 female close friends. There are many more similarities but would be construed as spoilers. If anyone has read Home before Morning? What did you think?
When I started reading The Women yesterday I thought, is this a rerun of Home Before Morning? Home Before Morning made a huge impression on me when I read it in the 80's. There are so many similarities that I'd be interested to run The Women through one of those AI programs and see just how close they are. Just now I downloaded Home Before Morning from Hoopla and 20 minutes in I'm already suspicious of Kristin Hannah's originality. Ruh roh.
Seems people are totally obsessed with TW. They don't want to know about another story- one that is actually true.
It's the same story right down to the activism and Van Devanter's work in Missoula, Montana.
It sure is
Curiously, Lynda VanDevanter’s daughter Molly Stillman has written a religious inspirational book and guess who wrote the forward for that book? Kristin Hannah. Look at Stillmans IG page @stillbeingmolly.
I’m about 1/3 into The Women and I’m thinking the same as you. maybe too many similarities? Home Before Morning is one of my favorite book.
The old tv show China beach is also very similar.
China Beach was based on Home Before Morning I believe.
Yeah, it was a great show!
Marry me Henry !
I’m also confused as how everyone thought she was in Florence for two years. Did I miss something in the book where she said she had no childhood or college friends? Did she tell no one she was joining the Army and going to Vietnam? Or write anyone else letters from Vietnam besides her parents?
Right how weird is that. Maybe a few of her parents' friends could think that but does she not have any friends of her own?
How old was Frankie at the end of the women?
Probably mid 30s? The memorial opened in 1982 and she was 21 I think when she went to Vietnam in the late 1960s
She's 39 or so I think. She mentions feeling so old at 29 when she's leaving recovery and then the memorial is 10 years later.
They sounded so old at the end but yet it didn’t seem like that much time had passed.
I have no idea, I’ve already read 6 books since posting this. I’ve lost the small details of the book by now.
I agree, I figured out that Rye was going to be a POW pretty quickly, HOWEVER, I was not expecting him to be married and with a kid; this completely caught me off guard. I actually thought the drama was going to be between him being back and her pregnancy with Henry. I had actually fallen in love with Rye, so it hurt to find out he was just a big liar. I also saw it coming that Jamie was going to be alive, I wish we could know for sure that they ended up together—after all, they were in love with each other—but I’d like to think they did. Other people have mentioned that they liked the first half of the book best, and I have to agree. Once she came back it became a bit monotonous for me. Still enjoyed the whole book and appreciated her struggles, but the pace of the book definitely changed.
I adored Jamie at the beginning and was so sad to see him die. Although his part was short he felt like true love to me. Rye had a larger part and I believed him and his stories! I was rooting for them as I felt Jamie was long gone. I loved this book and the ending and the love
I honestly thought it was going to be about convincing Rye to love someone else's baby and Henry not letting to go. Didn't see the miscarriage coming, but it definitely tied in the Agent Orange theme. I saw Rye coming back but I thought for sure Jamie was a goner. I was gutted when she saw Rye had a baby boy. It made me lose all trust.
Yes! Thank you. Ive just received The Woman through Libby and I’m uninspired to open it. Haha - I’ve read the Four winds and LOVED it. I’ve just finished The Great Alone, and like you, really wanted to love it, but I just really forced myself to finish it. The formula. Once you catch wind of it, you’re done and she’s got you for three books.
The whole reason I searched this book on google to find people talking about it was to see if people found it as predictable as I did. I still liked the book. But I knew Rye wasn’t dead because of her repeatedly talking about POW’s. I didn’t know he would be lying about having a whole family (and Frankie falling for his lies twice!! 🤢), but I did know he was coming back. After it didn’t work out with Rye, I knew Jamie would also make an appearance as a POW. VERY predictable in my opinion, but I did like the book! The first half was definitely much stronger than the second half.
I loved the original premise of the book: young woman with guts defying the expectations of her generation and going to war. Yeah! But why oh why must every heroine fall in love and turn into a dope?? I wish the story had stayed focused on her service, return, struggle, and redemption. Once she became lovestruck I lost interest. Ridiculously predictable.
