Rating: 
Summary: An Unexpected Novel
Review: A Separate Peace by John Knowles is a classic about two friends, Finny and Gene, who live at a boarding school during World War II. An instant classic, John Knowles takes the reader into a place that few have been to, inside the mind of an insecure adolescent, and lets the reader experience emotions that s/he might not in their day to day lives. A Separate Peace also explores how the common insecurities of a person might send him or her into a pit of evil that s/he might never recover from. Using well-developed characters and a plot that most anybody can relate to in some way, John Knowles makes A Separate Peace a novel that everybody should read. Normally, I won't go near a book if there isn't some sort of war or mass violence throughout the book. So when told to read A Separate Peace as an assignment, I was naturally reluctant to do so. I did enjoy reading this novel, once I got into it, despite the fact that it started off fairly slowly and there were points where putting it down was like relieving myself of a heavy weight on my shoulders. I soon realized that all of the boring and seemingly useless descriptions actually played a major role as the plot progressed and could not be ignored. Living at boarding school, I can personally relate to some of the emotions Gene feels through the book. After a while, I could not put the book down at all, and finished reading far ahead of when I was assigned to be finished reading. I do intend to go back and read this again when I have the time. A perfect novel for rainy days, summer nights or just when one has the free time, A Separate Peace by John Knowles is a classic for generations to come.
Rating: 
Summary: An exploration into the mind of a troubled boy
Review: A Separate Peace is a fascinating, wonderfully written book. The story takes a rare look inside the flustered mind of a high-school student named Gene. Amid the troubles of the second world war, Gene and his best friend Finny encounter troubles of their own. Gene always makes good grades and takes time to study. Finny neglects school and teachers, living only by the rules he makes. He excels at all sports and lives a carefree life. Gene's mind fills with jealousy and competition . He compares himself with Finny and wants to be better than him in everything, though he tries to keep it hidden. When Finny falls out of a tree while Gene is standing near, rumors are spread throughout the school that Finny's fall may have been "helped" by Gene. Both deny the rumor, but Gene is the only one who knows the truth. I think the conflict going on in Gene's mind is vivid and makes the book very interesting. Gene wonders if maybe there is no competition at all between the two friends and if he is only imagining it. Gene is a well-developed character and I can understand the things he is going through. This simple story about friendship turns out to be a more complex story about the evil and greed in humans. I highly recommend this intriguing story.
Rating:
Summary: I'm Glad I Picked This One Up
Review: When I got to college, I found that I was pretty-much the only person at the university who hadn't read this high school. For some reason, my teacher didn't use it. But this book kept coming up in discussions. It seemed to me that a lot of the people around me had been able to relate to Knowles's novel and it seemed that a lot had benefited from reading it. Anyway, I had to read it to see if I could see and feel what they fealt. I did.A Separate Peace is about a lot of things. It's about the deep, though fragile, friendship between Gene and Finny. It's about how we manage do create identity and how we should. It's about the battles we create, the jealousies we foster, and the people we destroy. Lastly, it's about the sacrifices we can choose to make. A Separate Peace is a wonderfully written book. I can see why it has been loved (an hated-the truth hurts) by so many. It's certainly a masterpiece that I'm so glad I went back and discovered.
Rating:
Summary: A Separate Peace, A Separate Vitality
Review: After reading ¡§The Catcher in the Rye,¡¨ I wanted another book with the same powerful stream of consciousness that binds a magnificent novel. ¡§A Separate Peace¡¨ tells a story more moving than a plot with a chain of events. Also, because the stream of consciousness belongs to an adolescent, Gene, I easily relate to his feelings. His circumstances also mirror mine. During World War II at Devon, a boarding school, Gene and Phineas, roommates and best friends, are opposites. Gene is a quiet intellectual, Phineas a daredevil athlete. Gene often feels jealous of Phineas¡¦ athletic skills and charisma. He feels that Phineas is also jealous of his academic achievements. One day, Phineas and Gene attempt to jump out of a tree into a river. However, Gene shakes the limb then Phineas falls and breaks his leg. After this trauma, Gene feels that Phineas¡¦ incapacitation is his fault and he soon loses his hate and jealousy for Phineas. Their friendship starts regularly, simply, and almost perfectly, but soon transforms into betrayal and resentment. Simultaneously, the war is encroaching on their lives. Enlisting has become a popular topic, and one of Gene¡¦s friends, Leper, a quiet, peace-loving boy, enlists first. Here appear the themes of war and peace and loss of innocence. Leper loses both unassuming existence in life as well as sanity after joining the war. The loss of innocence includes war and peace and coming into adulthood. Because Leper¡¦s case was unexpected, using him, a ¡§goody boy¡¨, more effectively captures the drama of profound transformation in a person than Brinker, another schoolmate, a head-honcho, highly political figure, who talks about enlisting but doesn¡¦t. War raging around them metaphorizes Gene¡¦s internal battle. His nature illuminates the nature of human beings. Enmity, jealousy, and competition drive the selfish desire to harm others, which connects to loss of innocence as self-interest develops. Another theme concerns rebellion and conformity, which Phineas and Gene embody respectively. I think adolescents ponder rebellion against others based on their own values. Young people are most volatile during this age and are more prone to be transformed easily. I am also in the mainstream with other adolescents and I too am sifting through my identity. I hope all adolescents can read this book as I believe it is perfect for such an age.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written
Review: A separate peace, written by John Knowles, is set in a boarding school in New Hampshire during World War II. This book is a remarkable novel mainly about a unique friendship between the two main characters, Gene and Phineas. Gene is a shy, reserved intellectual, while Phineas is an outgoing, lively athlete. However the disparity between their personalities has a mysterious force that pulls them together. The friendship portrayed by Knowles is amazingly real- they waiver between hate and friends as mini-conflicts arise between them.
