Good Night, Irene

Book 100 of my 2023 Reading Challenge

read from October 14 - 24

Good Night, Irene

by Luis Alberto Urrea

Summary (via the book jacket)

In 1943, Irene Woodward abandons an abusive fiance in New York to enlist with the Red Cross and head to Europe. In training, she makes fast friends with Dorothy Dunford, a towering Midwesterner with a ferocious wit. Together they are part of an elite group of women, nicked Donut Dollies, who command military vehicles called Clubmobiles at the front lines, providing camaraderie and a taste of home that may be the only solace before troops head into battle.

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.

My Opinion

3 stars

The author notes that he took inspiration from his mother's Red Cross service (and included a photo of her in front of her Clubmobile) but the story itself is fiction.  

The parts that were good were really really good but there was an overall detachment I felt reading it.  Since Irene and Dorothy were compartmentalizing everything that also translated to big things happening and then moving on.  I think when Irene's defenses were down in the hospital was probably the "best" (but also most difficult) section for my investment because it was raw and there were emotions to feel along with the descriptions of the scenes.