The Nurses in Vietnam

The Women by Kristin Hannah
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am close to Hannah's age, and thus the recollections she has of the Vietnam war (that she mentions in the afterword) are similar.

I truly appreciated the narrative that dealt with the nurses in Vietnam. The horrors they witnessed, and the lives they saved. I thought the experiences shared seemed real, including Frankie's return home and her path to therapy etc.

I was honestly irked by the various love stories, and more irked by the resolution of a couple of those. While I do think romance will obviously happen in historical fiction, since romance happens in real life, it threw the narrative off for me in this novel.

I also wish there had been more about Barb and Ethel, perhaps chapters from their perspectives.

Overall, I do think the novel addressed a forgotten group of women, and it told that story well.

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