A Separate Peace
by John Knowles
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avg 3.63
recommends it for:
everyone
A separate Peace
The novel A Separate Peace written by John Knowles is a story about friendship, loyalty, and honor. This novel tells the story of a brave, popular boy named Phineas, and a shy, smart boy named Gene. These two kids were best of friends. Phineas was always pushing Gene to do risky stuff and to do things only Phineas would do. Gene is the kid with the head, and he is a smart intellectual boy with the good grades. One day Phineas asks Gene to do another one of his risky stunts wit...more
The novel A Separate Peace written by John Knowles is a story about friendship, loyalty, and honor. This novel tells the story of a brave, popular boy named Phineas, and a shy, smart boy named Gene. These two kids were best of friends. Phineas was always pushing Gene to do risky stuff and to do things only Phineas would do. Gene is the kid with the head, and he is a smart intellectual boy with the good grades. One day Phineas asks Gene to do another one of his risky stunts wit...more
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From the moment I flipped back the cover of A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, I could not keep myself from turning the pages until there were no more left to be turned. Knowles’ tale of two, World War II era, New England schoolboys’ friendship gone wrong after a single turbulent event is intriguing and captivating from beginning to end. Told in first person by the conflicted Gene, the story follows the life of himself and his buddy, Phineas, through their last year of true innocence and you...more
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Read in April, 2008
recommended to Juliana by:
My dad (ok, fine: lissie too)recommends it for: people who like to read
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It’s 3 in the morning and I’m on the computer after finishing A Separate Peace, by John Knowles. Let’s just say, I wasn’t prepared for it when I started reading. For up to the first half (literally) I thought it was good; I even thought it had potential to become one of my favorite books, or if not favorite, at least venerated. I’d started it this morning and within a few pages, the dictionary had been pulled out from my bookshelf, a very crowded one by now, too, and been placed in ...more
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Read in February, 2008
“A Separate Peace” by John Knowles started off to be a book that I was not entirely excited about reading. However, as I continued through it, the storyline became much more enjoyable and surprised me with things I never expected.
Narrated by Gene, the protagonist, the love-hate relationship between himself and his best friend Finny is explained in detail. Finny is very athletic and popular, and with his charm, he had the ability to manipulate anyone. Finny is also very confident and mis...more
Narrated by Gene, the protagonist, the love-hate relationship between himself and his best friend Finny is explained in detail. Finny is very athletic and popular, and with his charm, he had the ability to manipulate anyone. Finny is also very confident and mis...more
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
thoughtful folks
I'm the kind of kid who always wanted to go to boarding school and be mischevious. This book is about as close as I ever got to fulfilling that dream. It takes place at a boy's preparatory school in New England in the early 1940s. Narrated by Gene Forester, a sort of Nick Carroway type but with passion, it tells the story of Phineas, a charismatic, good-hearted athlete who turns Gene's education into the sort of memory one looks back on with longing and maybe a tear. Phineas makes up new sports,...more
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Read in October, 1993
recommends it for:
Lit-lovers, Those Coming of Age
Most people would list the Catcher In the Rye as the ultimate coming of age story, but I beg to differ. For me, my coming of age book was A Separate Peace. It was required reading - we were not given a choice on reading it. Unlike prior assigned reading books, I actually READ this one.
I wish I could remember more of it.
What I do remember was that I liked it. It's about a boy growing up at a prep school, making friendships and planning futures provided the war ends and that they aren't al...more
I wish I could remember more of it.
What I do remember was that I liked it. It's about a boy growing up at a prep school, making friendships and planning futures provided the war ends and that they aren't al...more
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recommends it for:
to readers who appreciate colorful language
This was my favorite book in high school until I read To Kill a Mockingbird. Though I like a simplistic style more than colorful language, I really appreciated Knowles' style and liked how he painted a picture.
Knowles writes about young men during a time when they were more or less stripped of their youth and forced to grow up a lot faster than high school kids have to today.
Not only were Gene and Phineas, two high school students, faced with the daunting task of fitting into a prep sch...more
Knowles writes about young men during a time when they were more or less stripped of their youth and forced to grow up a lot faster than high school kids have to today.
Not only were Gene and Phineas, two high school students, faced with the daunting task of fitting into a prep sch...more
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this book devastated me.
i read it in high school, like most people. it was the year with all the "classics" that everyone has read at some point in schooling, all depicting young adults in various stages of angst or 19th century high drama or epic poems. whatever.
but this book gave me such a strong physical reaction - i sobbed and felt ill through so much of this story. i think i related too much with the characters for my own good, and the psychological slap-around of the evi...more
i read it in high school, like most people. it was the year with all the "classics" that everyone has read at some point in schooling, all depicting young adults in various stages of angst or 19th century high drama or epic poems. whatever.
but this book gave me such a strong physical reaction - i sobbed and felt ill through so much of this story. i think i related too much with the characters for my own good, and the psychological slap-around of the evi...more
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Read in January, 2006
I've known about this book for such a long time. I remember when I was a sophomore in high school, or maybe a junior, the other English classes read it. Everyone said it was pretty good - but all I ever knew about it, was that it was about teenage boys during WWII. So, I never had any desire to read it. Book club to the rescue, yet again.
I loved it - and it broke my heart. The book is not half so much about war, necessarily, as I had thought it would be. Really, it is the story of two boys a...more
I loved it - and it broke my heart. The book is not half so much about war, necessarily, as I had thought it would be. Really, it is the story of two boys a...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
Everyone
A Separate Peace is hands down one of my all-time favorite books. Granted, I was "forced" to read it for school, but I absolutely fell in love with it.
John Knowles was a masterful author. His writing allows you to feel all of Gene's musings and reflections and presents a striking picture of the growing-up process.