The campus of this school was situated out of the reaches of the war; most of the students are not bothered by what¡¦s happening in the outside world. However, as the students neared graduation and the truth slowly unveiled itself, it shattered the tranquility within the campus, and the students were suddenly faced with the shocking reality. A seemingly small incident had progressed into a huge conflict that ultimately was entirely comprised of evil. This book is well designed and controlled. At critical times in the story, Knowles is careful not to reveal too much, which leaves the reader in suspense with the urge to read on. In my opinion, there isn¡¦t a definite plot (not saying it¡¦s a flaw of the book). In fact, the novel is written somewhat like a diary. Even so, Knowles¡¦ perspective towards the war is timeless, and his masterpiece would appeal to most people who read this touching story.
Rating:
Summary: A Separate Peace
Review: This summer i was assigned to read A Separate Peace for outside reading. I have very busy summers and I don't like to read that much. I thought I would just bore my way through this book like I've always done before with other summer reading books. As I started this book though, I got more and more into it and really started to enjoy it. The main character of this book is Gene Forrester. He is telling us the story in his point of view which is first person. He has gone back to the school, Devon, after fifteen years to try to put what happened there behind him so he could go on with his life. Gene shows us that there is evil lurking every where because we see the potential of evil in the human heart through him. Finny is another very important character. Gene and him are best friends though two very different people. Finny has trouble in school but is excellent on any playing field and is almost too perfect. While we see evil and jealousy through Gene, all we see is honesty, innocense, and loyalty from Finny. The story takes place in the school Devon. Devon is an example of a small microcosm, which is a small world contained in itself. The war is going on outside the school while there is a small war going on under the surface at Devon. Gene is jealous of Finny and thinks Finny feels the same way but he finds out that he doesn't and that Finny is too good to be jealous. There is a tree which they jump from. This tree symbolizes the tree of knowledge and Gene's loss of innocense. As Gene and Finny were on the tree about to make the first double jump, Gene made Finny lose his balance and fall to the ground crushing his leg. Finny falls physically while Gene falls mentally and spiritually. Finny will never be able to play sports again or go to the war and he doesn't know that Gene caused the accident. Gene and Finny are still very good friends but there are many things throughout the story that foreshadows a trial that brings out the truth. Brinker sets up the trial and the truth wouldn't have come out except for Leper. Leper was a shy guy that kept mainly to himself. He had to gone to the war and became crazy. Leper was the only one that had seen Gene make Finny fall from the tree. When Leper was testifying Finny ran out of the room and fell down the stairs breaking his leg again. As Finny was in surgery, a piece of bone marrow got into his blood stream and stopped his heart which killed him. Gene feels like it is his funeral when he attends Finny's because he realizes that he caused Finny's death. I thought the author did a very good job writing this book. He shows us the potential of evil in the human heart and many other things. Many people can relate what has happened in this book to something that has happened to them. The author also did a very good job foreshadowing which keeps us reading and interested.
Rating:
Summary: One of the most moving books I have ever read.Bravo..
Review: John Knowles's eloquent and observative style make this novel a complete gem. This touching and beautiful story is set mostly in Devon, an old New England school during World War II. Every character is so well portraited, you'll understand them perfectly if your acute mind makes the effort. Someone who reviewed A Separate Peace here said the friendship between Gene and Phineas 's not realistic. I have to disagree; when you're living with the constant fear Gene's living with, you begin to alienate the world around you. Gene's tormenting insecurities lead him to hurt his best friend even though he loves him more than in any usual friendship, and I wish I could say where exactly in the book this is proved, but I'd spoil it for those who haven't read it. Like in other John Knowles novels, the main character, this time Gene, is extremely complex. Something else you have to understand when reading this book is that Phineas is an extraordinary human being. He is a! ! leader; he has a pure heart and always follows his own path. I could sit here all night discussing the book, but instead I'll just tell you that I'm a very picky reader, but I extremely recommend this novel to anyone in search of a masterpiece. This might as well be my favorite book...
