A Separate Peace

Rating:
Summary: TORTURE
Review: In school they made us read many boring books, but none of them were as irritating as this one. The characters were so stereotypical and fake that I could not relate. Teachers please, stop torturing the children.

Rating:
Summary: A touching story of friendship
Review: The book, was required for summer reading, and I reread it over and over again. It has become one of my most teasured books, and it's example even helped my own friendship. Whether it is required or not I suggest reading this book. The one major flaw is it's war references. I am not interested in World Wars and it's hard to read about the people it affected.

Rating:
Summary: Yet another sophomore forced to read this book...
Review: Don't get me wrong, I can see why people would really like this book, but I just thought it so mediocre, and I couldn't relate to the characters at all! Also, having to write a report on every chapter probably didn't help much either.

Rating:
Summary: I HATED IT!!
Review: This was a terrible novel. Absolutely terrible. Gene's jealousy of Phineas was not "normal" by any means. It was twisted, perverted, and evil. Is this supposedly a book about friendship?!?!? Any feelings of love or caring were lost on me, at least on Gene's part. The ending was more than disturbing and I hated it! A selfish, despicable "accident" robbed wonderful, talented Phineas of the life that was rightfully his. (Perhaps this novel would have been easier to swallow if there had not been a feeble pretence of friendship. Even worse, there seems to be an effort for the reader to empathize with Gene. Revolting!)

Rating:
Summary: This book tells the truth about human nature
Review: A Separate Peace is probably one of the best books I have ever read. The characters are portrayed so realistically and the situations in which they find themselves, though not easily relatable these days, have a solid basis in a friendship anyone would be lucky to know. My parents bought this book for me, along with To Kill a Mockingbird, when I was 11 and I didn't read either for years. When I was 14, I read To Kill a Mockingbird and fell in love with it, but I just couldn't get through A Separate Peace. When I started college, I took a course in adolescent fiction, where this book was required reading -- and it quickly became obvious why. The characters came alive, and reading this at a time when I was away at a college in New England gave it all the more meaning. I know it is written for teenagers, but I can't help but think, especially after reading some of these reviews, that this is a book that can be truly appreciated after high school.

Rating:
Summary: It is a story of man's inhumanity to man
Review: I fell that this book was very good. It had a very good story line to follow. When I read John Knowles books, he writes in a manner , so that you can understand. This is a story of Gene's jealous toward Finny. Finny has a high comfednce and a very strong emotional side. In the book Gene says that no one could brake finny down, but i did. In the beginning we see this huge tree, which smybolize's the war on the outside. Gene jounces the limb causeing finny to fall hitting the ground braking his leg.Finny not know there is an internal war going on will not except the fact that his best friend could do such a thing. Gene even tells finny that he jounced the limb but he will not except reallity. During the story Gene's and finny's bond grows bigger and bigger. The brinker comes along and destroy's there friendship. Making an informal court they try to find out what happend in the tree. Making finny very mad, walking out we hear that finny fell down the marble stairs. He break's his leg again and gene comes to see him. He is very mad at him. Gene later comes to bring finny cloth's. One more he comes to find that finny had died for bone-marrow going to his heart killing him. What is weird is that he died by his heart stoping. His heart smybolize's his compassion which gene had taken away. Gene at the end never cried for finny.He said that there was a war going on, and that finny thought that i would come right at him, but enemies don't attact that way. if indeed you are an enemey. When i found out that finny had died, i began to cry. I know it sounds dumb, but what finny smybolized was freedom, good, emotions, no-selfness, and morality. How a person of such high moral could be broken down like a bug.

Rating:
Summary: I could read this book a million times...
Review: All through school, I have been forced to read books that i didn't want to read. When my sophomore English teacher said that we'd be reading the book, I wasn't particularly enthused, until I actually started reading it. Now I'm a freshman in college, and it's still one of my favorite books...i made my brother read it right after I did...he was 13 at the time, hated to read, and it's one of his favorite books now too. the story is very thought-provoking, and I must admit that I cry when I read it. It's very introspective and intellectual, but easy to read and understand, I read it in about an hour and a half.

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Story about Friendship and Betrayal
Review: I was assigned this book for English class, and I quickly fell in love with it. It is such a moving story about the fragile bonds of friendship. Even though the first part is a little slow, the rest picks up with such capacity it will take your breath away. This is an overall excellent story and one that I"m sure will remain in my memory for a long time.

Rating:
Summary: This was extremely well written, but very upsetting story.
Review: I am in fifth grade and I read this for a book club I am in it with some friends and their mothers. It was very upsetting to think that a friend might do such a horrible thing to their roomate. The whole book was dark and depressing, and then at the end Finny dies. That was not a good way to end the book. I'm still glad I read it because it was good that John Knowles wrote about feelings that can be true about hidden jealousy. It was very well written and realistic.

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't finish this non-gripping tale
Review: I think this novel demonstrates why we "don't all get along." Anyone who can give this novel a 10 is someone who I would probably find to be most unpleasant company. This is the story of two in-duh-viduals with character traits that I find thoroughly repulsive. Guess I just can't relate to sensless jealousy and lack of achievement. Somone explain to me why I should finish this book.