In The Women by Kristin Hannah, the main character, Frankie, decides that she wants to go to the Vietnam War and become a nurse. She does this to originally go and be with brother, but before she even went to basic training she was informed that her brother had already died in the war. Soooo she goes to basic training, even though her parents don’t want her to. But it went well for her which is good, considering she grew up very privileged. She didn’t feel important enough though and was wanting to be a family hero.

Okay she does basic training and then she gets deployed. On the flight there they couldn’t even land right away they had to TAKE A LAP in the air because they were trying to shoot up the airport, which is crazy. At this point you can tell that Frankie is already regretting her decisions she was so nervous. When she finally got the hospital after her journey there, she was already over it and wanted to go home. But, I can’t blame her for that, I would probably feel the same. She tried to settle in but it was defiantly rough for her, she wasn’t to this new style of living at all.
After the first few days (when she finally settles into her room at least) she has her first real day at the hospital. And this….was BAD. The people who had been there for awhile referred to it as a MASCAL, which stands for mass casualty. So on her first day she had to go through the craziest thing they see at the hospital. Which was really traumatic for her, which it probably would be for anyone TBH. This really shook her up, and she felt useless because she didn’t really know what she should’ve been doing. All she could do was hold soldiers hands as they passed away, but this is super important and Frankie does realize that.

In the last chapter Frankie gets assigned to the neurosurgery block. She kinda fits in here and she feels like its her place. But, she also met this guy earlier. And she knows he’s bad for her but also, se doesn’t really care that much. He colleges are a little annoyed because they told her she shouldn’t be doing that either. They continue to have big explosions near them constantly, and Frankie feels like she can never catch a break with this. The job is incredibly overwhelming. I don’t know how they do it.
To be honest, this book is good. I like how it’s super action packed. It is keeping me very entertained as I read it and I wasn’t sure how much I was going to like it. But, so far, so good. Looking very promising. Frankie’s character does annoy me a little bit, not gonna lie. This is only because I feel like she knows not to be around the guy she met but it’s always in the back of her mind. Even when friend Ethel tells her otherwise. But, also I feel bad for Frankie because it’s been a super harsh environment and she’s feeling very lonely. She is super unsure of who she belongs with and what her purpose is in the grand scheme of things. As she hears about everyone else loosing loved ones in the war too, it’s all starting to settle in truly with how bad it is. Whereas before, Frankie was very sheltered and privileged about how things were in her life. I believe this is good for her to see things like this and be aware of what’s going on outside of her life that was so picture perfect before she left and her brother passed away.