[fic] Street of Dreams 1/1 (Band of Brothers, gen, Guarnere-centric)

[garnettrees]

So, the authors of Berlin by Christmas have been revealed. I was right, Leigh did write "Dead Men and Dreamers"! Yay for me, I win. ^_~
(Just the title alerted me, darling. It was a Leigh title. Also, no one writes Lipton like you do-- no one could actually crawl inside Speirs scary brain. You have slain me with the beauty of this story, honestly.

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Review Part 2

[abyssinia4077]

That's real, and that's also the nightmare, the thing that wakes him up the night before the drop, shaking and shivering and looking at his hands. Adam is dead, shot at Casino in North Africa, and his last letter is there in Bill's footlocker, calm, crisp, real as each breath he takes.
The pain of letters. Especially of letters that come after death notices. How can you really believe someone is dead when you have no more or less contact than you did before you were told? I love that reality is the nightmare - the guilt.

In the stillness, Guarnere stares up at the ceiling-- beyond which is the sky, beyond which is God. "Bastard," he says, hatefully, drawing out that word. "A real bastard."
Everytime I think I have a favorite line you write another. I LOVE this part. It's stunning and beautiful and Bill and I can't even really articulate at all how much I love this line.

He's almost pissed-- he's working up to it, settling into it like a tall glass of beer, like an old coat.
I love the telling/hearing thing and Winters trying and Bill's reaction. But I really love this description. This is Bill. He doesn't know how to deal with the emotions he's feeling, but he knows how to be pissed. So he settles on that. I love how you describe him working up to it.

the two look like brothers; dark, irreverent, Perconte just a head shorter than Luz.
You don't know the sheer, unbridled glee this section gave me. Leigh and I frequently debate whether Luz loves Perco or Lipton best. I have a soft spot for Luz and Perco and a very soft spot for Perco and you fit him in so well and smooth and in character and the brother dynamic between them and I just grinned like a crazy person when I read this section.

His hand shakes, just once or twice, and Bill realizes he's holding the latest letter from Ma, looking at its sharp corners, at the cautious, wide swirls of her handwriting. There will be another letter, soon; one for her, type-faced and economic.
(The United States Marine Corps regrets to inform you...
Last night, half the boys in the company were writing letters home, one last shot before Normandy.
Bill never even picked up a pen.)
This bit slew me. The contrast between the letters. Him shaking - using rage to control sorrow only works so well. And Bill never picking up a pen. The added guilt - that his brother died and not him and he didnt' dream and he didn't write his mother and what if something happens to him too?

he opens his mouth, ready to toss out some acidic comment, something about being a Jew. Liebgott will fight with him, Guarnere knows it. They'll throw punches, get in blows when the other man is down, kick it real dirty-like. Satisfying. He's ready, he can taste it-
First my heart sang "LIEB" and then the description of both of them! Knowing Joe will fight, Guarnere needing it, the dirty, satisfying fight, oh I love it.

I love the bit with Joe. How Bill doesn't know how to react because Joe is being nice and you shouldn't pick a fight with that but he's not supposed to fight. And I love Luz chanting on the plane so much and Lip telling him to quiet down.
And I love him chanting on the beads - the end tying in both the map of Venice and god being a bastard in one effortless, beautiful paragraph.

And the ending. So stark and sudden and so void of imagery that makes it stand out all the more from the rest of piece. So final and short and to the point and it just hits you.

Um. Right. I think I just seriously spammed your LJ. But I really loved this piece and I'm so thrilled you wrote it.