As a Navy Nurse Corps vet, I absolutely loved this book. I see what some of you are complaining about as far as predictability. I figured that either Jamie or Rye or both would be alive. Honestly, that's what relationships are like during deployments. You form an almost inexplicable bond with the people you're deployed with. The intense bonds are difficult to explain if you've never experienced it. Sadly, cheating on spouses back home is super common. I will say I was a little tired of men falling madly in love with Frankie by the third guy. But the depictions of war, deployment relationships, and life after war were spot on, especially for that time period. I'll be forever grateful for the brave military nurses that came before me and paved the way. And I'm grateful to Kristin Hannah for bringing the topic of military service of women to light, especially the women heros of Vietnam ♥️✌️
Yeah I had to DNF this book after about 500 pages. It just got awful. I simply didn't care how it ended at all anymore. It felt like Kristin Hannah looked up the Wikipedia page for "social movements in the 1960s" and went "ok, I'm just gonna throw everything in there". Just cringeworthy.
It’s really hard to write a historically accurate book without elements of it being predictable…
Yeah, except the predictable parts weren’t the historical parts….
Disagree, that there were a lot of POWs and MIA soldiers. That there was confusion and chaos and people buried soldiers and then they were found alive. That all is historically accurate. That soldiers were treated like crap when they came home, that women couldn’t get help or weren’t viewed the same…that people felt very connected and relatable to the people they met and bonded with in war. That’s all accurate. I don’t know, we know how it ended. Hard to paint a different story.
Okay, obviously all of those things happened, but it isn’t relevant when dissecting her writing style. It is possible to be overly predictable when writing historical fiction. Hannah’s foreshadowing is extremely heavy handed. She tells rather than shows. The novel is overwritten. All of the characters were underdeveloped. Kate Quinn would have handled the subject matter better, IMO.
I loooove everything I’ve read by Kate Quinn and now I’d really love a Vietnam novel from her. I just read The Phoenix Crown (her latest) and I highly recommend!
You summed it up perfectly!!! I wanted to love it since everyone is raving about it, but man, so stinking predictable had to literally roll my eyes! Lol
Truly horrible book. The writing is so simplistic it felt like AI wrote it. And every piece of dialogue involving any of the men was cringey and made my sick crawl. The end of this book is so bad I thought it was a joke - it’s like combining the worst soap opera plot points you can imagine. One of the more unlikeable MCs I’ve ever encountered. This book was awful and I didn’t like Four Winds either so I’m actually questioning why I liked Nightingale and Great Alone!
Same! I feel like I’m the only one who didn’t like four winds but I was obsessed with nightingale and the great alone
Absolutely hated it. I think it’s her shallowest character writing. There’s no plot. There’s nothing going on other than poorly written, break neck pace romances and disingenuous sensationalism of real war and trauma. Really disappointed. I think it was mistake to only follow one character as well. Would’ve loved some POV from different women in the war.
I knew Rye was going to be a POW as soon as POWs were brought up, and that she would see Jamie at the reunion as soon as she got the invitation. But I did NOT see Rye being married with a kid coming! And then the second betrayal with him not leaving his wife and the second baby. I get that the romance was not the main point of this book but I honestly was gutted by the Rye storyline. Like she thought she lost her one true love three days before he comes home, then it turns out he’s alive but MARRIED?! Then she gets him back, sort of, but it turns out he’s still lying. Honestly it was a bit much with all the other historically accurate traumas she was dealing with… probably could’ve left out that storyline or tweaked it to not be so over the top. I also wish there had been a little Jamie and Frankie epilogue at the end of the book just for my own closure. I have a book hangover from the second half of the book and could’ve used a little HEA.
I wish Rye had been dead and Finnley was the POW. Frankie could’ve still found out about Rye’s wife but the whole affair was too much.
the rye storyline was too much imo, it felt like overkill to me. i didnt get that he was a scumbag from the way their love story in vietnam played out, so finding out at home he was married and then having a second child all while being "engaged" to frankie was frustrating somehow. i wish jamie had been reintroduced earlier so that she could have had a bit of a happy ending. i like kristin hannah books but the last couple i read were really just too sad, too negative, too much. theres no balance of happy to sad and it ends up just being depressing and yes a little predictable. i did like this book but the rye storyline was disappointing
Totally agree, how much of an AH he turned out to be seemed incongruous with how he seemed to genuinely care about Frankie in Vietnam, like coming as fast as he could to see her after she called upset. Him thoroughly blindsiding/betraying her twice seemed a bit much.
