Sign in with Facebook
Jason Koivu's Reviews > Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest
Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest
by
Little good comes from war, however it does tend to create heros and leaders and show people how to love and depend upon their comrades. The bonds built upon the catastrophic ruin that was World War II is the basis of Stephen E. Ambrose's Band of Brothers.
After watching the television miniseries a couple times through and really enjoying it for its humanity, I thought it was time I gave the book a go. There isn't much difference between the two. The timeline and events depicted in the series stay fairly true to the book, showing the birth of the legendary Easy Company as it goes through basic training, enters the war and fights through an almost endless array of seemingly impossible missions until the European theater came to a close.
Where the book and show differed was in the amount of detail and backstory that the book provided over the show. It's not a lot of extra detail - the stories of a few soldiers that had to be passed over for brevity's sake, as well as further personal details of the soldiers mainly focused upon - but if you're a big fan of the show, you're a candidate to read Band of Brothers, an admirably penned work that squeezes what good it can out of some dark days indeed.
by
Little good comes from war, however it does tend to create heros and leaders and show people how to love and depend upon their comrades. The bonds built upon the catastrophic ruin that was World War II is the basis of Stephen E. Ambrose's Band of Brothers.
After watching the television miniseries a couple times through and really enjoying it for its humanity, I thought it was time I gave the book a go. There isn't much difference between the two. The timeline and events depicted in the series stay fairly true to the book, showing the birth of the legendary Easy Company as it goes through basic training, enters the war and fights through an almost endless array of seemingly impossible missions until the European theater came to a close.
Where the book and show differed was in the amount of detail and backstory that the book provided over the show. It's not a lot of extra detail - the stories of a few soldiers that had to be passed over for brevity's sake, as well as further personal details of the soldiers mainly focused upon - but if you're a big fan of the show, you're a candidate to read Band of Brothers, an admirably penned work that squeezes what good it can out of some dark days indeed.
Sign into Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ to see if any of your friends have read
Band of Brothers.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
May 3, 2012
– Shelved
Started Reading
May 30, 2012
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-13 of 13 (13 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Gena
(new)
-
rated it 5 stars
May 26, 2012 10:13AM
Great read.
reply
|
flag
Gena wrote: "Great read."Indeed! Halfway through and so far it's just like the tv series. I'm really enjoying the personal details that didn't make it into the show!
s.penkevich wrote: "AMAZING book. Glad you liked it."I would've been surprised if I didn't, considering much I liked the series.
I've purchased Band of Brothers DVDs for about 5 people for gifts (which gets a bit expensive, let me just say!)... but I still haven't seen it all myself. I'm just not a TV watcher. *sigh* One day I'll make it a point to sit down and finish the series... Or I could just read the book. That'd probably be more likely to happen. ;)
Becky wrote: "I've purchased Band of Brothers DVDs for about 5 people for gifts (which gets a bit expensive, let me just say!)... but I still haven't seen it all myself. I'm just not a TV watcher. *sigh* One d..."
You could probably read the book in the same amount of time it would take to watch the whole series. Both are equally excellent, so you can't go wrong with whatever you choose!
Your 5 stars adds a bit of a banner to praise rendered down to "admirably penned." The emotional power of the tales still choke me up just to think about them. How it all could read like a novel was amazing to me. The dedication Ambrose applied to getting the story goes beyond the usual uninvolved historian. Good for you not to let the TV series stop you from pursuing the book.
Michael wrote: "Your 5 stars adds a bit of a banner to praise rendered down to "admirably penned." The emotional power of the tales still choke me up just to think about them. How it all could read like a novel ..."Well, I wanted to know more about the men of Easy Company and so I just hoped that Ambrose's book added something to the background information that I figured had to have been curtailed for the series. I worked a little bit in Hollywood, enough to know that the details often get squeezed out of a good, full story whether it's fiction or reality.
Jason wrote: "Well, I wanted to know more about the men of Easy Company and so I just hoped that Ambrose's book added something to the background information that I figured had to have been curtailed for the series..."Sounds like you found the book and film pretty well aligned. I saw the series years after reading the book and was blown away how well it brought the book to life. I know he has been plagued like so other "popular" historians with plagiarism charges (e.g. McCullough and Kerns Goodwin), but I still love his method of making a story out of his material.
I've loved 6 books by Ambrose and should do more. Citizen Soldiers and Wild Blue were not quite as good as this, but I felt Undaunted Courage was outstanding. To America was a great sampler of his personal reflections on all his projects before he died (which some take to task for jingoistic sentiments about how wonderful America is).
Band of Brothers Book ReviewBy: Aiden Yetman
The novel Band of Brothers, in my opinion, is one of the most breathtaking and inspiring books of the modern era. The non-fiction novel is centered around the personal accounts of the elite U.S Army’s Easy Company during World War II. The group was composed of civilian draftees who encountered grueling training and discipline to become the now famous 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. The story is magnificent and displays a “real-life� account of the horrors and hard ships of war, but also the brotherhood, sacrifice, and triumph seen in everyday life as a warrior.
One reason why you should read this book is the legendary acts of heroism and courage expressed in the novel. Stephen E. Ambrose portrays how the group of men go through the most grueling training in the military, to fighting on the front lines of D-Day and throughout Europe. The first campaign of Easy Company, was the “D-Day� Invasion of Normandy. Easy Company up took 4 German machine gun outposts with just 12 men! They also fought throughout France to annihilate the “Axis� (Germans) and keep taking the steps to end the war.
Ambrose does a superb job “zoning in� on the stories on the accounts of Easy Company, so that the reader comprehends the terror, heroics, and courage accompanying war. This adds a personal connection to the book for me and many others. Band of Brothers, is very dissimilar to books I have read that are more of alluding to only the larger battles and high-priority officials like Dwight Eisenhower or Winston Churchill. It is a very excellently researched and a compelling novel that is a guarantee to interest normal readers and history buffs alike. I was in pain when they were in pain, starving when they were starving, scared when they were scared, and felt a feeling of triumph when they were triumphant. I highly recommended this book to anyone looking for a compassionate and courageous story.
I fully agree with your review and many of the comments here. These are the kind of heroes I love to read about.
Thanks for reviews, will definitely look out for this one. Incidentally we have not seen a series over here (UK).
Paul wrote: "Thanks for reviews, will definitely look out for this one. Incidentally we have not seen a series over here (UK)."Thanks, Paul! If you enjoy such things, I'd highly recommend seeking out the Band of Brothers miniseries. It does focus mostly on the U.S. involvement in the war, following Easy Company throughout, so if you're British it may not be as interesting. However, it's excellently done and well worth watching.
