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Book Club – “Good Night, Irene” by Luis Alberto Urrea

June 24, 2024 @ 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm

Back side of a women's head is the book cover for Good Night, Irene by Luis Alberto Urrea

Join us for a monthly book club. The fifth selection will be Good Night, Irene by Luis Alberto Urrea.

This New York Times bestselling novel tells an exhilarating World War II epic that chronicles an extraordinary young woman’s heroic frontline service in the Red Cross. 

“Urrea’s touch is sure, his exuberance carries you through . . . He is a generous writer, not just in his approach to his craft but in the broader sense of what he feels necessary to capture about life itself.” —Financial Times

In 1943, Irene Woodward abandons an abusive fiancé in New York to enlist with the Red Cross and head to Europe. She makes fast friends in training with Dorothy Dunford, a towering Midwesterner with a ferocious wit. Together they are part of an elite group of women, nicknamed Donut Dollies, who command military vehicles called Clubmobiles at the front line, providing camaraderie and a taste of home that may be the only solace before troops head into battle.
           
After D-Day, these two intrepid friends join the Allied soldiers streaming into France. Their time in Europe will see them embroiled in danger, from the Battle of the Bulge to the liberation of Buchenwald. Through her friendship with Dorothy, and a love affair with a courageous American fighter pilot named Hans, Irene learns to trust again. Her most fervent hope, which becomes more precarious by the day, is for all three of them to survive the war intact.
 
Taking as inspiration his mother’s own Red Cross service, Luis Alberto Urrea has delivered an overlooked story of women’s heroism in World War II. With its affecting and uplifting portrait of friendship and valor in harrowing circumstances, Good Night, Irene powerfully demonstrates yet again that Urrea’s “gifts as a storyteller are prodigious” (NPR).” – From Hatchette Book Group website

Additional copies of the novel will be available at Kahuku Public and School Library.

In July, we’ll read and discuss Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli.

Selections for the fall have not been made yet. Please join us and help us decide what to read next!

Anyone who requires an auxiliary aid or service for effective communication, or a modification of policies or procedures to participate in a program, service, or activity should contact library staff as soon as possible. Advance requests 48 hours or more before the event are encouraged, but not required.

Details

Date:
June 24, 2024
Time:
1:30 pm - 2:30 pm
Event Categories:
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Organizer

kahuku

Island

Oahu

Recommended for

Adults

Branch

Oahu – Kahuku
56-490 Kamehameha Hwy
Kahuku, HI 96731 United States
+ Google Map
Phone:
808-293-8935

In observance of the Thanksgiving holiday, all public libraries will be closed on Thursday, November 28, 2024.

In observance of the Veterans Day holiday, all public libraries will be closed from Saturday to Monday, November 9 to 11, 2024.

All public libraries will be closed for the following holidays:
Tuesday, November 5, 2024 for General Election Day & Saturday through Monday, November 9 to 11, 2024 for Veterans Day