A Story That Needed to be Told about the Bravery of the Nurses in Vietnam“The Women” is the story of a young idealistic woman who enlists to serve as a nurse in Vietnam during the war. She has chosen to do so because she wishes to follow her older, beloved brother who is also going to Vietnam. The family applauds the patriotism of the brother, but when she announces she is also going, her parents, particularly her father, castigates her choice. Women do not go to war. They stay home and take care of the family. When her brother almost immediately dies in the war, the family is even more adamant that she not go, but she is resolved to help the soldiers.The book describes not only the horror of the half-blown away bodies that she must try to save, but also the sense of satisfaction when she is able to help some of these soldiers.When she returns home, she is crippled by nightmares and loud noises and intrusive memories. The way in which society, her family and the VA treated her only added to her emotionally fractured state. The strangers whom she told that she was a vet, treated her, like they treated almost all Vietnam vets, with contempt – spitting on her and calling her names such as baby killer. Her parents refused to tell their friends she had gone to war, instead they told them she was in Florence studying. When she sought counselling at the VA, she was told nurses did not qualify for help because they were not in combat.She spirals into the depths of despair but eventually with the help of two other nurses who served with her in Vietnam, she gains control of her life.I rated this 4 stars and not 5 because even though it is a very well written book that addresses important issues, the poor treatment of women and Vietnam vets, it isn’t what I call a work of art. It is like a very good photograph, not a painting that expresses the artist deep understanding of what it is to be human.3
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