pickThis is one of my favorites in a while! You love Frankie even when she drives you crazy, you‘re pulling for her the whole time. The friendship she has with Barb and Ethel is one for the books (pun intended)!
The Women: A Novel | 
pickThis is one of my favorites in a while! You love Frankie even when she drives you crazy, you‘re pulling for her the whole time. The friendship she has with Barb and Ethel is one for the books (pun intended)!
Could not put this book down! The first half was the best half but the entire book was still amazing!!
pickGood book, I loved the first half more than the second but still a great pick. Learned a lot and cried.
so-soI really liked the first part of this book about an inexperienced nurse who decides to enlist and serve in Vietnam. The second half fell into what I have found to be a common issue I have with Kristin Hannah where she takes things, often her romantic subplots, too far, verging on melodrama. This could have been an impactful read but I found myself taken out of the story repeatedly by something that made me roll my eyes.
I enjoy these monthly author chats on Facebook - see, FB is good for something 🤣. Next month is Go as a River.
#hyggehourreadathon
First some skin care and then hopping into bed to finish up The Women for book club tomorrow. So much to discuss and a great story, but I could do without the romantic elements.
pickThe strength of this book is the showcasing the horrors and camaraderie of the nurses in Vietnam. It‘s a page turner and quite a lot of ground that‘s covered. My complaint is that Hannah covered a few plot twists that were slightly forced (romantic drama). Overall, engaging great summer read!
pickI went into this blind. All I knew was that a lot of people have read this and a lot of people were recommending it. I naively assumed from the title, that this was a generational story about women. Nope. This was a intense, heavy, scary at times, sad story about a woman who was a nurse in the Vietnam War. Her experience there and her experience afterwards trying to survive after arriving home. I'm so glad I read this. Such an important story.⭐⭐⭐⭐
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This is the second Hannah book I‘ve read, and I really enjoyed it! I know very little about the Vietnam War - which just proves one of the points Hannah explores here: the silence surrounding Vietnam and what the men & women experienced there and coming home.
At one point I was listening to the audiobook as I drove and a car with Vietnam Vet stickers pulled in front of me. That was a powerful moment.
“The walled and gated McGrath estate was a world unto itself, protected and private.”
#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl
pickAnother excellent story by Hannah. Frankie's brother goes to Vietnam and his friend says "women can be heroes too". This Frankie's decides to enlist, but only the army will accept her. Her time in the medical Corp is Vietnam is eye opening, how medics worked under the most horrific conditions. I don't know if how she brings the book to a close is what I expected and liked. But Frankie's growth as a woman between the 50s ideas of womanhood⬇️
pickI have mixed feelings. The good: this book taught me a lot about the Vietnam conflict (my father was stationed there for a time but I can count on one hand the number of times he's been willing to say ANYTHING about it); the descriptions of the beauty, heat, and smells of the country as well as the fear, blood, devastation, exhaustion, despair- and occasional hope and satisfaction- of the field hospitals were vivid; the friendships and the ⬇️
I swore her off after the last one, but someone picked this for our book club! I‘ve heard it‘s good!
#bookspinbingo
Awesome book!! Read in 6 days!! Enlightening for sure. Fictional history…. Insane all of our men women we lost in Vietnam…. I did not realize lasted an overwhelming 19 YEARS!! 🙏🇺🇸 4/26/2024
pickOkay I loved 95% of this book. It taught me a lot about the war that I didn't know (granted I didn't know much), but there were parts that were so manufactured that it kind of ruined the point of the story. Idk, I guess it would have been better without the romance elements, but that's what you get with a Kristin Hannah book, lol!
so-so⭐️⭐️⭐️ “The world changes for men, Francis. For women, it stays pretty much the same.” Grandma dropping knowledge. Army Nurse 2LT Frankie and her boys (patients) demanded my attention. These portions were gut-wrenching and genuine. Remembrance matters. Liked the friendships, too. The rest of the devastation and heartache were too much, too predictable. Conclusion: Romantic/romanticized war stories are super corny. Kristin Hannah is not for me.
pickA realistic story highlighting the experience of a young nurse during the Vietnam War and her long journey of healing after coming home.
pickBelieve it or not, this was the first book I‘ve read by Kristin Hannah. I really enjoyed it even though a lot of traumatic things happened. I think she did a great job using one character‘s story to draw attention to the real life experience of women who served as nurses during the Vietnam War and especially how they were treated when they returned. I hope to read more nonfiction on this topic.
When the inside cover art looks like this you know it‘s going to be good. I‘m a huge Kristin Hannah fan and am so excited to get stuck into this one.
pickThis is a soft pick for me. While I loved the first half of the book I found the back half, or maybe a little more, kind of dragged and was just filled with one drama after the other. I wish we had spent more time concentrating on the various women‘s experiences in Vietnam and less time with our main character‘s love life. But I do love Kristin Hannah‘s writing and the very end did redeem itself somewhat for me. 🌟🌟🌟💫
pickA read dedicated to telling the story of the often forgotten female nurses that served in Vietnam. 21 year old Frankie is determined to serve the US as a nurse during the Vietnam War. What follows is a decade of growth, loss, grief, and crawling back from falling to rock bottom. The storyline had me smiling and cheering to raging and overwhelmed especially reading about the treatment of Vietnam veterans both men and women when they returned home.