The plot is simple, but it has to be in order for Gene's thoughts to take center stage, as they should. I enjoyed the development and found myself wanting to see wh...more
John Knowles was a masterful author. His writing allows you to feel all of Gene's musings and reflections and presents a striking picture of the growing-up process.
The plot is simple, but it has to be in order for Gene's thoughts to take center stage, as they should. I enjoyed the development and found myself wanting to see wh...more
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Read in September, 2008
It took me awhile to finish this book, not because it was long (it was about 200 pages) but because I couldn't get into it. From reading the blurb, I expected something completely different from the book. I guess I misunderstood what it was about, but I was really disappointed.
It takes place at a boys' boarding school in New England during the early years of WWII. Gene, the protagonist (or antagonist, depending on how you look at it) is a lonely intellectual whereas his best friend Phin...more
It takes place at a boys' boarding school in New England during the early years of WWII. Gene, the protagonist (or antagonist, depending on how you look at it) is a lonely intellectual whereas his best friend Phin...more
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I remember viscerally hating this - I found it incredibly boring and I don't think anything really happened except a whole bunch of wank about being a moron and running and a paragraph lovingly describing a side character's butt. I don't even know.
Furthermore, it was for eighth-grade English. My teacher gave us a quiz on some random detail-bits, and I remembered little things like how many years had passed between Point A and Point Boring, and that somehow meant that I wasn't actually...more
Furthermore, it was for eighth-grade English. My teacher gave us a quiz on some random detail-bits, and I remembered little things like how many years had passed between Point A and Point Boring, and that somehow meant that I wasn't actually...more
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I LOATHED this book. I was required to read this piece of crap when I was a sophomore at Carmel High.
When you are in high school, you are required to read many books as part of a required reading list. Often times, you groan when you pick up something that looks like it will be a chore to read, but in the end the book will have a semblance of value. Many books will entertain you or at least you can say you learned something new. I didnt enjoy reading the "The Scarlet Letter" or ...more
When you are in high school, you are required to read many books as part of a required reading list. Often times, you groan when you pick up something that looks like it will be a chore to read, but in the end the book will have a semblance of value. Many books will entertain you or at least you can say you learned something new. I didnt enjoy reading the "The Scarlet Letter" or ...more
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Read in July, 2008
I had read this book in high school, but I decided to read it again after I picked up a copy at a garage sale for 50¢. I found that I enjoyed it much more, now that I am older and able to look back on my own high school years much as the narrator does in this book.
For such a short book, A Separate Peace packs in a lot of subtle meaning. The questions of identity seemed to me the dominant theme through the book: Gene (the narrator) and Finny are best friends, but increasingly rely o...more
For such a short book, A Separate Peace packs in a lot of subtle meaning. The questions of identity seemed to me the dominant theme through the book: Gene (the narrator) and Finny are best friends, but increasingly rely o...more
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Read in January, 1966
recommended to erik by:
Harriet Nadenrecommends it for: I don't know
This is a very well-meaning, well-written and serious novel about growing up. In high school English we were assigned the task of reading either Catcher in the Rye or A Separate Peace. Having heard of the latter, a popular novel, I selected the former, knowing nothing at all about it or its author. My motives were twofold. First, I had a strong tendency in adolescence to avoid what others were attracted to. This stupid obstinancy caused me to miss out on reading such popular authors as Vonn...more
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
people who enjoy reading
Book Review: A Separate Peace
By Logan Loring
The book A Separate Peace by John Knowles, isn’t a book that I think is worth reading.
Throughout the many parts of the book there aren’t many scenes that are exciting or jump out at you. If there are any exciting scenes, then there are very few of them. If you’re thinking about reading a book with the school story genre then A Separate Peace isn’t the book you should choose. In this book there are some new scenes every now and then, ...more
By Logan Loring
The book A Separate Peace by John Knowles, isn’t a book that I think is worth reading.
Throughout the many parts of the book there aren’t many scenes that are exciting or jump out at you. If there are any exciting scenes, then there are very few of them. If you’re thinking about reading a book with the school story genre then A Separate Peace isn’t the book you should choose. In this book there are some new scenes every now and then, ...more
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Read in July, 2007
recommends it for:
all
Through this book I was granted an opportunity to enter the Devon school during WWII. In there I “met” Gene and Phineas (Finny). Although, I usually don’t play favorites especially when it comes to characters in a book, I know that I would never be able to forget Finny. His ability to live beyond hate and fear, only wanting to see the innate goodness of mankind goes beyond my ability. At times, I do believe that man has good intentions, but I cannot help but gloss over the mess he has made...more
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Read in August, 2008
One of the community challenges on the LiveJournal 50 Book Challenge community last month was to read a book that one was assigned in highschool and disliked, and discover whether it was still as unlikeable.
A Separate Peace was one of those books I clearly remembered actually throwing across the room when I finished it, but there were also images and incidents from the novel that had stuck with me ever since. It seemed like a good candidate for re-reading.
I'm glad I did. There r...more
A Separate Peace was one of those books I clearly remembered actually throwing across the room when I finished it, but there were also images and incidents from the novel that had stuck with me ever since. It seemed like a good candidate for re-reading.
I'm glad I did. There r...more
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Read in April, 2002
This book had a profound and lasting impact of me. It is a short, exquisitely crafted story narrated by a talented but unconspicuous boy who is jealous of his best friend, Phineas--who is athletic, beautiful, and kind. Phineas stands tall as the prodigy of American prep adolescence. He is simple; he is likeable; he has panache; and he is virtuous. His greatest crime to the narrator, though, is his love. For though the narrator is jealous and resentful that of his authentic golden-boy friend, he ...more