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!
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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.
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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.
Rating:
Summary: Heartbreaking...
Review: A Separate Piece is a unique book. The only comparisons I can draw are to films like Dead Poets Society or Scent of a Woman - that whole genre set at rich boarding schools. The obvious comparison is to Catcher in the Rye, but the tone of that novel is entirely different. The thing that sets this novel off is the moral ambiguity of the narrator, Gene. At first, we sympathize with him but then he commits an unforgivable act. If we sympathize with him the rest of the book, we sympathize with his sense of guilt over doing something he cannot forgive himself for. Gene's fall from innocence is mirrored by America's fall during WWII. This is a heartbreaking novel, capturing the joys and horrors of youth that stay with you your entire life.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent novel
Review: When I first read "A Seperate Peace", I absolutely hated it. I hated everything about it. Then a few months later I picked it up again (because it was for school) and as I began to reread the novel and see the different metaphors carved into the tragic plot, I really began to truly appreciate it. If you don't like this book on the first read, go back through it later and look for deeper meanings, look into the personalities of the characters and how they conflict, look for the metaphors. This is such a wonderfully crafted novel that I can't recommend it more. While it is wonderful, it is also very depressing at times, so don't read it expecting a really happy story. Expect a perfect tragic American literary classic.
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Summary: I LOVED this book!
Review: A thoughtful, emotional book. I highlighted many parts when I was reading and still go back just to experience the flow and beauty of this book. I definitely recommend this.
Rating: 
Summary: Going against the grain here...
Review: I see all of these glowing reviews of this book, but I have to honestly say I was not impressed. I am just calling it like I see it. I thought the book seemed like a television melodrama, a frail one-note tragedy. The author's descriptions of the seasons and school campus were pleasant, but the plot left something to be desired. I believe A Separate Peace would have been more effective as a short story. Take it or leave it.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I have ever read
Review: A Separate Peace has to be one of my favorite novels by far. It is exceptionally written in an easily readable, yet poetic style. It is a novel that will stay with you long after you turn the last page.
In the novel Gene Forrester, a student at a boy's prepatory academy in New England, explores the enmity that he believes is present in everyone, except for his best friend Phineas.
The novel opens upon Gene's return to Devon, and is told through his reflections over the events that happened while he was at school there during World War II. As he reflects over events that have troubled him over the years, he begins to come to an understanding, and eventually, a peace.
Rating:
Summary: memorable after 26 years
Review: I read this book back in high school, and it remains one of the most beautiful, memorable books I have ever read. If you are reading all these reviews - please skip the one by reader Michelle - she gives away the surprise ending
Rating:
Summary: A Classic
Review: I highly recommend that everyone who reads this book take their time and savor every page. It is an eloquent, thoughtful novel that deftly explores the nature of evil as it resides in all of us. Phineas is a moving, memorable character that embodies the peace, compassion, and fulfillment all of us strive for. Unfortunately, he is almost too good, and that, in a way, kills him. Gene's self-hatred and insecurity make him an everyman (I'd say he represents each one of us), and unfortunately those characteristics inherent in us all manifest themsevles in an act of thoughtless violence that ultimately destroys Phineas. The story is a parable, warning us to guard that part of us that has a tendency towards "evil" and is set against the backdrop of War, the ultimate evil that happens when we let the less noble qualities of our character get the better of us. I found it a profound comment on the human condition and a subtle, yet effective, prodding to listen to our better instincts and live compassionate lives.
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