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Summary: Some lessons are not confined to childhood
Review: Knowles book withstands the test of time because the issues he confronts -- through the school boys whose lives he details -- are timeless: the need to find enemies amid the confusing forests of our lives, and the need to recognize the true enemy within each of us: ego, envy, and mean spiritedness. This is not a book simply for young adults, but for all of us who must reconcile ourselves to rejection, loss and our own inner demons. Knowles writes with haunting clarity and tells a story that is as compelling as it is tragic.
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Summary: An adolescent classic
Review: A Separate Peace is a timeless tale of conflicting adolescent emotions. The pull that Gene, the main character, feels between devoted friendship and envy is painfully brillant. The imagery in this novel is very vivd as well. Everyone should read this book at least once.
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Summary: interesting book
Review: I had to read this book for my english class in order to make a research paper on it for my final grade. Although at first I did not like the idea, as I started to read the book I found it very interesting. It is the story of two boys who manage to save their friendship trough war and tragedy. I do recomend the book I believe it holds a hidden life lesson on friendship.
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Summary: evil isnt this bad
Review: I finished the book about an hour ago, and I'm still thinking about it. I kept comparing it to The Chocolate War, which also points out human error, and human redemption. Knowles however did not handle this as well. He knows human behavior, and he has shown what jealousy can do to us if we let it. I cant not however imagine a teenager being this rotten. Gene showed no redeeming characteristics, or sorrow at all that reminded me he was human. Even to the end, he never appologized, to himself, or felt any guilt at all to the mistakes he made. Human weakness is an extremely hard trait to identify...and Knowles did a wonderful job at doing so.. he just forgot compassion.
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Summary: It was Ok, if you like Intelectual Storys
Review: If your someone who likes to blow through Action books, like "Patriots Games" or something of the sort, stay away from this book. However if you like to slowly read a book, and think about waht it means to you, than this is the book for you.Full of questions about human nature, This book is a MUST for anyone who likes to ponder books. I read through earlyer reviewes and was appaled by what i saw. People were critisizing this book because it was not fast enough. They were dissing their teachers for making them read it. Well maybe their teachers had a diferant idea, about how Students would read the book. They problemly thought the students would enjoy it, and read about the way gene treats finny and use it to there advantage, Namely always look at your actions, if befor or after the fact, and see if you were acting sainly. My teacher told my class that he wanted us to do this while we read and my whole class enjoyed the book. I guess that is because we are smart here in Western Ma, more smart than in other states.
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Summary: War and Peace
Review: If there's a hidden meaning in this book, it is so obscure that this reader still hasn't found it. The things that this book did show me were how much the war consumed the youth and adults of the time. Boys in high school were training for the war. PE became a physical conditioning for war. Teachers and parents pushed boys not even out of school yet to join the service. It was understood that they would join the service. Because one's entire identity and worth rested on his ability to join in the war, those that failed in the effort lost themselves. Most tragic is Phineas (a.k.a. Finny) who was a great athlete who, while horsing around, fell from a tree branch and broke his leg, leaving himself a cripple. And Leper who was a hero when he left the school to join the war, and slinked back as a topic of gossip after he cracked. If you read this book, you see how war affected different people and the tragedy of young boys changing the course of their lives for a war, something so much larger than them. There's jealousy, suspicion, paranoia, and numb acceptance. A decent read, though seemingly aimless at times. Never boring, however.
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Summary: Great Book
Review: I think this is a great novel written by John Knowles. I like the way he describes the characters so that you can really get into the minds. I guess it is true that opposites attract because Gene and Phineas are opposite and yet they are best friends. It is kinda devastating when you find out that Phineas falls out of the tree and then that his athletic future is over. A guy that is so good athletically and then just goofing off and it is all over and then even more devastating is when he dies when trying to reset the bone. I think this book does a good job of showing how the war was reacted to in the US. How kids were recruited to fight straight out of school. Also how kids were forced into going into the service by teachers, parents and friends. I would recommend this novel to anyone who thinks they are invincible. In addition, to anyone to someone who thinks that life last forever because this novel shows you that anything can happen and life makes you grow up faster than you want it to. I enjoyed this book a lot.
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Summary: never read this book under any circumstances
Review: never read this book. We read alot of books and we all agree it will put you out better than anastethia.
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Summary: A Separate Peace Review
Review: I have just read A Separate Peace. It is such an outstanding book. Once you pick it up and start to read, it is almost impossible to put back down. A Separate Peace is very suitable for teenagers. A Separate Peace is about a young boy named Finny and his friends at Devon School. It takes place in the early 1900's during World War I. Finny and his best friend, Gene experience a lot of adventures together as the story goes on. The story starts off discussing Finny's early life and then goes on with life at Devon. In the story, this question has come up many times, "Are Finny and Gene best friends?" This is significant because it gives you something to think about every time an ironic event happens. There is some jealousy between Finny and Gene. This is so because Finny is said to be the best athlete in the school, and Gene isn't a very good athlete but gets excellent grades. About half way through the story, Finny jumps out of a tree and into a river. This exercise is done by the seniors to train for war. One day Finny and Gene were going to do this together. Finny climbs into the tree first, following behind was Gene. While Gene was climbing into the tree, Finny slips and falls out breaking his leg. While Finny is in the hospital recovering from his injury, he realizes that he will not be able to play sports again. After Finny recovers, and returns to Devon, he falls down the stairs. You will have to read the book for yourself to find out what happens to Finny and his friends. If you are a teenager and enjoy reading, I would definatly recommend this book to you.
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Summary: A True Tale of Friendship
Review: I have recently read this novel and became quite fond of it. After reading it became one of my favorite novels. This story is about two seniors who go to a school called Devon, during the world war II crisis. My favorite charecter in the book is one of the two main charecters. Gene Forester is a quiet young book worm. He is not very athletic but he still finds a way to get by at his school. The second charecter is Phineus, unfdortunetly there was no last name gicen to this charecter. This charecter goes under the alias of Finny. Finny is a daredevil athlete who has no boundries. The conflict of this story begins when Gene and Finny begin a secret soceity on the campus grounds of Devon. The name of this secret club is the Super Suicide Soceity of the Summer Session. The club meetings begin with ene and Finny jump off a tree into a river. This is were the trouble begins. One evening while Gene and Finny prepare to jump off Finny falls off the tree onto the ground. Finny is then taken to a doctor to find out what his injuries were. It turns out that the fall completly shattered Finny's leg and he will never play sports again. To find out how this tory ends read A Separate Peace by John Knowles.
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