Rating: 
Summary: boring book
Review: this book is really boring but if you like analyzing stuff and enjoy reading about competition between boys i would recommend it
Rating: 
Summary: i dont think it even deserves one star.
Review: I read this book this past school year in my Honors English class. My teacher was a fan of this book, but the 25 people in my class thought it was terrible. when we discussed the book after we finished it we agreed that the book had a boring plot and no climax. all the time we were reading we were waiting for something to happen but then Hey! the book ends!without anything happening. Also in the beginning of the book the characters are not described well at all! i had to keep going back trying to find that person again and see who they were. also some characters would just disappear. i quote another reviewer: you think"stupid kid cant appreciate a classic." Well your wrong. Smart kid can recognize a classic and appreciate it when they read one. well 25 smart kids didnt appreciate A Separate Peace along with many other students out there. To any student reading this book and has grades depending on it: GET THE CIFFS NOTES! one person in my class got them and he saved us all!(thanks matt! you helped us find the relationship between the water and war!!!)
Rating: 
Summary: A Parable of Friendship in a Time of War
Review: John Knowles' A Separate Peace has been a classic for forty years and has remained in print all that time. That is a good thing as it allows new readers to discover introverted Gene and that kooky handsome, athletic Phineas and watch their friendship change as the war throws its own shadows on them. I first read this as a teenager myself and loved it. Having re-read it since then I discovered deeper meanings but the first impact was so strong and pure (much like Catcher in the Rye read in the one's early years) that it is definately a book to discover in the first pangs of adolescence. There are many ways of reading this novel but that first purely emotional one is the strongest. A great book.
Rating:
Summary: A provoking book
Review: This book's message can mean so little to some who do not understand it's underlying deep meaning, yet can be so much to those who do understand. It involves a war between jealousy, friendship, and a natural unrefined hatred. Gene's character developes into somewhat stronger, while the effects of WWII war show very evidently on others. A wonderful book for those who want to search for a deeper meaning of human emotions. I think John Knowles is a genius.
Rating: 
Summary: A Separate Peace is a good book, but without much of a point
Review: A Separate Peace is a good story of being a teenager, but I do not feel it has a point. If you are looking for a "moral of the story" in this book, you will be left disappointed. It is still an excellent book though.
Rating:
Summary: Should be mandatory reading for all young tragic heros.
Review: This book in a word is superb. There are a lot fo cliche-ish things I could say about it, but over all, it is a modern classic. I won't tell you about it, but I will say that this should be mandatory reading for all teens who feels like they are trying hard to do everything right, and can't always remember why. Knowles beautifully takes a very rare sampling of people (wealthy, white, world war II era boys attending a prep school) and manages to pluck out the lessons that transcend class, race and gender. People who find refuge in stability, people who feel flawed in spite of themselves, or people (particularly youth) who feel the world is just a little to big and complicated to deal with will read this book like a diary. I certainly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Tragically Disappointing
Review: This cliff notes is very disappointing. To much analysis and not enough straight fact from starters. Also, as I perused it in 10th grade for my final exams, I wondered if Cliff and I had read the same book. The book is short..you're better off reading the book. At best, use it as a companion to the book.
Rating:
Summary: A mediocre coming-of-age fictional book
Review: I first read this book in eighth grade, and although I am now much older I thought my perspective would change having to read the book again, but instead I have found that indeed it hasn't. It is supposed to be a coming-of-age book, but it seems that the boy, Jean, doesn't really grow up at all. He is immature and insecure to begin with, and he is immature, insecure, and a bit psycotic at the end. I've been jealous of some of my friends before, because they may be more athletic, better-looking, smarter, get more attention. It is normal to have these feelings at any age. But they are still my friends, and I treat them not only with respect but I stand by them. Even if they weren't my friends or even if I hated the person, I certainly wouldn't let them fall out of a tree. He might be a little bit sorry for letting his best friend fall off of a tree so he could break his leg at the end, but it is very obvious that throughout the book Jean's jealousy seems to conquer his entire sense of self. In addition, I find the book to be very boring and unengaging. I don't think this is a very good book to put in a High School English class because I don't think many students could relate. People who like to read coming-of-age books I think are people who have already grown up; because that way they see how much they themselves have changed.
Rating:
Summary: More than a good read...
Review: I was looking for some light summer reading, something to enjoy in the sun, on a hammock, and with an ice cold glass of sweet tea. I wanted a book where I didn't have to think, but at the same time, I wanted a book that would help me remember. So I thought of a Separate Peace, a book I had last put down more than 15 years ago.Now that I'm three quarters of the way through this book, I am reminded that, like a Bach concerto, it's something you never really finish. Of the story, I know the ending; I can remember the sadness and struggles and hopes of Finny and Forrester as if they were my own; I can still become a part of a time when even betrayal had it's foundation in innocence; and as I come near to the end, I find myself pausing and dreaming and remembering my high-school years and friends so that I can delay the inevitable -- another fifteen year departure from this mini-masterpiece. In a Separate Peace, John Knowles has written more than a novel -- he has developed a soulful set of memories and friends from which anyone may borrow. If you like Fitzgerald; if you like Salinger; if you are capable of feeling written words as if they were sunshine, then read this book, and then read it again. You'll be happy you did.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome book!!
Review: This is a GREAT book about the hard journey towards self-discovery. The book moves at a great pace, one or two parts are somewhat slow, but other than that it is an excellent pace. I was forced to read this book in my Freshman English class, and instead of picking up the cliff notes, I decided to actually read it, and I am glad I did! The book got me motivated to read more, and I am now checking out different books by this author, and others. Definelty give it a chance, you WON'T regret it!!
|