Rating:
Summary: Females don't have a corner on "friendship issues."
Review: This novel deals with the friendship of two prep schoolboys, Gene and Phineas, A.k.a. "Finny." Gene is intellectual and somewhat introverted and Finny is athletic, daring and outgoing. As often happens, these two temperamentally different people become friends. I will not go through the entire story here; others already have, and besides -- I think the reader should do it for him/herself! However, I think that its strength lies in the realistic portrayal of adolescent friendship in both the positive and negative sense. At a time when female friendships are being dissected and examined, this book shows that male friendships are no walk in the park, either. Many themes are dealt with here -- reaction to war, uncertainty about the future, the treatment of people perceived as "weaker," but through the story runs the relationship of Gene and Finny. This is a book that is studied a lot in high school, but is worth reading again as an adult. We may wonder how much we have REALLY grown up!
Rating:
Summary: Issues of Adolescence
Review: A Separate Peace explores the issue of adolescence from the perspective of an all boy's school set in New England in the 1940s. Gene, the protagonist, is friends with Phineaus, an outgoing and athletic guy. Although they are friends, there are differences that come between them, and this is what sets the story in motion. When the story begins, Gene is coming back to Devon, the school where a tragic accident happened that would forever change his life. We flashback to the story at hand, with Gene returning to the tree and place where everything changed. Although Gene does admire Phineus (Finny), there is a certain amount of envy that he has. Gene, who is the intellectual type, wants to succeed in his studies and feels that Finny is out to "destroy" this. Finny is the type who does not have to be insecure about himself, and Gene sometimes misinterprets this. One reviewer mentioned that this is a novel that uses stream of consciousness as a tool for its development, which I also agree with. This is not a novel with a lot of "action" per se, but its strength is particularly built from characterization of Gene and Finny's relationship at Devon. As the reader, we are only given Gene's perspective, and so we have to decide on our own how much truth there is to what Gene believes. Many issues of adolescence are touched on. Jealousy, envy, conformity/ non-conformity and the issue of whether to participate and be part of the war are all felt by those who attend Devon, and Gene and Finny are at the core of this issue mainly because they are opposites with the exact same physical abilities up until Finny's accident. Knowles uses these tools to make a commentary on how a single perspective can change an adolescent's entire world, and then shows how an individual can use this to finally move on to adulthood by overcoming these.
Rating:
Summary: A Seperate Peace
Review: A Separate Peace A Separate Peace is a story about a high school boy named Gene. Gene is a friend of the most popular boy in his school. His name is Finny. Finny is the best at all the sports and is quite a daredevil too. Finny tries to show off and at the same time get Gene some self-esteem. He does this by jumping out of a very tall tree and landing in a river. When he gets Gene to do it too, that gives Gene some confidence. When thinking their friendship over, Gene determines that Finny just brings him along to all the crazy excursions so that he'll (Gene) fail his classes. That thought is completely ridiculous for someone to think about Finny. One night, Gene finds out that he had Finny all wrong and that Finny brought him because they were best friends. Gene was extremely frustrated that he had his best friend all wrong. In his anger, he jounced the limb that Finny was out on, and made him fall. It is very surprising that Gene did this. If anything you would think that Gene would try to be very nice to Finny to make up for it. Instead, he ruined his best friend's life. When Finny fell, he broke his leg. That was where Gene's life started getting worse. Finny was now crippled for life. A lot was revealed to Gene during the time when Finny was bed ridden. Gene realized how very real WWII was. Since nothing much from WWII took place in America, some Americans at that time developed the theory that the whole war was a hoax. Finny was able to convince Gene that this theory was true, even though he didn't believe it himself. Gene's friend Leper Lepellier was the average person who was scared of everything. When he joined the war, it seemed as false as ever. Gene thought that the war couldn't be real if Leper, the most scared person in the world, joined the war effort. Then, he came back to the school. The war had driven him crazy. When Gene saw this, he realized that the war was very real and that everything that was in the newspapers was true after all. Leper was hallucinating and seeing things that weren't there. He was going to be given a section eight discharge, but he deserted. That is like a dishonorable discharge only worse. A section eight is what the army gives people with mental problems. If you get a section eight discharge, you would have an unbelievably hard time getting a job. Most people won't give a person with a section eight discharge a job. Leper started talking nonsense when Gene came to see him. Soon after, the meanest person in this book except for Gene, Brinker, held a meeting to try to find out what happened to Finny. (No one except Gene and Leper knew exactly what happened) Leper came to the meeting and testified against Gene, and Finny, disgusted with the fact that his best friend had betrayed him, left the room, ran down the school hallway and fell down the stairs, which rebroke his recently healed leg. When the doctor reset his leg, some marrow went to the heart and killed him.
Thus end the tragic events of a tragic story. Gene ruined his friend's life and indirectly killed him. Anyone in Gene's place would probably feel irreversibly horrible about themselves. This story depicts what a person will do when driven by jealousy.
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