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Summary: A Separate Peace Review
Review: A Separate Peace by John Knowles is an excellent novel in my opinion because it talks about friendship and overcoming obstacles. I can relate to the main character, Gene, because both of us are sixteen years old and some events that happen to him I can relate to it similarly. What I like most about this book is that it is about friendship and I think that any sixteen year old teen can relate to some of the text. If you like to read a novel that contains friendship and obstacles then A Separate Peace by John Knowles is the book for you to read.
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Summary: A REVIEW
Review: The novel A Separate Peace depicts the view point of Devon School's students. The students are both young and mischievous. If you are an adult the book will inspire you and teach you how to live again. Being a teenager in a Boarding School my self I can relate to the characters in the book. Sometimes I am the rough athletic type (Phineas) and other times I am the lonely hardworking studying type (Gene). Enough about me, I feel this book is definitely a book that everyone should read. On a scale from 1-10 I would give this book a 7. I give this book a 7 instead of a 10 because the book was a slow read, and it bored me but it still is a great book to read. The book is made to teach young readers about friendship.
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Summary: A beautifully written, richly layered novel
Review: This story is a beautifully written novel of age-old themes set in an insecure period in American history. It is touching, intelligent, deep, and finds a new place next to all my favorites.
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Summary: Life's Little Difficulties
Review: A Review by Craig
A story about a young man named Gene Forrester who went to a boarding school called Devon in during WW II. The book starts out in the summer session where most people have left and gone home, but Gene, his best friend Phineaus, and some other guys are left. They were always inventing games and sports and clubs to pass the time. Like the Super Suicide Club of the Summer Session, where they met out at this big tree to jump off into a river. One of the meetings, Gene and Finny both decide to jump off into the river together. When they get to the top, Gene, with out thinking, wobbles the branch, which they both were standing. Phineaus falls off the tree and falls to the shore shattering his leg. The doctor said that he would walk again but could no longer play sports. Gene was stunned, how could he have done that? He spent the next few weeks in deep thought about his actions until Finny returned to school. Nobody knew quit what happened so they didn't blame Gene. After that, Finny decided to train Gene for the 1944 Olympics. A few months' pasts and life went on, but rumors were going around about Finny's accident. So, to get to the bottom of it, Brinker decided to have a sort of a trial in which a boy named Leper had seen Gene wobble the ledge causing Phineaus to fall. Finny was shocked, he left crying and on his way out he fell down some stares breaking his leg again, from there, the story takes a turn but I can't reveal the ending you'll just have to read it.This story was one of the best books I've ever read. It was full of action, and it described everything in great detail. This book made me think more than any other book has ever done. It's a really great story of the life of a high school student in 1942, and it was interesting to see their ideas of the war. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who just likes a good book. It will defiantly put you through a whole range of emotions.
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Summary: A Story of Friendship and War
Review: A Seperate Peace is a story of best friends that have many good as well as bad times together. The two friends, Gene and Finny, and the other teenagers at this all boys school have many adventures. This book takes place during World War II and has many references to war. Gene goes through alot of internal turmoil. Finny is an all around athlete. He enjoys everything about sports which is just the opposite of Gene who enjoys school. Things that happen between these two friends create alot of tension. Gene feels that Finny is a part of himself. In the end the reader can tell how important friends are. Other characters, such as Leper and Brinker, create some comical releif at times. However, they too demonstrate war in the school. The plot of this book has an interesting twist. To me, this book was a real page turner. A Seperate Peace kept me indulged in my reading. I would definitely recommend this book to others. Some might think that it is all about the war and a boys school but it contains much more then that.
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Summary: A Presence of Ignorance
Review: A Separate Peace describes the effect war has on the human heart and mind; it reminds the reader that the presence of ignorance in humans can cause wars to start. The novel is about a group of high school boys attending Devon School during World War II. These boys, not yet 18, still have the summer months to appreciate the peace surrounding Devon, although the high walls of Devon cannot keep the war out forever. The novel demonstrates, through many diverse characters, that war does not effect only soldiers and the government, but has the power to change the lives of ordinary citizens. On first reading A Separate Peace, the book seemed slow-moving and uninteresting. When I reread the novel, however, the combined pieces of characters, setting, and plot fit together much smoother. Overall, the book is well-written and worth the time to understand it.