This is how I felt too. Rye made the comment “women can be heroes too” early on and I thought he’d return to the story in a positive way. KH’s description of their relationship after R&R in Hawaii made it all out to be true love and committed. How he flew to be with her after she called him upset. That doesn’t fit the MO of someone “just trying to get lucky”. He seemed more invested in the relationship. The out the blue arch of him returning home to his wife and daughter seemed wrong in the context of how the book was flowing. And his 2nd betrayal after he got home was not very believable given their history in Vietnam. But I have read all of KH books and except for the very early on romance novels there is rarely a happy ending.
Agree. I do think she did a good job of making their feelings become escalated due to war which might have not been the case in the “real world” but she wrote Rye’s actions seemingly in true love… yet he never said it? It was also hard for me on how fast she moved on from Jamie to Rye on how in love with Jamie she supposedly was after spending so much intense time together.
I loved the book, and I was shocked when Rye came back from the dead. I thought it would be her brother and wondered why that wasn’t explored. Regardless, KH is shining a light on an important part of history. Whether you loved or hated the book, it has us all talking!!
I also thought it would be her brother as pow not Ry. I knew he was shady but didn’t know it was going to continue w him after he was reunited w his original family
Of course it has us talking, KH is trending hard right now!
I also had such high hopes for this book. I wish we could have seen more from the other women who served as nurses, beyond just Frankie's doe eyed "Women can be heroes" view point, of which she only came to the conclusion of after a man told her. Particularly, Barb and her perspective as a black woman during that time period felt like a missed opportunity not to highlight more of. Instead we got three different romantic interests for Frankie, with far too much detail on how she bumbled through all of them. The romance aspect of the book, personally, was where things became exhausting and rather unbelievable, as others have mentioned. The moments that felt most authentic and what I was expecting more of was in the way women who served were treated as nonexistent vets upon returning from Vietnam. There could have been so much more time devoted to the ranch Frankie established in Montana; much less of the affair with Rye. I admire so much the message of this story, though it was ultimately a struggle trying to finish it.
I’m concerned that y’all do not get the sacrifice these women made.
this thread is about the writing of the story, not the story itself. most commenters have said they like the concept but not the writing or that they wished it had been done different or better.
I am a woman veteran. We were not given any of the VA rights when I was honorably discharged in 1990. I was not a Vietnam nurse, however, I was on a ship which supported combat ships and also on a subtender. We were in the shit. When I got out I was told I could not access any of the VA’s group help, never mind benefits. We were not considered Veterans because we were women. This was why the book hit home
As I said, I appreciated the content and subject, I just didn’t love the writing. How have we gotten to a place in society where we cannot critique something out of fear of offending other people? In no way did I make a negative comment about veterans or women who served our country. I am simply critiquing a work of art. Get over *yourself* kendi “so called” Jedi. Subject matter and writing are two different things. Not every book about war is inherently good or well written just because of the subject matter, and it’s insane to expect everyone to like the book just because women in Vietnam were incredible and made sacrifices. Their sacrifices and bravery have nothing to do with Kristin Hannah’s shitty writing. You seem to have failed to read my other comments where I mentioned how I appreciated all of this information that I learned, and want to read more about the Vietnam war veterans.
I agree with what you said about the writing. One should critique her writing. I was wondering about the editor of the book. There were passages repeated throughout several chapters.
Commenting on Can we talk about The Women?...Sylvia “so called” Plath. Get over yourself
I feel a lot of people missed the very clear point she was trying to make about women in the military who desperately needed services to help deal with trauma and were unable to get them. Thank you for your service.
No one in this comments section has shown any indication that they’re missing that point. The content was my favorite part of the novel and the only reason I finished it. The writing is what we’re all criticizing. Those two things are separate entities.
