Oh, A Separate Peace, how do I hate thee...I haven't got all day to count the ways.

Consider this my revenge, you vile author with your putrid minions (english teachers), for foisting this sack of sentimental shit on my young brain. I hated as a kid and I still hate it now. If John Knowles isn't dead yet, we should get together an unruly mob, some pitchforks, some torches, and slay the monster.

Knowles is the ultimate misanthrope--he hates people, kids in particular, so much that he wrote this novel and bribed the people who determine what is read in school just to torment us. Is there anything as wicked? Anything so utterly evil as this? Well, yes, there is, in this world filled with suffering and injustice, but this book is pretty bad.

Well, this was a surprise. I stumbled across this book for the first time a couple of weeks ago because someone mentioned it in regards to dark academia and I simply couldn’t pass this on. I will read anything that is even remotely associated with dark academia - Donna Tartt scarred me real hard and then left me to my own devices to try and fill the void.
I'd never seen anyone talk about "A Separate Peace" before and I just don't understand why given that it's somewhat of a classic (it came out in '59). Also, it's one of the closest things to actual dark academia I've ever come across.

Granted, it lacks that element of mystery and thriller that is so prevalent in the genre nowadays, but it packs on all the other categories (which, to me, are much more important). For starters, the overall atmosphere is so on point; even though the story spans throughout a whole year, the book itself feels undeniably autumnal due to its setting. The prose is sublime, the right amount of lyrical and flowery, incredibly descriptive and suggestive - a few passages were simply breathtaking and heartbreaking. And finally, even without mysteries to unravel, the story manages to be pretty dark in its exploration of teenage relationships and the ramifications of the impending/ongoing World War II. There was literally nothing more I could've wished for.

I feel like a lot of people will be disappointed by this book, but it just worked for me. I loved it and it's quickly become one of my favourite coming-of-age/dark academia books out there.

This is a beautiful novel about the friendship of two boys and the time they spent in a boarding school. Outside there is a threatening war, inside the walls there is mostly innocence. As time goes by, feelings change and friendship is something more complex, more difficult.
And then something happens that takes away all innocence...

The book is written in a very clear prose with attention to the right word in the right place... the narrator (how reliable is he) looks back on times long ago and gives his version. I loved the contraposition of the harshness of the war and the sweetnes and innocence of school life and the changing tone in athmosphere. However, there were a few times I felt the plot or characters lacked some coherence, so I give 4 stars

Ugh. I had heard my friends from high school talk about how much they hated this book when they had to read it and thought perhaps hadn't been able to appreciate it as required reading. Turns out, it's just an awful book. Sympathy for the characters = 0. I kept turning pages against my will because a) I thought that there had to be SOMETHING redeeming about it (there's not) and b) because I was teaching it to 8th graders.

Besides the shoddy writing and boring plot/characters, the part that killed me was how Finny supposedly dies (some bone marrow from his broken leg gets into his blood stream then to his heart). This can't even HAPPEN. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.

This is the only book I had to read in high school that I hated. Usually I could find something to enjoy in all the books we read, but I hated this book. I'm not exactly sure why but to this day I get a shudder down my spine when I see a copy.

One of the most fascinating relationship dynamics I've ever read about. Very interesting indeed.

I had to read this book in 11th grade English. I hated it. I had to read it again in college. I still hated it. I don't know why everyone thinks it's so great. Please, explain the appeal to me!

In sophomore year of high school, “A Separate Peace” was on the ‘required reading’ list. Thus, it was practically guaranteed I’d either never read it, or wouldn’t read it during my four years corralled with my peers being brainwashed with the same routine gibberish. I’ve never cottoned to the concept of someone telling me what I must read; I’ve always enjoyed the discovery of a new book outside the standard fare chosen by nimrods of school boards which is shoveled down the throats of the masses. Even if what I eventually selected was one of those stories, it was still more appealing actually choosing books which I thought I would appreciate instead of being forced to read some crap which would be completely insignificant in my own humble existence. Then again, I was never particularly fond of school in general and was pretty much a failure as a student. This should explain both the large gaps in my reading of ‘substantial/classic’ literature and my general stupidity and ignorance concerning erudite matters. If a review by this brand of loser seems like a worthwhile investment of your time, feel free to continue. If you’d prefer to read the assessment of “A Separate Peace” by someone clever and possessing an understanding of the English language, I’m sure there are many more worthwhile reviews tucked away in dark, dusty corners on this site.

tSo, ignore my ridiculous reasoning behind my opting not to read “A Separate Peace” when I was demanded to. However, I was aware I’d probably get around to reading it sometime in the future, so I purloined the school’s copy for good measure to assist in this unscheduled endeavor. And guess what, I did end up reading it, and found it rather enjoyable.

tThe book is told through the narration of Gene Forrester, who has returned to Devon School many years after his graduation to confront some of his personal demons. During an engrossing canvassing of the ground of his alma mater, Gene battles inclement weather and comes to the one place he feels will be the most difficult to face after all this time, a gnarled old tree which no longer seems as towering and menacing as it did in his youth. The proportions of the tree aren’t his driving force for his coming to the site for introspection; after this brief introduction, Gene launches into his explanation of the significance of the tree and the events surrounding it that made such a lasting impression on his life.