Ok things are happening that I would like to be happening at the end of the book… WHY IS THERE SO MUCH BOOK LEFT😱😭
so-so@staci.reads has already reviewed this book 📖 perfectly . I enjoyed it but didn‘t love it , I felt it lacked real depth & I didn‘t really engage or feel to deeply about the characters. Instead the plot just skipped from one tragic breakdown to another . It almost felt like you never really got to know any of the characters. Shame as it‘s such a worth while topic to write about and bring attention to
pickThis historical fiction discusses a very real time in history, where history was swept under the rug. After Vietnam, we turned around and thanked the men who fought. Those Vets were not treated well. This included the women nurses who were there and left to their own PTSD, forgotten. My heart broke multiple times. Liked how it encompassed Frankie going into, staying, then coming out of her Army service. Felt rushed, one tragic romance to another.
so-soI liked it - didn't love it. While I appreciate the author bringing needed attention to the women who served in Vietnam, it lacks depth. She rushes from tragic plot point to tragic plot point, seeming to believe that's all her readers are here for now. I felt the same about The Four Winds. It seems to have become her formula, and it makes her writing predictable and manipulative, as she tries for a tearjerker.
April #Doublespin @TheAromaofBooks
so-soWhile I enjoyed how story driven this book was, and liked the time period and subject matter, I didn‘t really care about any of the characters too much. The audiobook narration was excellent and the time flew by, but in the end I was lukewarm on the experience.
so-soFeels like characters in service of research, checking off a list of experiences during and after the Vietnam War and having Frankie and her friends experience them all. Having just read a biography with first-hand accounts of the front lines, this definitely feels researched and at a distance. Still, Frankie‘s persistence pulled me forward and yes to more writing on women's experience at war. Julia Whelan really is a great audio narrator. 2023
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A book‘s great gift is that through its pages, you can be transported to another time and place and gain insight to a life different than your own. My favorite historical fiction novels teach me something about our past and inspire me to research more on my own while also delivering a memorable story. ⬇️
My boy loved our greenway walk this morning! We usually walk in our neighborhood, so he digs a little change of pace.
#audiowalk #dogsoflitsy
I took advantage of Amazon's buy 2 get 1 free sale! (Plus a magazine about Taylor because...duh)
Starting the tagged book next 🤓
pickThis book. Imagine going to that war and coming home to a country that didn‘t even believe you had been there.
I almost gave up at one point because I was frustrated with all of the love stories. I‘m glad I didn‘t though because the last 1/4 of this book was extremely powerful.
pickI honestly liked this a whole lot more than I expected.
#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks
I listened to the tagged book while I made some mango coulis and I love how it turned out.
Though I'm a bit worried for Frankie since she returned from 'Nam. She's not doing well in the real world and I fear she'll return to the war only to die. Fingers crossed
Last chapter…..I‘m not going to cry, I‘m not going to cry, I‘m not going to….sniffle.
#whatsnewwednesdays on page 📑 195 & really enjoying so far , I have found KH‘s books 📚 either a hit or miss . Wonder 💭 who else is reading this at the moment ? No electricity ⚡️ in my house 🏡 today & no WiFi due to A new fuse box being fitted so only thing to do is read and write ✍️ but now missing my coffee ☕️ so il be taking the pups 🐶 into town soon.
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @TieDyeDude @Read4life @LitsyLove @Eggs happy 😃 Wednesday !
Whew, time to get back on these book club boxes so I don‘t get piled in them.
This is a historical book about women nurses who were in the Vietnam war. What I understand is their experiences getting through that. What I know of the author is that she writes a lot of historical themed stories. Which is a genre I am working on exploring more of. I hear many good things of her, mixed on recent books. So we‘ll see.
#ouabc
pickMy third book by Kristin Hannah. She sure knows how to write books that take you on an emotional roller coaster. My husband was a child refugee from Vietnam in the late 1970s. I don‘t think he could read this. That war destroyed so many lives :(
Book non2 of April #bookspinbingo and our bookclub monthly pick , snuggling with my little fur girl & suffering with Covid again !!! Wondering 🤔 if lm going into the Guinness book of records for contracting covid the most in a year 😖thank goodness for vaccines 💉 how bad would it be without them & thank goodness 😅 for books 📚 Wer never truly alone when we read. I wonder 💭 how many people on the planet 🌍 are reading right now along with me ☺️
Me and my current book bestie are sitting on a train with "mechanical issues" in a snow storm. In April. Should have stayed in bed.
Today's book bestie is this tome which I need to read for a new IRL book club I am trying out. Not my favorite author. Not my favorite subject. But we try new things.
pickI dragged this out as I didn't want it to end. I've not felt that way about a book in a long time.
The last few pages, I was sobbing. Although, I was ugly crying in parts throughout the book.
So beautifully written. The research that has gone into the book is absolutely phenomenal.
Book of the year. Hands down. If I could give 6 stars out of 5, I would. An absolute masterpiece.
"Women can be heroes." ?❤️
bailedI tried…I really tried. But after accidentally learning about not ONE but TWO spoilers that just turned me off, the multiple times I was told something rather than shown it and the severe case of “your research is showing” I just couldn‘t continue—and I made it pretty far. After realizing I had completely avoided reading ANYTHING for three days, it was time to add this one to the donation box.📦
On our DC 8th grade trip and one of the students posted this photo to the group chat. She wrote: “Out of all the amazing pictures I took today, I'm posting this one in honor of World War 2 and Women's history month. The name of the woman who spoke this quote was Colonel Oveta Culp Hobby. . .
