A Separate Peace

Rating:
Summary: Does not capture the attention of the reader. Yet, good plot
Review: I found A Seperate Peace to be a well written novel with an excellent plot. However, Knowles fails to capture the attention of the reader. Knowles uses a lot of symbolism, but too little action. This creates an excellent novel for those with little else to read. I would prefer to read something a bit more interesting. I would recommend this novel for those who are looking for a well written novel with lots of symbolism and forshadowing.

Rating:
Summary: Discusses the conflict and it's impact on the story.
Review: John Knowles created an enjoyable novel in a Separate Peace. The novel contained two different conflicts that made it enjoyable. They were Gene vesus Finny and Academics Versus Athletics. The conflict between Gene and Finny dealt with Gene's jealousy of Finny's attributes. To me the characters Gene and Finny were developed well, which made the conflict easy to follow. Both possessed many characteristics of normal high school students. The Academiscs versus Athletics conflict interested me, since I personally live with that conflict each day. Both conflicts triggered my thuoghts about friendships and competition between friends. My opinion drifted from competition has no place between friends to competition can have a place in friendships. Overall I enjoyed A Separate Peace and recommend the novel to those who enjoy a thought provoking literary conflict.

Rating:
Summary: The book was very good and it illustrates many good points.
Review: The book, A Separate Peace, had many good points and I enjoyed it very much. It illustrated how jealousy and anger can get out of hand. It had many good symbols that were used to better define the plot of the story. The relationship between Finny and Gene made the story exciting. Gene envied Finny, but he thought Finny envied him. This made Gene do a number of things including jouncing the limb, which caused Finny to break his leg. The story and plot intrigued me, and the characters were very well defined and easy to undersand. The book caught my interest, and I liked it. I count A Separate Peace as one of the best books I have read.

Rating:
Summary: A Seperate Peace is a great novel about friendship
Review: I believe that the novel A Separate Peace, written by John Knowles represents an excellent high school reading selection. Throughout the book John Knowles' use of symbolism adds several levels of the meaning to the book. The conflict observed in the book involves a subjective, man versus man battle. Gene constantly compares himself with Phineas. It takes Phineas' death to make Gene realize that the competition with Phineas occured only in his head. Phineas, trying to enjoy his life, did not waste time competing with Gene. Gene, on the other hand, lived to compete with Phineas. This interaction of the main characters and the rich symbolization in the book made A Separate Peace a very challenging novel to comprehend. The dramatic rivalry kept my interest all the way through the book.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent example of the Day to Day Torture of the Mind
Review: "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles is an excellent example of the conflict between two coming of age boys. It also discusses the conflict inside ourselves and the difficulty of making a decision. The novel shows how jealousy can affect our everyday lives. If you're looking for alot of action, you should not be reading this. The book contains mostly Gene fighting the savage inside himself. This book requires an active reader, one who puts himself or herself into the action. The author even says this. If you enjoy books which make you think; then "A Separate Peace" is for you.

Rating:
Summary: A good book with excellent symbolism.
Review: A Seperate Peace was a fairly good written book. The author did an excellent job of making the characters dynamic. I thought the use of symbolism was very interesting. I thought it was captivating how Finny turned out to be the good guy and how Gene turned out to be the bad guy. I also thought it was interesting how Gene would always follow whatever Finny did. For example, when Finny wanted to cut class and Gene didn't, he did it anyway because it was Finny who was egging him on. I also thought the ending of A Seperate Peace was very satisfying.

Rating:
Summary: This book was to unrealistic for me!
Review: A Seperate made me think about what really happened. If you take the time to actually think you find out that Finny was never mad at Gene. I don't think there is one sane person on this world that would get pushed out of a tree and forgive the guy who did it. A Seperate Peace was just a little to unrealistic for my likings. This book is way overrated. If you are thinking about reading this book, make sure you really want to before you do it!

Rating:
Summary: A Separate Peace is a classic novel about guilt and jealousy
Review: I enjoyed A Separate Peace because it contained many symbolic images. Almost every object described in the story was created to symbolize something. Even some of the characters are symbolic. Take for example Leper, the outcast. He represents all that opposes the normal. Even his name, Leper, makes you think of an outcast. I realize that this was difficultfor Knowles and I respect him for this. Another thing I enjoyed about A Separate Peace was that all the characters have specific roles in the story. Brinker, for example, played the role of a character who wants to know the truth. He does not change throughout the novel because his role is for him to seek the truth. A Separate Peace is a unique novel about friendship, jealousy, and guilt. If you like a novel with multiple twists and turns, you will enjoy A Separate Peace.

Rating:
Summary: A Separate Peace gives wake up call to "best friends".
Review: I thought John Knowles wrote A Separate Peace very well planned out. He weaved together symbolism so intricatelyin the book;it almost jumped out at me, but at the same time, seemed so smartly placed. Even though The book does not seem to contain a substantial amount of action, the subjective action does add up. John Knowles also constructed each character in the book almost highlighting each other. the scenery plays an imperative part of the book by carrying out symbolism and highlighting all of the important scenes in the book. this book contained one of the most interesting storylines in the world of books, and I recommend that everyone reads it.

Rating:
Summary: A good Heartfelt Story
Review: John Knowles's novel, A Seperate Peace, awakens inner thought and causes the reader to to think more about himself rather than the novel. In this novel, Knowles shows the harm in what we think about ourselves and what we think about eachother. This is best shown when Pinneas's leg is broken by his long-time best friend Gene. Before Finny brakes his leg, Gene is enraged by Finny's superior athletic quality. Gene's academic superiority is not enough for him to be satisfied. After Finny's leg is broken, Gene thinks twice about all of the things he thought about Finny when he realizes that Finny forgave him for breaking his leg. I believe that Knowles created quite an interesting scenario for the two boys to overcome. Phinneas and gene's dilema is very serious and may even exist within our own lives. This book is very heartfelt and has a very serious meaning. However, it does take Phinneas a very long time to die, a part that knowles clearly stretched too far. Other than that, this book was descent and had alot of meaning and depth.