tGene’s last years at the renowned Devon School, a posh establishment in New Hampshire, in the years leading up to American involvement in World War II, are shared with his best friend and roommate, Phinneas. On the surface, it appears that the two are perfect complements to one another, Gene has the brains and Finny has the brawn, but beneath this veneer, Gene has some major insecurities, of which Finny is completely unaware. Finny competently cannonballs through life exuding self-confidence and an unbridled enthusiasm for life, adventure, and friendship; handsome, clever (though not much of a student), and an ideal physical specimen with an admirable love-muscle. Finny is a natural leader amongst the students, and his casual acceptance of his awesomeness allows him to toe the line with the authorities as well, who can’t help but like someone who approaches everything with optimistic bombast and daredevil fervor bordering on lunacy. With the war looming near and the boys approaching the age of ‘draft-bait’, Phinneas somewhat serves as the ideal for the soldier needed in this global conflict; if they could find a way to clone his ass, the war would already be over. Hell, if they could have sent him over as a delegate to meet with Hitler, the whole thing would have been settled with a ‘blitz-ball’ game instead of worldwide catastrophe. Gene, on the other hand, is much more reserved, although in his time with Finny he’s opened up and become a Big Man on Campus, if only by association, as his academic achievements aren’t as recognized as Finny’s spectacular physical abilities. The pair truly are strange bedfellows; picture the dashing star quarterback and the chess club captain ditching class together to grab some beers and laze on the beach together.

tDuring a recently-reinstituted 'summer session' at the school, Finny decides for his entourage that they are forming a secret society, the Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session. It is during the course of their exploits that the resentment for Finny which has been innocuously festering within Gene has now blossomed. Gene starts to feel that their friendship has become a competition, and that Finny is winning the popular vote as to which is the more worthy subject. While Finny isn’t as scholarly as Gene, it’s apparent he isn’t stupid, and when their physical and mental strengths are added and averaged, Finny is still coming in on top. Additionally, Gene has to fight for every bit of recognition he can get for his accomplishments, while Finny is so adored he has to fight off laurels with a badminton racquet: Gene witnesses Finny break the school Freestyle swimming record and deny that he’d done so as not to embarrass the swim team that trains so hard only to be handily defeated by someone younger and, remarkably, untrained. This is an act that Gene can’t even imagine.

tThe initiation rite into the Suicide Society is to leap into the river from the weathered old tree mentioned in the introduction, an act which the Senior class has been doing, an act which remains unchallenged by the younger students. Nobody has the nuts to do this, except Finny of course, and in order to keep stride with his pal, Gene naturally has to follow suit. Gene almost loses his balance, which would result in a disastrous fall, but Finny comes to his rescue. When Gene realizes that this is belittling to his own prowess, that he couldn’t make the leap without the aide of Finny, instead of gratitude for helping him, he’s determined that if it wasn’t for Finny’s damn-fool ideas he wouldn’t have been in the tree to begin with.

tAs Gene inspects the dynamics of their friendship, things get worse. When Finny invents ‘blitz-ball’ (basically ‘Smear the Queer’) and it becomes a school-wide success, Gene begins questioning whether or not he didn’t tailor the game specifically to his unique strengths. Gene also begins suspecting that all these goofy activities are an attempt to derail his studies, in effect, making it so that while Finny is applauded for all his endeavors, Gene won’t even end up getting the accolades which he rightfully deserves as the school’s top student.

tGene’s suspicions and doubts eventually get the best of him; when Elwin ‘Leper’ Lepellier, the class coward, proclaims he’s prepared to jump from the tree, Gene firmly states he has no interest in abandoning his studies just to watch Leper chicken out once more. And that’s when the dam bursts. Phinneas embarrassingly apologizes, telling Gene that he didn’t know his good friend needed to study; he just assumed it came as naturally to Gene as his own physical excellence did. Gene is momentarily overwhelmed, stunned. It has now become apparent he cannot compare to Finny, as his best takes grueling study and preparation, and everything Finny does comes naturally, spontaneously, and the result is even more awesome. Despite Finny’s protests that Gene should take his studies seriously, and he’ll go watch Leper pussy-out alone, Gene insists to tag along, and when the idea for a double-jump is suggested, with Gene and Finny leaping together, the cork which has thus far contained his envy and resentment pops. Once in the tree, Gene shakes the limb which Finny is precariously poised upon, resulting in a crippling fall, the “first clumsy physical action” he’s ever seen Phinneas make. Basking in sureness that his treachery has forever swung the balance of their worthiness to his favor, Gene joyously leaps into the river alone.

tAll of this is just the first quarter of the book. The rest concerns the long recuperation Finny must undergo to mend his shattered leg and Gene’s internal turmoil over his responsibility for what he has done, and also his fear of being exposed for intentionally ruining the dreams of such a promising young man. I personally prefer the first part of the book to the rest of the story, in which Finny returns as an intentionally deluded shadow of his former self, Leper becomes the first of their class to be shipped off to the war, and Brinker Hadley becomes Gene’s new friend and rival, with Brinker possessing the ace up his sleeve of suspecting the truth behind the event at river, and Brinker isn't the kind of guy to surpress this knowledge just for Gene's peace of mind.

tI certainly wouldn’t say this is mandatory reading, but if you’re looking to check out a decent book, and somehow managed to escape reading this during your school years, I suggest you embrace Finny’s attitude and dive right in.

