Book Group - "The Yellow Birds" by Kevin Powers

  • 03 Oct 2014
  • 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM
  • WICE Office - 10 rue Tiphaine - 75015 Paris
  • 12

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  • Free for WICE Members

Free to WICE Members
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Friday
October 3rd
12:30 pm- 2:30 pm

"The Yellow Birds"
by Kevin Powers

A brief summary:

A novel written by a veteran of the war in Iraq, "The Yellow Birds" is the harrowing story of two young soldiers trying to stay alive.

"The war tried to kill us in the spring." So begins this powerful account of friendship and loss. In Al Tafar, Iraq, twenty-one-year old Private Bartle and eighteen-year-old Private Murphy cling to life as their platoon launches a bloody battle for the city. Bound together since basic training when Bartle makes a promise to bring Murphy safely home, the two have been dropped into a war neither is prepared for.

In the endless days that follow, the two young soldiers do everything to protect each other from the forces that press in on every side: the insurgents, physical fatigue, and the mental stress that comes from constant danger. As reality begins to blur into a hazy nightmare, Murphy becomes increasingly unmoored from the world around him and Bartle takes actions he could never have imagined.

With profound emotional insight, especially into the effects of a hidden war on mothers and families at home, "The Yellow Birds" is a groundbreaking novel that is destined to become a classic.

About the author:

Kevin Powers was born and raised in Richmond, VA. In 2004 and 2005 he served with the U.S. Army in Mosul and Tal Afar, Iraq. He studied English at Virginia Commonwealth University after his honorable discharge and received an M.F.A. in Poetry from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin in 2012.

Join WICE Bilingual Book Group to discuss this intriguing novel that is sure to spark discussion on the many ways to interpret this story.
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