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Summary: A beautiful novel about the loss of innocence.
Review: First and foremost I must say that this book, though it's subject matter is a teenager during his coming of age, is not a teen book. Like a reviewer has mentioned, the book is much more enjoyable for those who are interested in literature than those who are simply looking for a "teen" story. Even Catcher in the Rye was much more than a "teen" story, but it works as one.
I read this book after I had left high school, and I found it to be extremely sad and beautiful. It is the very symbolic story of kids during the second World War, who are consequently fighting their own fight which is of no less importance, though it may seem so next to the War. There is a continuing theme of innocence and "carpe diem" that makes this book very personal and at the same time universal. It will fit in nicely next to your Catcher in the Rye, but it's a little bit tamer. Not that it suffers from that, it is just more literally "proper."
This book serves well for those outside of their teen years looking in, capturing the confusion of growing up and the question of innocence. It's very emotional and poignant, and actually left me crying at the end, which happens rarely; only for those really great novels that dare to be honestly naked and sentimental.
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Summary: Not the best book in its genre.....
Review: The future probably won't bode well for this book... Across the course of the past hundred or so years, the stories contained in this book have been told more or less eloquently by a number of authors. In this case, Knowles hits down the middle: as the years pass, most probably, this book is orbably going to be forgotten. Before I rack up negative reviews, let me explain. First: as noted, this is not a novel storyline. The stories of boy-friendships are not novel in literature: many efforts, in my estimation tremendously surpass this. Certainly Hesse's Narcissus and Goldmund and Stendhal's Le Rouge and Le Noir are better efforts: more interesting, less terse, more compelling, and more truthful. I read this book in a night: in fact, I didn't put it down. Some of the reasons for this is that it lacks in substance and profundity: the English teachers who assign this book would probably be better served assigning others. Second: the genre of buildingsroman/war stories also have better books. From Crane's 'The Red Badge of Courage' and Howard Fast's 'April Morning' to Robert Graves 'Goodbye to All of That' and Remarques' 'All Quiet on the Western Front'-- there are more books with more compelling story lines that historically will carry the day. Does this book have its place: certainly. Is it a classic work of the English language-- perhaps not. Third: The imagery in this book is not what it is cracked up to be. Is Knowles Hemingway? Nope. Is he Rilke? Nope. What is he? And the answer is-- like Somerset Maughm, who I adore-- a decent storyteller in the first rank of the second-rate. And that is not a bad place to be. I read this book in one sitting. In some ways, it is a tremendous effort, but it is not, obviously, an 'adult' book. I liked it a lot: I just cannot recommend it as I would some of the above texts. I would recommend that if you have read them, or see a copy somewhere, to read it. However, I doubt that it is a story worth reading until your bookshelves are thin of treatises with greater substance.....
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Summary: If you like Huck Finn, you'll love the character of Phinny
Review: This is a very well-written novel. I found myself feeling all the joy and fun and guilt that the main character, Gene, felt.
This was one novel I couldn't put down. I'd like to read more by J. Knowles.
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Summary: A Seperate Peace Really Pulls Through
Review: A Seperate Peace by John Knowles is a spellbinding book that captivates the readers attention with an surprisingly evil story line that builds throughout the plot. The main characters, Finny and Gene are best friends and seniors at the Devon School for boys. Finny is an egotistical atheletic young man who is good at every sport ever invited, and Gene is a quiet shy boy who seems very bland and plain. Together they make an interesting blend. When an accident shatters through the glass of their world, things begin to change. This book held my attention throughout the plot, although the beginning was a little slow, starting with a reflection from Gene. I liked how the book was so realistic, showing the interaction between boys around my age group. It was also interesting to learn how life was during WWII, the time period in which this book is set. I didnt like the abrupt ending of the book, and I feel that it could have been done more skillfully, to reflect upon the rest of the book, which was very good. Overall, this is a good read. Go out and buy this book if you like stories with evil twists and excitement, and enjoy observing interactions between friends, and even enemies.
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