Good Night, Irene

By Luis Alberto Urrea

I’ve read countless books about WWII. In fact, my bookclub once spent an entire year reading nothing but books about the marginalized stories of WWII victims and survivors. Needless to say I thought I had read it all, but this book surprised me. I had never heard of the Donut Dollies of the Red Cross or about the Clubmobiles (GMC 2 1/2 ton trucks made into kitchens on wheels) they drove through Europe and into the thick of battles to bring a smiling face, a cup of coffee and a donut to the fighting soldiers.

Urrea is a master storyteller capturing the chaos of war raging and the chaos of a world not changing fast enough. The task set forth for these brave determined women is at once just as dangerous as soldiering, maybe more so due to their lack of training, but their service is not valued as an equal contribution by society.

“You weren’t even a soldier. You were making cookies. What could you possibly have to get over?”

Urrea highlights the mental anguish these women went through to serve their countries and to create space for themselves in a world defined by the actions of men all the while buoyed by friendship and determination to survive. There aren’t a lot of stories about women seeking adventures. In the past this seems to have been a genre written predominately about men and their struggles, but Urrea captures the complex nuances of female relationships quite well and what would drive these women to break through barriers and defy family expectations.

I believe this is Urrea’s finest work to date.