The Women: The Instant Number One Bestseller from the author of The Nightingale Paperback – February 13, 2025

.In 1966, Frances "Frankie" McGrath, raised as the daughter of a real estate entrepreneur on Coronado Island, across from San Diego, is studying nursing at a local college. Seeing her brother, Finley, enlist in the Navy and head to Vietnam, she wonders if she could also contribute to her country in some way and decides to become a combat nurse and cross the ocean. However, as the situation in Vietnam intensifies, Frankie faces harsh experiences in a hospital deep in the jungle.-----------------This is a historical fiction novel by American author Kristin Hannah, which became a bestseller when it was released in February 2024. It also made headlines when Bill Gates selected it as one of the "four books to read in the summer of 2024," prompting me to pick it up.I have some historical knowledge that many young American men who believed in the fight against communism went to the front lines and were greatly wounded, and that there was a fierce anti-war movement within the United States. However, unlike the more recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, I had no knowledge or imagination that there were American women in the military during the Vietnam War. Kristin Hannah wrote this novel for readers like me, after conducting thorough research.In Part 1, Frankie, who has neither experience nor achievements, is depicted as growing stronger as a person while experiencing the horrors of war.In Part 2, Frankie is shunned as a shameful person who participated in the war, not only by anti-war activists but also by her family after returning home. Moreover, she is overlooked by male veterans who claim that there were no American women in that war. The painful experiences of such female veterans, who receive no recognition and further suffer from PTSD while their lives fall apart, are portrayed with an unflinching brushstroke. This can also be seen as one form of the tragedy brought about by war.The joy of reading historical fiction lies in being able to learn the details of historical facts that were only vaguely known. The change in America's awareness of war from the late 1960s to the early 1970s, the social situation, and pop culture in the United States at the time, are vividly depicted, allowing you to feel the air and smell of a world that passed by about half a century ago.This is the second time I have read Kristin Hannah's work, following "The Great Alone," which also depicted the tragedy of the Vietnam War continuing to destroy the human spirit and life even after the end of combat, set against the backdrop of Alaska's great wilderness. Perhaps Kristin Hannah's characteristic style is that she gently uncovers the lives of women, in particular, that have been buried in history. Her other masterpiece, "The Four Winds," set during the Great Depression, also seems to have received high praise. I would like to read it if I have the opportunity..

この本を買って最初の十数ページだけ読んでその先は読まずにしばらく放置していましたが、最近改めてNYtimesのサイトをチェックしてみたら依然としてよく売れているみたいなので読んでみました。Part One ではベトナム戦争でFrankieが過酷な状況の中で成長する過程が描かれています。Part One だけで完結してもそれなりの作品になりますが、この作品の主題はPart Twoにあります。兵士のPTSDはたびたびマスコミでも取り上げられますが、この作品中の Frankie も指摘しているようにcombat nurseたちのPTSDはあまり注目されていないように思います。帰国後のFrankie が幸福になるチャンスをつかみそうになるたびに何度も何度もそれが妨げられてしまい、Frankie に感情移入しながら読んでいると絶望的になりますが、そのたびにベトナムでFrankie と一緒にcombat nurse をしていたBarbやEthelに支えられながらたくましく生きていく姿に感動します。

最近は多くの女性作家が活躍しているが、偉大な女性作家で浮かぶのはパール・バック（大地）、マーガレット・ミッチェル（風と共に去りぬ）でしょう。著者：クリスティン・ハンナの印象は、前記2名と肩を並べる物語の構想力、時代の描写力、登場人物の表現力と人物への感情移入力が素晴らしい。特に時代背景はベトナム戦争前期から終焉、それに続く米国内での体制派と反体制派の肉親・友人を動詞の激しい憎悪感。主人公の志願看護婦の戦時病院で体験する死と狂気、ベトナム人の悲惨な現実。読み始めるとグイグイと吸い込まれます。本書を知ったのビル・ゲイツ氏のYoutubeから。彼は私と同年代、ベトナム戦争は身近な存在だったので余計に心に響いて来ます。訳本は？と探したのですが、有りません。いつの頃からか、村上春樹風の「存在が有るのか無いのか、観念ばかりで現実の無い文化（小説・TV・映画等）」が主流になった今の日本では、現実と直面しそれを題材とする文化は日本では受けいられないのでしょう。こんな事で良いのか？と私は思います。