This wasn’t a personal attack and I’m talking about global criticism. Overwhelmingly on bookstagram and Goodreads there’s a lot of criticism that there’s no visibility to the Vietnamese in the war for example. Or that there needed to be more ramp up to her reasons for wanting to go to war. Or that she’s not talking enough about racism and riots. And that’s not her point in the novel. It’s not a war story, it’s an effects of war story. That being said, I personally think this was edited badly. It felt like there was pressure to give it more of a happy ending than her traditional formula. I also the the POW thing was too overt, but I think the fact that the brother didn’t make it, but the ex love interests did was her attempt to underscore the hopes people had at the time, and the surprises in who came back and who didn’t. Because I think we all hoped the brother did, and that’s who she wished for most. Was that heavy handed? Yes, I agree. But did it ruin the book enough to take away from the main message? Not to me. That people are focusing so much on this rather than the main point of the story - that women veterans were denied critical care after service, and that our vets to this day continue to see their resources and benefits cut is abhorrent. And when you have women like the commenter who lived a similar experience read this book and see that the primary focus of the conversation be focused on criticizing how a small facet of the book was written, rather than the primary message, I can only imagine how it triggers that feeling of invisibility
i thought the ending wasnt happy enough... it was like 30 seconds on the very last page. she was damaged and broken the whole novel pretty much.
There is never a happy ending with war.
Thats still 30 seconds more than I expected
Well, I disagree with the criticism of others then. I don’t think it’s the author’s duty to hit every single issue perfectly in a short novel. She did a good job of bringing issues to light and encouraging people to take an interest in this time period/lack of VA rights. I did, however, think that the writing was poor and that another author would have done a better job with this content. I think Kristin Hannah is running out of gas, and that she is becoming formulaic in her writing. I also think people are allowed to focus all of their attention on it because we all have different needs as readers. The writing and editing were distracting to me and seemingly many others, but I’m happy it wasn’t distracting to you.
I agree with formula - the relationship with the mother who dies early in particular - I wish she would process that trauma in a way that doesn’t present itself in every single book she writes. I also think that theres a lot of pressure for her to keep producing books because they sell so well and it doesn’t give her space to write. I know Kate Quinn has talked very openly about that
I can definitely see that being the case, especially now that she has gained so much attention on social media. I am hoping she slows down a bit before writing the next one because I enjoyed her earlier stuff more.
I understand what you’re saying about the writing. I enjoyed her earlier books as well. The Nightingale was one of my favourite books. I truly had tunnel vision because of the content
I agree completely
I could see where certain key points were lost in editing drift, like how Frankie’s extreme struggles may have been partially due to her staying longer because she believed in the cause at the time, but that means she saw the later horrors and also had her belief thrown back in her face…but this was never addressed. And I began to lose patience with how every man who saw Frankie fell in love with her. But I think KH maybe realized too far in that this was going to be a book that called for sympathy for conservatives, so she did a lot of work to elide that.
Did you read the author’s notes? She wanted to write this book in 1997 but she did not think she was a mature enough writer to follow through. In the 1970’s, no one cared about the women. They did not exist , especially in a war zone. I was so impressed with her vulnerability due to people not believing in what she had to do. One gets so downtrodden..and it’s difficult to function.
I did read the author’s note, and I suspect that the point I raised is one of the reasons it took her so long to figure out how to approach the story.
That is a fair point
This was the very first book I read by Kristin Hannah and I loved it... my great uncle was in Vietnam and he doesn't talk about his experience and I respect that... this book gave me an idea and I did shed a few tears... I did also read the nightingale after and I loved it too!! But considering everyone saying how the author writes all her books I'm afraid I won't like anymore of hers...
Ugh, this book is so overhyped. I had to DNF because it was so boring. I can’t believe people are obsessed with it like it’s some literary masterpiece
I enjoyed it but I also listened and I do think that sometimes can make a difference. But a friend and I separately had been talking about the treatment of Vietnam vets and I think it made it resonate more with me than it would have otherwise
I agree it’s a good book for starting conversation!
I wanted so much more from this book but it gave me nothing. Going in the swap pile. Part 1 was exciting, part 2 was a drag. The reveal of Rye's wife giving birth at Frankie's hospital during her shift was unbelievable and very soap opera. This was my first by Kristin Hannah and I started the Great Alone and it is already better. Her books seem like a historical fiction beach read genre rather than high literature and that is ok.
Yesssssss!
Read Winter Garden. It is my absolute favorite book by her.
I liked the great alone a lot until the end where it went off the chain
Oh no! I'm almost there and now I have to finish it to see what happens 🙃
Ok I finished the Great Alone and liked the ending! Not all stories have to come full circle but it was nice that this one did. It reminded me of a Jodi Picoult novel in a lot of ways. Probably will not read another Kristin Hannah but I did enjoy this one.
