Romance in the Trenches

So, I used to work at my local branch of Half Price Books (a.k.a real happiest place on Earth). And while I was there, I was surprised by the exploding popularity of one book in particular. While the number of inquiries about Kristin Hannah’s The Women (2024) genuinely impressed me, it didn’t intrigue me enough at the time to want to read it. The only thing I knew for sure about the author is that she's a well-seasoned female-writer. That was it. But backed up by good reviews, from both critics and readers, it was a title I thought would be worth filing away for later - if I ever got the chance to really enjoy reading again.

Fast-forward one year and a life-time of changes later, and guess which title appeared on my book-club’s monthly lottery…

Synopsis:

Young Francis “Frankie” McGrath comes from a proud and proper patriotic family. Following her older brother’s example, and spurned on by his friend’s belief that “women can be heroes, too,” she decides to enlist and lands on the front lines of Vietnam as a nurse. But the realities of war come as a sobering shock, contrasting violently against the idealistic call to action, and our once proper young lady must come into her own as a woman and a soldier…

Touching skillfully on the harsh truths, during and after the conflict itself, readers will be taken on one hell of a personal journey of self-discovery for a woman. All during a time when many still scoffed at the notion that ‘women can be heroes, too.’*

*As usual, a minor spoiler-warning is now in effect for the rest of the review, as I’ll need to touch on a few plot-points to get my points across. So, if you still want to read this book unspoiled - and I highly recommend that you do - I suggest you put this review down now.

With that out of the way, here we go!

Review:

So, yes, I finally got the chance to experience The Women for myself. And it was….

Well, it was fine. Just fine.

Honestly, I was actually a little disappointed with this one, though not for the reasons you might think.

To start off with, I found myself really enjoying Kristen Hannah’s writing. I never read her before this novel, and was delighted with the way she guided us through Frankie’s journey of girlish-greenhorn to seasoned veteran. In many ways, Frankie’s story feels like your traditional coming-of-age tale, exploring the hurdles and victories that come with being a woman in the modern world. Aside from Frankie, who I found enjoyable to spend time with (mostly), there are also strong characters in the form of her friends, her love-interests, and even her parents, whom I personally love to hate. Although at times, Hannah employs an almost cartoonish-level of fat-cat-rich-Republican energy to Mr. and Mrs. McGrath that borders on satire rather than realism; myself coming from a Republican family, who also had children serve in the military, their cold reaction to their daughter’s enlistment and subsequent (PTSD-riddled) return was a completely jarring experience from what I’ve always been used to.

(But then again, money can’t buy class, so maybe Ms. Hannah is on to something here… seriously, I freaking hate these parents!)

As for what I personally didn’t like, well, I only have two real knit-picks:

One, the book was too long. Not to a terrible degree (as I’ve seen recently with a few other reads), but it definitely could’ve been a touch shorter. As engaging as the overall story is, I found myself getting bored in certain places through, groaning so many times "oh my goodness! Move along already!" Interestingly enough, however, I don't think this issue comes from pacing or structure. Aside from Ms. Hannah speed-running her way through Finley's death and Frankie's early career as a civilian nurse, the overall pacing was relatively good. Ms. Hannah does a great job of moving through a decent chunk of time without breaking the reader's immersion (something I've noticed a lot of green-horns tend to struggle with when they first start out writing).

For me personally the source of my boredom throughout this book falls back on my second (and probably biggest) criticism of the book - I came here for a story about a war and its unsung heroines… not for another little diddy about Jack and Rose.

Before I go on I do need to preference this criticism with this single statement:

I’m not particularly interested in romance.

Or at least, what is currently en vogue for the Romance genre.

The James Cameron Effect?

Quick, but relevant side-note: I don't really care all that much for James Cameron's Titanic. I still like to watch it whenever it comes on - it's gorgeous to look at, has a stellar cast, and grips throughout it's own long run-time. But as I've gotten older, I've discovered I've fallen out of love with the idea of the star-crossed-lovers that Cameron realizes through Rose and her paramour, Jack Dawson. And there's only one reason for that disenchantment: historically, Titanic was a big-ass ship with so many more interesting people on board. The ship's own history and her relationship with her sister ships is just as compelling... even the events surrounding the Carpathia and her rescue of survivors is a story I've been long waiting for Hollywood* to produce (*you cowards!)

Whittling down the historical intrigue to a pair of characters that never even existed feels kind of like a waste, now that I'm older.

And the same goes for this book as well...

Coming to the author's note at the end of the book, I was not surprised to learn that Ms. Hannah had first conceived this book during 1997... in fact, I scared the crap out of my dog when I jumped up and screamed,

"I KNEW IT!"

I was honestly really disappointed (and, again, bored) with the realization that so much of the story is taken up by Frankie's (admittedly) chaotic love-life. Even as she's being shot at. Even as she's losing her grip due to trauma. Even as she grapples with the very long, real, and bitter struggle of healing from trauma - her inner-thoughts keep circling back to "but I love that asshole who lied to me!"

For a novel that was supposed to be about empowerment by shinning a light on female agency in the thick of bloody conflict, there was a disturbing amount of romantic intrigue before, during, and after what is arguably a more interesting (and violently bloody) conflict in world history. I think I do get it, at least to a certain degree: there were probably a lot of entanglements going on all over the place, even during something as bloody as Vietnam. And when folks are in the thick of unimaginable darkness, they’ll cling to whatever scraps of their humanity they can find. And justly so.

But prior to reading this book I was led to believe that it would focus more on the women (hence the title) of Vietnam: the nurses, physicians, and (possibly) even combatants who joined our boys over seas to watch their backs. I thought this was going to be a book about sisterhood, told from different perspectives from the unsung heroes of service, who, for long time, were even denied acknowledgement for their troubles.

Instead of taking this very opportunity - and there were plenty of interesting other women to explore - Ms. Hannah chose to keep her focus on one primary character (her “poor little rich girl”) and her budding romances as she enters womanhood (both of whom were already terrible picks, because their relationship statuses). Keeping the one character narrative not only limits the scope of the large story - i.e. the women (plural!) of Vietnam - but putting so much focus on her romantic intrigues and entangles - and just generally poor judgments - undercuts the intended message of what I think Kristen Hannah had intended for her story.

To be perfectly blunt: the focus on romance for a female-character is incredibly reductive for this kind of story. And, to a certain degree, almost insulting to Frankie and her friend's agency because it subtly perpetuates what her parents, "country-club-friends," and pretty much everyone else in America is peddling all around her: get married and make babies - there were no women in Vietnam.

Conclusion:

Ultimately, knit-picks aside, The Women is a good, if not misleading, book written by a truly skilled and creative writer. It takes a bold stab at exploring one of the bloodiest armed conflicts we've ever known (we're still talking about it to this day), and from a perspective that is not nearly explored enough. Even if it doesn’t measure up to all of its untapped potential, you're sure to find something enjoyable and insightful within it's pages (though empowerment may be sorely lacking).

Awarding this novel 3 out of 5 stars, I recommend The Women to anyone who’s curious about this take on Vietnam. Just make sure to read it with your brain turned-on. Because when people are actively shooting at you I doubt there's actually any time for romance in the trenches.