This is why I have no social life.
Okay, I've been super-curious about people's responses to Band of Brothers ever since I started poking around the fandom. So, if you've got the inclination, want to answer some questions about your favorite characters and their backgrounds?
( No-methodology sociology, LJ-style! )
( No-methodology sociology, LJ-style! )
Biggest Brother I haven't read yet, but I did see a copy at a used bookstore near me -- I'll be curious to hear what you think of that! Parachute Infantry really is very different from the other memoirs I've read: its scope is smaller, and he definitely talks about things the other guys just don't really treat -- diarrhea and boredom and looting, that sort of thing. It's very intimate. In a funny way, it's also less introspective, by which I mean he's less analytical of the war as a whole. But you do get some moments that I found I was craving in the other books -- the day Webster finally leaves Easy, for one. His account of D-Day is also the most psychologically terrifying I've read, in terms of fear and loneliness and confusion. Mostly what you come away with is that Webster loathes the army as an institution but believes in the war and in the people he bonds with. There are also some great anecdotes about guys we know from the series -- my favorite is probably this utterly ridiculous song-and-dance number (basically) that Luz does in Hagenau.
Well. I don't want to describe the whole book to you before you get a chance to enjoy it. But it's a very good read, and it's really helped by the fact that it's done without an awareness of the series and the "band of brothers" trope that the vets have taken to using for their shorthand.
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Biggest Brother I'm really looking forward, too, although I don't think it will offer that many new insights into "how does Dick Winters tick", because I don't think he would have approved of that. We'll see!
It's neat how music and editing can make you more sympathetic to a character, isn't it?
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