Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - The Women

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The Women by Kristin Hannah

318 reviews

christinabolognini's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

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haley49's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I want to start by saying this was a story that needed to be told. There is not enough literature on Vietnam and this book really explores the erasure of female vets, the treatment of vets, ptsd, addiction and the futility of the war. I appreciated it all.

However, for some reason I went into the book expecting multiple povs and instead got one, very limited pov. I would’ve wished we could’ve had the perspective of a Vietnamese woman and/or a black woman nurse. We see some of this through Frankie’s friend Barb but we are always told not shown things and it made any commentary about racism or classism feel shoehorned in. Plus, the fact that there were no named asian characters is a miss in my opinion. The only perspective about the war is shaped by people tired of the deaths of American soldiers with civilian casualties largely ignored. The author tried but it was a matter of needing more perspectives.

Connected to the problem of needing more perspectives is the fact that Frankie always has a love interest. It was like whack a mole. For a book called the women and only telling one’s story she spent a lot of time centering her story on men. It was not super interesting or new and took valuable page time away from women and the war-related themes. There are multiple points where romantic love is used as a fix-all for main character’s problems. It became melodramatic for a book that is not a drama or a romance.

All of the above issues didn’t make me hate the book but I would have made some changes. Again I did appreciate the themes, mention of historical movements, Barb’s character, the main friend group, and how much Frankie earned her future happiness. The author made her regress before her progress and I appreciate that in a character.

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kmatera1's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I loved the subject and setting, and the writing really made you feel like you were experiencing the war alongside the characters. The characters were complex and overall the book was such an interesting read. Losing a star for plot predictability. I could see the entire resolution coming since about 50% of the way through the book.

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chloejolsen's review against another edition

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emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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wormgirl's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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trapdorr's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Incredibly powerful. I’m in awe of the story and the myriad of emotions I felt while reading. The depth and details that Hannah is able to include demonstrates her thorough research. It made me process and reanalyze my own experiences and emotions I still carry from nursing during the COVID pandemic. I will carry this story with me for a long while. The complex relationships were well done. I did however find the first half more interesting and compelling than the second.

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