A Separate Peace

Rating:
Summary: One to many stars.
Review: This book is the only book I have ever read that is actually dumber than a TV sit-com. I've read short stories that had a more intricate plot. Characters in Saturday morning cartoons have more depth. Intense, only for people get scared watching Disney movies. Symbolism are sure there is any? If you want symbolism read The Old Man and the Sea or The Pearl. While I was reading this I saw a Simpsons episode where Lisa Simpson says this book is at preschool reading level. A preschooler though might find it a bit below their intellectual level.

Rating:
Summary: Intense! Tell me more! The frightening this is that I relate
Review: This book captures you and draws you into the plot while it thickens. As you find the secrets behind each closet door, your faced with the desire to tell someone, anyone, what will happen next. Any bad reviews on this book generally come from high school students who are upset with the general reading assignment. After they grow up, I can ensure that they will look back, and pick up this book to read over again. I know I did!!! And I haven't regreted it in the least.

Rating:
Summary: Great to show awesome sybolism and darkness of youth
Review: I read the book, "A Separate Peace", by John Knowles and it was pretty good. It involves two main boys going through high school during World War II. One of the boys, Phineas, is superior at everything that involves sports. The other main character is Gene Forrester. He is great at school but just okay in sports. These boys are roomed together in their prepatory school named Devon and they are best friends. Gene starts thinking Phineas, also known as Finny, is trying to hold back him from doing so well at school so Finny can be the best at everything. So Gene starts this hate for Finny and ends up creating this horrible accident that ruins Finny's life forever. In then end it shows that Finny never would have even dreamt of ruining Gene's life or try to decieve Gene. He will always be innocent. It shows that there is always some darkness lurking in the back of Gene's mind but never once has this darkness entered Finny's mind. Gene trys to go and tell Phineas the truth that he created the accident but Finny won't listen to him he can't believe that a person could ever do this to him. Another character in the book is Leper Lelliper that likes to find these great things in life but makes sure he takes his time and doesn't rush it. He decides to go look at a beaver dam then go and help the WWII soldiers out by shoveling snow from the tracks. The most amazing thing that Mr.Knowles did in this book was the sybolism of a tree and Finny. He says that the school, Devon, is like the Garden of Eden and the tree the boys jump out of for fun is like the Tree of Knowledge. (You should be thinking of the Bibles story of Original Sin with Adam and Eve.) And when Finny falls from the tree it is like mankind falling from innocences. And the mans fall from innocence is saved by one innocent life. WOW! I think this man is awesome for creating this sybolism so beautifully but he doesn't force it on you he makes you think. I would give this book to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: The first 50 pages of this book set up what could have been a great story. Gene admired Finny--almost to the point of worshiping him. Over the summer session at school, though, he realized that Finny felt threatened by him. Although Finny was the gifted sportsman, he knew that Gene also had athletic talent. And he knew that Gene was the superior intellect. Finny knew that Gene was "one better" than him. This set up a conflict that I expected to build to explosion over the summer. Instead, an innocent prank turned the course of the story and it was difficult to tell where the author was going. Clearly Gene was responsible for the accident, and because he didn't confess, I expected the new course to follow the tension that was bound to build until he was exposed. Instead, the story was more a chronicle of the school year--friendships formed, subjects studied, and plans for military enlistment.

Rating:
Summary: Just a Bit Too Much
Review: Alright, I read this novel for a sophomore english class and when I finished I didn't think too much of the symbolism but like every english teacher we analized this novel to no end. We discussed every symbolism possible from the two rivers( tigris and euphratees or however it is spelled) to the tree being the tree of temptation like the tree in the bible which tempted adam and eve, here it tempted gene to hurt finny. There was also too much foreshadowing, I didn't even get a fourth of the way through and I knew finny was going to die falling, from the tree or something. As I read some other reviews I noticed people saying finny and gene were homosexual, what's up with that???? The one thing that I didn't understand is the lack of discusion on girls, this is an ALL BOYS SCHOOL and you mean to tell me they never talked about girls? I would think that's all they would talk about.

Rating:
Summary: This book wasn't a real winner in my opinion
Review: I didn't really like the book. I had to read it for my sophomore advanced english class also, and maybe it was the way we analyzed EVERYTHING, but I dreaded having to read it. I think that the 2 rivers should have just been 2 rivers... meaning I don't think there should have been symbolism in every little detail and you shouldn't have had to read everything 3 or 4 times to get the entire meaning that Knowles was going for. I just didn't like it. Sorry if you disagree.

Rating:
Summary: Caught my attention!
Review: I am not the one to pick up a book and read but I had to for my english class and from then on I could not stop. It was a great book exspeacially if it caught my attention.

Rating:
Summary: Good,Bad and Ugly in one
Review: Though the book had interesting ideas about friendship, I found some of them to offcenter. Some things in the book that are incredibly unimportant are spent a long time on, while others (take for instance Finny's death, or the fall from the tree) last only a paragraph or two. This seems very disproportionate. I also found the book to be mildly depressing, and since I hate depression and believe it should be removed from everyones life, I did not especially like this book. It does, however, teach some life lessons, and this is a redeming factor. Much of this book is emotions, and symbolism, which can be difficult for some readers to stay focused with. All in all, this can be a very interesting book for some people, for others, it can be something to do when those bouts of insomnia hit. Which one of those you become depends on your character and attitude when reading this book.

Rating:
Summary: Don't do what I did
Review: I had to read A Seperate Peace for english and starting off, I could tell that it wasn't going to be the most exciting book I had ever read. I, stupidly, decided to split the book and have my english bud read the first half and I read the second half...to save time. Well, we did and at the end, I had wished I would have just read the whole thing. I went back, on my own time, and re-read it. This was odd, because I rarely pick up a book on my own and I have a bad case of senioritus (here, that means that you miss more days in class than you actually go.) It was a phenomial book. I think people that don't agree with me didn't see the hidden symbolism in it. I had a wonderful english teacher that did a great job at explaining it. John Knowles is an excellent writer and I have alot of respect for the story. I would reccomend it to anyone, even a high school senior.

Rating:
Summary: Boring.
Review: This is a great book to read - if you are having trouble sleeping