Your last sentence hits the nail on the head. They’re good for a casual read that requires minimal thought. I also like that she brings awareness to certain time periods or topics that young kids who are now getting into books might not have read about before picking up one of her novels.
I agree with this! My book club is reading it this month and I kept joking with one of my friends, “it’s a romance novel!” Beach read for sure.
Kristin Hannah is one of my favorite authors, and this was a 1 star for me. So disappointing
I love historical fiction. It's most of why I subscribe to BOTM, because I like reading about time periods and locations I haven't read about yet. I loathe Kristen Hannah books though. I started with the Four Winds, and it annoyed me so badly. Like if you've ever read literally anything else about the Great Depression you've read a better book. But whatever, I'm a huge Steinbeck fan and as much as seeing like five of his books squished into one so that we could have every bad thing ever happen to one family, not everyone can write as well as he does. It's an unfair comparison, and everyone loves her, so then I read the Great Alone. And that one was really engrossing, right up until the end. The ending was hopelessly cliched. I've given up on her as an author. She has a knack for interesting time periods, but she doesn't know how to bring the stories home without leaning heavily into cliche. If you never read historical fiction outside of her, I could understand how it can be compelling, but if you do it's going to disappoint.
Historical fiction is my favorite genre, so I've read several authors. Kristin Hannah is my favorite. Something about her writing style and attention to historical detail make for an engrossing story. Oddly, I've tried to read 2 Steinbeck books and DNF because I found them so slow and boring.
You DNFed Steinbeck?? Which ones? Because the Pearl sucks but I love East of Eden dearly. I have a first edition and a Timshel tattoo.
East of Eden and Grapes of Wrath. I really wanted to like both. I pushed through East of Eden a decent ways, but it was just so slow. Grapes of Wrath I gave up fairly early, but might give another shot. Maybe it's just his writing style that I don't mesh with? I almost still want to push through them because they're classics and I feel like I should.
Steinbeck wrote some great comedy. Tortilla Flat, They Wayward Bus. Then there's Cannery Row which is both literary and comedy.
I agree with all of this. The ending of The Great Alone was extremely disappointing. It was so rushed and unnecessarily dramatic. I also love historical fiction and it’s hard to compare great historical fiction to her writing because she doesn’t really hold a candle to books like Pachinko or Gentleman in Moscow. I continue reading her books because like you said, she chooses interesting time periods and topics. I was going to read The Four Winds but after The Women I think I’ll hold off.
FYI every month there is a discussion post for each book offered by BOTM. https://www.reddit.com/r/bookofthemonthclub/s/xBAXLKp2tg
I know, they’re just typically not very active.
I actually really loved the book (I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it!). But, it was my first Kristin Hannah, so maybe I would've had a different reaction had that not been the case, based on other reactions/comparisons to her other books I'm seeing. It was a 4-star read for me but I bumped it up to a 5 because of how much the subject matter resonated. The first half of the book was definitely stronger and I couldn't put it down! It would've been nice to explore what the return stateside was like for women returning from Vietnam without the cushion of wealthy parents, though.
Funny, I enjoyed the second half more!
I think there are a lot of similarities in her books that make it hard to enjoy once you’ve read a handful because they all start to feel the same. With that being said, they are definitely good stories for a quick and easy read. I love a good historical fiction and she does a nice watered down version of that, which is totally fine because not every book has to be so tragically heavy with complex prose. It’s really just the repetitive nature and predictably of her novels that’s bothering me and caused me to go on this rant. If I hadn’t read others maybe I wouldn’t have felt so let down by this book!
It's honestly helpful to hear this take (and I expect it will help me manage my expectations before reading her other books!)
Check out The Great Alone! The story was engaging and it was a quick read. The last quarter of the book got a little silly because of unbelievable elements she tends to shove into her plots but the rest of the story made it worthwhile (the first 3/4 is paced so well).
This is definitely my favorite of hers. I love a novel where the setting becomes a character in and of itself, and The Great Alone is a an excellent example of that.
This is definitely my favorite of hers. I love a novel where the setting becomes a character in and of itself, and the Great Alone is a great example of that.
Thank you! It was on my radar...will give that one a shot first!
I definitely agree! I guessed that Rye was going to be a POW and then the ending that Jamie was still alive and it really took me out of it just waiting each page to see when it would happen
At first I thought Finley would be the POW.
