MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2024 - BOOK REVIEW - PART I

 MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2024 - BOOK REVIEW

I listen to audiobooks.  One of the most profound books I read a few years ago was “The Four Winds” by Kristen Hannah.  

Flashback - years ago (teenager +), the epic novels were by James Michener.  (Of course, audiobooks were not available then).  These books were LONG - a thousand pages (and more).  I didn’t read many of his books (mainly because they were long).  Three novels that I remember reading are Centennial - a sweeping story of Colorado, Alaska, and Hawaii.  To me (and I could be wrong), they covered the real history of an area but with ordinary people. Centennial had people finding a cave along the South Platte River - and going through generations.  I can imagine a sweeping history of my maternal heritage from Gottfried and Mary Quaas making that significant decision to leave Germany in light of German unification (and Gottfried avoid being drafted into the army).  

Now - Kristen Hannah.

Her recent book is Sisters, a sometimes gory, challenging account of an Army nurse in Vietnam.

Vietnam is a scar on American History.  I was a college student during the early years of the Vietnam conflict.  Yes, I was commanded to go for an Army physical.  Yes, I am deeply indebted to Dr. Robert Chapman - our family doctor in Iowa - for highlighting my severe asthma and how I had to take shots once a week.  I was classified as 4F - unfit for duty.  (Whew).

The United States fought in Vietnam to stop the spread of communism.  The USSR had pushed communism into Eastern Europe - including separating East and West Germany after World War II.  China became a communist country under Mao.  North Korea and North Vietnam were communists.  It wouldn’t be long before Indochina (Laos, Cambodia, and South Vietnam) fell under the red flag.  

Aside - Communism is a political and economic ideology that aims to create a classless society where the public owns and controls the means of production, and wealth is shared equally or based on need: 

• Ownership: The state owns society's resources, including property, agriculture, transportation, and the means of production. 

• Distribution: Wealth is divided equally among citizens or based on need. 

• Class system: Communism seeks to eliminate the class system through income redistribution. 

• Government: There is no government or currency.

But, as communism has played out, there wasn’t a classless society.  Instead of a King, Tzar, or President, the communist party became the ruling class.  The party determined the needs and how to control production for its good.  And, leading the party was almost always a dictator - pushing his will and agenda.  The individual has few reasons to work harder because whatever he produced didn’t come back to him in terms of wages.  Why work hard when you didn’t get recognized for your hard work in terms of money, position, and power?

*****

So the United States - as one of the two superpowers of the day - drew a line in the sand.  Korea had been separated into the North (Communist dictatorship) and the South (democracy).  If allowed, North Vietnam would spread the communism doctrine into South Vietnam.  

*****

Back to the novel

*****

The McGrath family was headed by Dad, who honored veterans with a Wall of Honor in his house—pictures of grandfathers, fathers, uncles, and others who had defended the United States in their military service. The dad was happy when Frankie’s (the protagonist) brother Fin (Findley) volunteered for Vietnam. Yes, another hero for the Wall of Honor.

Frankie completed her RN (nursing) degree, and it hit her that they would need nurses in Vietnam. She volunteered to be an Army nurse. She received very basic training and was sent to Vietnam.  

That decision didn’t sit well with Dad.  Women weren’t soldiers.  Sure, her brother Fin went to Vietnam and was killed. Women (even nurses) had no place in a war area (according to Dad).

She is assigned to a medical facility (think MASH) and is surprised by the dirty quarters.  She bonds with the two nurses in her quarters (and they become the “Sisters” of the book’s title).  Immediately, she is on the floor - with all kinds of wounds - lost legs, lost arms, napalm burns, shrapnel, blood, and gore.  Their hospital gets inundated with soldiers who might survive and those who would not.  Slowly, she moves into the surgical nurse role.  The hospital occasionally comes under attack: drugs alcohol abuse.

Frankie gets wooed by desperate servicemen. Like the song from South Pacific, “There is nothing like a dame,” there were no women soldiers, and the women were either nurses or other aid people (like the donut ladies).  

War is hell - and the war in Vietnam was more than hell.  Back home in the US, there were marches and protests against the war, and yet the American administrations kept sending men to the brutal war.

She moved from being a good Catholic girl who only had beer or wine to a cigarette-smoking, heavy alcohol user.  She was talented in the operating room and at a loss in the officer’s bar.  Sleep became more arduous, and she started taking pills to sleep and pills to keep her alert on the 16-hour days helping patch up soldiers.  (My brother-in-law still walks around with shrapnel in his legs from Vietnam). 

She cried in the nights over the wounded soldiers she worked with.  She saw too many bodies being put in body bags and shipped back to America.  

She has three boyfriends—she managed to say “no” to the first two in terms of sex. The third one was a helicopter pilot who announced he had called off his engagement back home. She got an R&R (rest and recovery) weekend in Hawaii with her boyfriend and fell in love.

*****

That’s enough prologue to this challenging book—more tomorrow.

Karen adds  Yes, war is hell.  The Vietnam War divided the United States - hawks and doves.  The news she got from her mother’s letters was about the protests.  The Army paper kept saying, “We are winning the war.”  

*****

Tomorrow - coming home

LOVE WINS

LOVE TRANSFORMS

Karen Anne White, December 9, 2024