An American classic and great bestseller for over thirty years, A Separate Peace is timeless in its description of adolescence during a period when the entire country was losing its innocence to World War II. Set at a boys’ boarding school in New England during the early years of World War II, A Separate Peace is a harrowing and luminous parable of the dark side of adolescence. Gene is a lonely, … adolescence. Gene is a lonely, introverted intellectual. Phineas is a handsome, taunting, daredevil athlete. What happens between the two friends one summer, like the war itself, banishes the innocence of these boys and their world.more
A Separate Peace
By johnknowles
Although it’s often taught as a novel for adolescent readers, I didn’t discover this fine work until I was in my early twenties, and I loved it. It’s a tale of rivalry, real or imagined, between two friends. Like so many young men, I grew up being told that competition, athletic or otherwise, was a good thing because it made you strong. I competed …
Ingenious, beautiful, artistic. A story of two best friends and teenage boys in a New England boarding school and the event that in a split second ended their innocence and determined the course of their lives in the early years of World War II. You just have to love this book. A timeless classic.
I found this book very enjoyable despite being assigned to read it in 10th grade. The characters and the events were far more interesting than I thought they would be.
I read this book when I was in high school and then again when I was older and always think of it fondly. It was a book I didn’t expect much of and then enjoyed it tremendously. Fantastic character building and wonderful exploration of the complexities of relationships. I hope to read it again someday.
I have read the book. I have also watched the movie. I have read it several times.
very relaxing read for me.
Devastatingly sad work of art.
Very good.
You know those tables at the bookstore that hold the “classics?” I found this one at such a place. Although it is a stable of high school required reading, it must have slipped through my schedule all those years ago. It takes place in a northeast boarding school during the opening years of World War II. This backdrop lends a somber overture to …
3 of 5 stars to A Separate Peace, a novel written in 1959 by John Knowles. I suspect if I were to re-read this “classic” again now, it has a chance of getting a higher rating; however, I’m not in a rush to prove the theory. I have a few good memories of the story, some a bit “blah,” but overall… it was a decent book. When I read The Secret …