The Women

This novel with a tagline of “Women can be heroes” has gone gangbusters since it came out a year ago with over 1.25 million ratings on Goodreads alone, so whatever I have to say about it hardly matters and I won’t summarize the plot in any great detail, save to say that after an overload of first WW1 then WW2 historical fiction, it may now be the turn of Vietnam.
 
Frankie McGrath is a student nurse living in a wealthy, conservative Californian household in the mid-1960s. In her father’s study there is a wall of photographs relating to the military heroes in the family. When Frankie’s brother is given a grand send-off to Vietnam, she decides she wants to have her picture on that wall as well. But as an army nurse she has no idea of what she is in for.
 
With the help of two other more experienced nurses, Barb and Ethel, the innocent Frankie is forced to grow up quickly, honing her nursing skills and finding ways of coping emotionally in what is nothing short of hell with destruction, injuries and death on an unbelievable scale. The loss of those she loves will add another level of emotional turmoil.
 
Meanwhile, America is divided about the war and when Frankie finally returns, she must deal not only with shattered relationships but abuse from the public and parents who are in denial about her service.
 
The first half of this novel about Frankie’s time in Vietnam is absorbing and so well-written that I fully expected to give it a five-star rating, but somewhere around the middle it falls off a cliff into various melodramatic contrivances, including dead men resurrected. This is not to dismiss its excellent exploration of patriotism, loyalty and strong female friendships, or the very real issues of PTSD, drug abuse and Agent Orange that affected the health of so many Vietnam vets in a country that did not value their service. However, in trying to pull all these strands together the novel suffers from an overwrought conclusion. Thus, a rating of 3.5 stars.
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amazon.com (Kindle)

amazon.co.uk
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