:INFO
The Vietnam Novel That Changed What I Thought I Knew
I thought I knew something about the Vietnam War before I read The Women. Kristin Hannah's novel about Frances McGrath, a young woman who enlists as an army nurse after her brother ships out, showed me what I had not known: that women served in large numbers, that they came home to the same indifference and hostility, and that their stories have been almost entirely absent from the mainstream narrative of the war and its aftermath. The research is evident on every page and the emotional commitment is absolute.


:NOTE
Hannah does not spare the reader the cost of what her characters survived.


:QUOTE [quotetype:plain, subtitle:Kristin Hannah]
War does not end when you leave it. It follows you home in the body.


:JOURNEY
Reading The Women
4 Efficient setup
5 Most vivid
5 Most devastating
4 Emotional weight

:POLL
Did The Women change what you knew about women's service in Vietnam?
Yes significantly, I had not known how many women served
Somewhat, I knew some of this but the novel made it more vivid
Not much, I was already familiar with this history
I have not read it yet