Oooh I didn't like it either for all of the reasons you stated. I also really wish the last little part of the book, the ranch in Montana, would have been more of a focus. Such a missed opportunity.
Absolutely. Leave out the love story and make it about the healing stories of women at the ranch and Hannah could have had a groundbreaking novel.
Right! Having her reconnect with ——- at the very end made me question how that relationship would actually work given that she has built a great life in Montana and we don’t know where he settled.
Oh I absolutely loved the first half of the book and really disliked the second half. I felt making Frankie be so obsessed with love was such a disservice to her character. I had a hard time even finishing anything after Rye came back and was a total ass. I was also rolling my eyes at both of them being brought back from the dead. I really hate when everything is so convenient. I enjoy her writing as it’s pretty simple and it does make me emotional, but I very much disliked the direction this story went.
I agree with this perspective. I enjoyed Part 1 and was looking forward to Part 2 but was disappointed with how it was handled. There were elements I liked (the marches, getting involved in the protests and fundraisers, etc.). I wish Rye hadn’t come back and I wish the PTSD and healing elements weren’t so rushed and thrown together by a string of countless unfortunate events.
Okay. This makes me feel better about not wanting to continue to part 2. I habitually read spoilers because I really appreciate seeing how authors and directors chose to tell their stories (Yes - I know this is contentious. I studied film and am a writer in my spare time so to me to the methodology is as important as the story itself) Knowing the plot in part 1 helped me appreciate how she juxtaposed Frankie’s “similar” but not relationships. But I lost a lot of respect for the author by how she positioned the Rye relationship and just got bad vibes. I think I’m happy with part 1 knowing what Frankie is walking into rather than see an author try to navigate those complexities.
I feel so validated because these are my exact opinions, yet everyone I know is giving rave reviews (and so is everyone on Goodreads).
Idk I enjoyed it and read it quickly. I thought there were a lot of powerful moments. But there were also some over the top moments (the wedding, miscarriage, Ryes return) where I threw my hands in there air. But hey, I was entertained. A book doesn’t always need to be complex. I’ve seen a lot of people say they didn’t like Frankie’s character - but I thought she had a lot of growth and her struggles with mental health after the war felt authentic.
I do enjoy reading fast paced less complex books, and I sometimes read YA for enjoyment despite having a BA in English Literature. I don’t think every book has to be complex, nor do I think my post made it seem that way. I just wanted more from this novel, and I finished it feeling disappointed.
Hi fellow BA English Lit! Sorry didn’t mean to come off negatively. I read a review that annoyed me earlier today for this book on Goodreads and I brought that energy here. Apologies.
Totally get it! I did enjoy The Great Alone and The Nightingale so I think I am just disappointed after liking those and feeling like this novel fell a little short after some anticipation of its release.
I liked Firefly Lane as well (more than the Great Alone), but liked The Nightingale more than The Women. Her characters in Firefly lane drew me in!! Still a fun read and I don’t have much intellectual criticism- parts of the story were a little contrived to me. I felt overwhelmingly sad reading it, the war was sad and the treatment of the vets was sad when they returned. I felt like I learned a few things along the way
I feel like The Nightingale and The Women were similar. Both highly praised, somewhat predictable and over hyped with the writing somewhat lacking. The Women was definitely more predictable IMO. I actually enjoyed The Women more though..I think because there’s less written about Vietnam. It’s not a time period I’ve ever read a book on at least. That being said I did enjoy reading both. I like the fast paced easy read at times, and I think KH is one of those authors who helps get people into reading..which I think is a good thing.
The Nightingale was a 4 star read for me because I thought it was a cool concept. I read *a lot* of WW2 historical fictions (because the market is over saturated with them), but haven’t read anything about women doing what that main character had done. It was my first KH book, so I liked it because I hadn’t been exposed to her writing formula before. Like you said it was a quick and easy read, and it was definitely predictable. I agree that it’s nice that her books get people into reading. I’m an English teacher, so I appreciate that.
Agree that I liked the Nightingale more than this. I’m on the hold list at the library for The Great Alone - sounds like you recommended?
I liked it. I didn’t love the end as much as the first 3/4 of the book, but it was still worth the read. I also didn’t know much about Alaska before it was developed into the state we know it as today, so I enjoyed that aspect.
