The Women
The world of books, and a book review and response about Vietnam through the eyes of a woman
I’m not in Edinburgh tonight, and it feels very far away.
The Romance Author and Reader Events (RARE) are huge and wonderful book events geared toward international readers that I’ve been truly lucky to have been invited to for the past several years. My trip to the UK in 2019 for RARE London, when I led a walking tour of Ringo’s world in and around Marylebone for about 20 readers remains one of my very favorite author experiences ever, and RARE Edinburgh in 2022 was another truly memorable experience for a multitude of reasons – it was the first big event I’d done since COVID made crowds uncomfortable, and it was a wonderful trip with my family that included a hike to the top of Arthur’s Seat with Logan and his bagpipes, where he gave an impromptu concert for about 10-15 hikers on a very windy morning. But perhaps most memorable of all was the time I spent with book friends. We rented a big house together, ate charcuterie and drank wine, and we talked about books and authors, and caught up on lives that had been lived in isolation for the previous two years.
Some of those friends are at RARE Edinburgh again right now. I love seeing the photos, especially the moody, misty ones of the city, but also the smiling faces of authors meeting readers, of friendships rekindled and made, and of books bringing people together.
I still have my head buried in books, but they’re my escape right now – a way to hide from stress, from the 3am thoughts that spin in a waking brain. Mostly, I’ve been lurking in the historical romance stacks, but then a library book came off the waitlist so I veered back into historical fiction with The Women, by Kristin Hannah, and I’ll be thinking about the story for a long time to come. The writing is strong enough – a bit shallow at first, maybe because the main character was – but definitely engaging. It’s not her best work (I loved The Nightingale), but I was definitely hooked, and more importantly, it inspired me to examine history through a unique and intriguing lens.
The stories that teach me something I didn’t know are my favorites. I love history when it’s viewed from a character’s perspective, and when an author can place a reader firmly enough in the world of the story that they understand what it might have been like to be there. The main character of The Women is a young white woman from privilege who believes in what she’s doing when she signs up to be a nurse in Vietnam. The story is hers, and yet it’s also every other veteran’s whose innocence is ripped away by bullets and bloodshed. The summer of COVID lockdown my bagpiper kid and I watched all eleven seasons of M*A*S*H*, so the images in my mind were those when I read about the places where Frankie found her calling. And it’s been years since I saw Born on the 4th of July, but those images were there too as she re-learns how to live in the world without bombs.
Around the 70% mark in the book, the parallels to the politics of now showed up in the way history tends to echo like a scream in an empty room. Outraged student protestors written off as disruptors or criminals, media lies around which regular people have built whole belief systems, and So. Much. Anger. The kind of anger that feels righteous and fuels bad behavior. Anger that inspires people to lash out, to cause pain to others, to hurt and harm. Soldiers being spit at feels not so very different than trans men and women being followed into restrooms by screaming Karens. Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973 after decades of pro-choice activism, and the overturning of the decision has lit a political match that has affected every recent election in which women’s rights are on the ballot.
It’s strange to find so many echoes of the turmoil brought on by the Vietnam War in today’s political and social climate, because hindsight has shown us every way in which we screwed up. And yet, here we are, our Democracy under threat, our rights being stripped away, and again, so much anger. But also, here we are, no longer reliant on mainstream media for our news, able to educate ourselves and each other with simple searches and deep dives into the facts, with the full responsibility of our own awareness resting firmly on our shoulders.
As readers, we have those skills. We are not afraid of the words, and for all the fiction we consume, it’s most often in search of the truths that are common to us all. Stories are never as simple as good vs. evil, and the most interesting characters are full of the complexities that make us unique. We can seek truth in our news rather than accept what is easy and available, and when we do the work, we can trust our sources too. Communities of readers - of women and men who read - can educate ourselves, our children, and each other about the ways we’re all human, the ways our mistakes show us our strengths, the ways our differences show us how much we’re the same.
The Women, by Kristin Hannah was an addicting and entertaining historical drama that addressed some very hard subjects through the eyes of a likeable, intelligent, imperfect heroine. I love being surprised into wanting to know more, and this novel, with its deep friendships, complicated family, and an even deeper look at a turbulent moment in our modern history surprised me in a most compelling way.
My friendships with the women in my life are keeping me together in an uncertain time. I am missing my reader friends at RARE Edinburgh this weekend, and while books remain my escape, the world of books, book people, book adventures, and book friends are a place I hold very dear. And if that place feels distant at the moment, it’s really only as far away as the next book on my nightstand, or my next conversation with a friend.
A memorable trip indeed. Edinburgh 2022 has been playing in my mind for the past two years. I loved being in that big house with all those wonderful people having wonderful talks. And on top of all that….books. ❤️