A review by emboivinguay
The Women by Kristin Hannah

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? No

5.0

Review The Women - Kristin Hannah 

 

Sometimes, you read a story, and you feel like you got a good glimpse into someone else’s life: their struggles, their fears, their lovers and their dreams. You had the chance to walk into someone else’s shoes for a time being. You feel grateful. You feel inspired. This book is not that. No, you don’t get a glimpse into the main character’s life, Frankie. You get her whole life. Her whole experience. You walk the path of her life along with her, through the good and the bad. It is a lot, especially because Frankie lived one of those very rough lives. But it is touching and eye-opening. I feel like even if this novel is one of fiction, the truth it bears and the story it tells is such a blessing. It is of the upmost relevance. And Hannah did it brilliantly. 

 

The book is about 400 hundred pages long, and yet, it doesn’t feel like it. Everything is peeled back so that when the novel ends, there is no layer left to explore. Life, death, illness, injury, but also, trauma, addiction, love, abuse, miscarriage, friendships and justice. The novel is a full circle of what Vietnam war did to the ones who went away and returned broken, as well as those who stayed and had to suffer from afar. Lessons in this book can be applied to so many things and I believe anyone can relate to the tell it wove. It is truly impressive because of its sincerity. 

 

This review is different from other ones I did in the past. In fact, I deliberately won’t talk about specifics of the novel such as the writing style, the characters’ arcs and the plot. Mostly because everything was very well done, but most importantly because it fundamentally doesn’t matter in the end. This novel is about feelings and remembering. This novel is about the journey itself. And, if I may, it was executed beautifully, with a lot of grace. So, for me, it worked. Definitely check this one out when it will hit shelves. 

 

Thank you for NetGalley and the publishers, St. Martin’s Press, for and advances reader’s copy of the novel in exchange for my honest review.