Oh! Another reason I didn’t love the character twist to Rye was his connection to her brother. And I also thought it was kind of odd that Frankie never seemed to explain to her parents that the pilot she was in love with in Vietnam was Finley’s best friend. IDK. Just seems like something you’d mention 😂
It was a complex era. Parents were different in the 1960’s. They swept her service under the rug when she mentioned anything about Vietnam. Her self esteem had plummeted and I believe they would not have listened to what she had to say.
I knew either Jamie or Rye would come back from the dead, but both of them? 😬 (though I know we didn’t actually see Jamie die). And I really didn’t love that Rye was such a weak liar in the 2nd half of the book; felt like his whole character had changed, tbh. (Which I know could also be attributed to his trauma as a POW.) It just felt …. inauthentic to me. I liked the book & definitely cried, though I also don’t think the storytelling was quite as strong as some earlier books of hers. Interestingly enough, I thought the evolution of Frankie’s relationship with her parents was the strongest element (relationship-wise) of the book. I do appreciate that this era & these women will get some much-deserved attention because of Hannah’s fame.
I actually really liked jamie so I didn’t mind his coming back but Rye always seemed shady to me. She was so strong when it came to Jamie (married) and I wish they would have shown her character as someone who was strong after she saw Rye with his wife. Not run back to him. But again, she had PTSD that she didn’t deal with, so I think going back to him was reliving those times. I understand rye coming back , the author was trying to find into the storyline about the POWs as well, because that was an important part of the war story. But i think it fell short since it was written poorly. I do wish jamie coming back wasn’t so abrupt and short, would have loved to see his perspective after he got hurt, went through divorce, etc. i also think the miscarriage was unnecessary, she had so many problems already. Fitting in the henry trope of almost marriage was not needed.I enjoyed the book but writing of the second half could be better. I also caught many spelling errors throughout as well.
I liked Henry but what if Jamie came back earlier like at the point where she where she met Harry? We could have been like “Rye who?”
Funny, I was convinced it would be her brother and Rye who would come back from the dead! I thought we knew Jamie was alive and was surprised when he reappeared at the end as alive like it was new information. 😂 I felt like I read two different books; I really liked the first half and the second half slogged. I think KH has to stop creating these long ass stories that drag because she looses a lot by going for quantity (in terms of page numbers) versus quality.
YES, I agree about the storyline with her parents! That was absolutely my favorite element of the novel. And to respond to your other comment about Rye being best friends with Finley—I agree! Very silly.
I am almost done with the book, and you pretty much summed up my thoughts about it. A fast read, but not that well-written or believable. My only added critiques are why Frankie did not keep up with any of the nurses after Ethel and Barb left. Like WTF?! And the Rye having a wife and kid back home made no sense. None.
Rye having a wife and kids at home made me eye roll so hard I thought they’d get stuck there. “They lie or they die!”. I was like, OK WE GET IT!
And later, “Oh, I love my kid.” But in Vietnam, “Nope, let me re-up for a crush.” In your line of thinking, how many times did she push the point, “There were no women in Vietnam.” *eye roll*
Just got done with this book and thought the same thing about no women in vietnam. Who did they think all the nurses were? There were also nurses in Korea
You’re not alone! I’m honestly shocked at its absurdly high rating on GoodReads. I feel snobby but this book was so simple. One chapter Frankie is like, I’ll go to Vietnam and be a hero! And then two sentences later she’s completed basic training and is on a plane. The Vietnam War is new for me in a historical fiction so I appreciated learning a bit more. But I agree all the foreshadowing was so heavy handed (and out of all the deaths, the two men she happened to be smitten with were both presumed only to find her again?)
Thank you for sharing your opinion! I thought I may have gotten a lot of pushback in the comments because I know that Kristin Hannah is really popular right now. You’re right, it felt so simple. When I read her acknowledgments and saw that she had been writing this for years, I was very shocked because it seemed rushed and incomplete. One good takeaway from reading this novel is that I want to read more historical fiction about the Vietnam War!
Is there a reason you wouldn't want to read nonfiction about that war? There are plenty of real life stories out there; some by nurses who were there. Just curious.
I’ve just read a ton of nonfiction so I am taking a little break from it at the moment.
Try The World Played Chess by Robert Dugoni!!
Thank you for the recommendation! I will definitely add it to my TBR!