This novel opens 15 yrs after the events in the remainder of the book. The narrator, Gene Forester, has returned to Devon School in N.H., where he was a student during WWII. He intentionally seeks out two site, both integral elements of the story: a marble staircase in one of the academic buildings and a particular tree on a loft above a river.

The primary focus of the story o the novel involves the love-hate relationship between Gene and Finny. The former is a quiet, somewhat insecure, intellectual while the latter is a confident athletic leader among a group of boys. When Finny prods Gene to jump from a branch o the aforementioned tree into the river, Finny creates a secret society incorporating this action as an ongoing ritual. When an incident occurs involving the tree, the stage is now set for the remainder of the novel.

This coming-of-age is primarily a character study. Although the novel was well written, I found myself frequently plodding through the pages. I did enjoy the author's choice of works in sentence construction, such as, "The engine of Dr. Stampole's care roared exhaustedly." I realize that I should love this book since it is the best known of Knowles books and is frequently required reading for high schools, I'm afraid that I found myself frequently disengaged.

I struggled between 3 and 4 stars on this one.

First, not only had I never read this in school, I never heard of it or its author! Go figure! But I can't IMAGINE requiring a teenager to read and analyze this book. Even though it's a coming-of-age story, this book takes some years under your belt to "get".

I'm completely impressed with the writing. Beautiful sentences with no words wasted. Hemingwayesque in its brevity. I could picture the entire campus and surrounding fields and forests of New Hampshire. The dialogue was clever and seemed authentic.

Yet I found myself sort of disinterested in reading it, even with all this quality writing, and in addition to being a nice 200 pages. I'm starting to think I don't really care for coming-of-age stories. Also, I guess I'm going to play the gender card here, but I've always thought teenage boys were so "weird" with all their strange wrestling, fake fighting, hazing, and contests! I was getting tired of reading about their boarding school shenanigans. Girls would never even consider that stupid tree obsession. Dumb. Yet I know the author was describing something very real for boys. I have a brother, and cousins, and a husband, so I get it. But even when I look at my 6th grade boy students in my classroom I always think, what the hell? Ha!! So a bit tiresome for me.

I also couldn't relate to their friendship. That kind where you're jealous of your friend. I guess that's what it was? I don't want to say much about the pivotal scene, but I'm afraid I never understood the truth of what happened. And I think I was supposed to!

That being said, I still was amazed that the author held me in an incredible state of tension, almost from the first page. Knowles set a palpable tone of FOREBODING until the end. I didn't want to feel that way, but I was impressed that I did.

A real mixed bag for me.

1.5 Stars - Just not my thing

I don't have much to say about this book other than I was disappointed. The writing is good, but I struggled to engage with it. I couldn't relate to the characters. At face value the plot and themes can be considered universal, I just couldn't relate. A large part of that is due to the fact that I couldn't relate with the characters. I found them to be distant. I don't know if that's because of the writing or something else.

I'd recommend skipping this one.

i think this book might haunt my soul for a while.

i started reading this book while i was on a reading date with two of my close friends. they can both attest to the fact that i was not excited to start reading it, as it was a summer reading assignment that centered around a boys boarding school and world war two. within the first few pages, i was pleasantly surprised.

“wow. the two main characters are in love,” i said. “almost like a dead-poet-society, call-me-by-your-name sort of love.”

“so they’re gay?” my friends asked.

“yes.” and that made me excited. because having grown up attending a catholic school, i wasn’t used to having any sort of homosexual subtext in any sort of assignment.

i continued reading and established that gene forrester was todd anderson and phineas was neil perry. in all of these types of stories there’s a reserved, quiet, smart boy and a wild, free-spirited, lovely boy, and they’re both very jealous of each other while simultaneously being in love with each other. one of the reasons why this book was so impactful for me was because i saw myself and a few people i knew in both characters.

which leads me to the plot of this book. this book delves into the friendship of gene and finny in their boarding school, and at the same time examines the theme of homosexuality, especially during the early 40s. the reason why the book was so impactful for me was in the way that i wasn’t even entertained all the way through. in a weird, twisted way, that made it more realistic. a girl can solely read about men while relating to them and feeling moved by the story, while also acknowledging that she can’t completely relate or find it exciting.

at the end of the book, something unexpected and symbolic happens. we end with gene contemplating life as it had been, and we close thinking about how much people’s lives can be affected by jealousy and love. i stopped to think about how one simple action, motivated by infatuation or jealousy, could ruin someone’s life completely. that’s why some things are better off left alone, because there are so many things that just aren’t meant to affect you.