A Separate Peace

Rating:
Summary: Try a little harder!
Review: I think the person that gave this book 1 star would have liked the book better if they had tried to comprehend the characters feelings. Just imagine young people going through all those changes in their lives. ( the war, adolescence, etc. ) I think the way they were portrayed was very realistic and intruiging. You learned how different people reacted differently to the war and how it affected everything they thought and did. Even to make them question the loyalty of their friends.

Rating:
Summary: I'm buying it now because . . .
Review: I thought this book was excellent when I read it for a high school english class 19 or 20 years ago, and I'm sure I would enjoy it as much or more now. Perhaps I identified with the characters because I had a similar friendship while in high school. My best friend and I each had a particular talent. She was the better athlete, I the better musician. We were both at the top of our respective classes academically, which could have caused some competitive tension, but we were probably afraid to address it, just as Gene is afraid to address his envy of Phineas. The insulated world of a New England prep school, so far from the carnage of World War II, does not protect the boys from the consequences of envy.

Rating:
Summary: review #5719
Review: I also had to read A Separate Peace for my english class. Is it just me, or does anyone else notice a trend here? Anyway, I thought I was reading the most boring book ever published, but it turned out all right in the end. I admit that it wasn't the greatest book I ever read, but it was still well written and all that other "good stuff." Hopefully, people who are forced to read this novel don't take it the way I did, I wouldn't blame you if you still did, but still make an attempt to realize that it isn't at all as bad as it may seem.

Rating:
Summary: THIS WAS THE WORST BOOK EVER!!
Review: I WAS FORCED TO READ THIS BOOK IN MY LIT CLASS, AND I CAN SAY ITS THE WORST BOOK I HAVE EVER READ. THE PLOT WAS BORING. THE CHACTERS SUCKED. IF I COULD GIVE IT ZERO STARS I WOULD IN A SECOND! SO THIS IS JUST A WARNING TO ANYONE WHO THINKS IT MIGHT BE GOOD, DON'T READ IT!! THE MOVIE SUCKED TOO!

Rating:
Summary: Pretty good book
Review: We read this book in my English class last year and it's pretty good. It's about 2 friends at a boarding school. They're total opposites. One is the typical jock type and the other is the typical intelligent type. Somehow, the 2 roomates end up being best friends. Well, this friendship leads to tragedy, when one of them falls from a tree. Later, there is even more tragedy when he dies. This story is told from the point of view of the surviving roommate. I seriously would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read good classics.

Rating:
Summary: amazing
Review: I read this book for my tenth grade English class. I remember we had to start with some in-class reading, and the beginning was very descriptive and rather slow. I was sure I was in for some pretty boring stuff. But the book turned out to be amazing! Knowles has a knack for creating characters whose sheer humanity makes them greater than life because we can empathize and find ourselves in them. Even the idolized Phineas is all too human - his constant quest for challenge and ultimate downfall is reminicent of a tragic hero in ancient Greek mythology. And the main character doesn't let us down either. Despite his envy for his best friend, he comes across as a very insightful and good human being. As for the story as a whole, the very best part is the ending - and by that I mean the very end, the last couple of lines. I read the book two years ago and I still remember the power of Knowles' ending.

Rating:
Summary: Good
Review: This novel does not deserve classic status. It's half-baked in spots. But it portrays effectively the little talked about but often felt emotion of Schaedenfreude: pleasure at someone else's troubles, as the narrator has for his friend.

Rating:
Summary: Touching
Review: This book is a great book. I didn't know about this book until our teacher required us to read it in our G/T 7th grade class. I'm glad she did, though. A Separate Peace is filled with symbolism, which was one of the things I liked about the book. It shows the true meaning of friendship and changed my life forever. The only downfall was that some of the parts were a little boring.

Rating:
Summary: Ugh
Review: Quite possibly the worst book I've ever read. The only reason i continued to the end was because this was a required reading for an Honors English class. Knowles spent too much time describing things in meticulous detail (ex. the way a bush looked in the light..) No moving plot or characters that I cared about. It was a painstaking effort to complete this novel. He has writing skill though, I must give him that.

Rating:
Summary: An underappreciated classic
Review: This is an underappreciated classic that, while labelled as a children's book, resonates with you at any age. Set in the world of a boarding school, two friends contemplate the outbreak of war even as their bonds of friendship grow. Like great "young adult literature," the characters in this book ring absolutely true. And when tragedy strikes at the end of the novel, you will be stunned when adolescent bravery plunges into sadness.

A must-read for anyone ten and up. I fear that this novel has been left behind in the age of Harry Potter. Don't let that happen!