Slim volume, but very worth having if you are interested in the industrial landscape of Northern Ontario in the 1930's - 1950's.

John Knowles' A Separate Peace is a great book about trust, betrayal, friendship, and finding your true identity. The book, set in 1942, at the beginning of WW2 for America, shows a great deal about trust and friendship at that time. Through out the book we see the actions of two friends and how one trust the other in such a great way that he forgives the other for literally ruining his life ( Finny forgiving Gene for making him fall from the tree ). It really shows the bond that friendship meant back in the early forties. Also there is a lot of betrayal and distrust in the story. For example Gene starts to get it in his head that Finny and him are in this competition and it drives him so far into anger that he hurts the person who really cared and trusted him. This shows how the human heart is naturally distrustful, and shows how much humans read on into something farther then needed. This book is a very provocative example of the stages that people go through to get to who they truly are, their true identity.

I read A Separate Peace when I was in eigth grade. It touched me then, and now -- nearly twenty years later -- it is still one of my annual reads. The characters of Gene and Phineas are so well-developed that you feel you know these two boys and the special relationship they share. Despite the terrible thing Gene does to Finny, it is virtually impossible to dislike Gene, just as it is impossible to dislike Finny. If you're looking for cars exploding, guns blazing, and curse words every other page, the book is not for you. However, if you're trying to take a realistic peek into the workings of the adolescent male mind in 1942, then you would not want to miss this book. It is truly tragic, and I recall twenty years ago that when I read the words, "Your friend is dead" from the novel, I had to put it down and did not read the last few pages for nearly two weeks. It's a sensitive subject addressed in a sensitive manner.

This book is an absolute work of art. I'm 16 and had to read this book for my english class and loved every minute of it! I spent hours reading at a time. If you want to read the most incredable book ever written, this is the one for you. A Seperate Peace is a more complex novel than it first appears. It makes for good reading taken simply as a story about two boy growing up; but the novel, if read by an attentive, critical, active reader, says much more about life than human condition. I have seen people rate this book very low, obviously they did not pay any attention to what they were reading, and if they had actually sat down and read the book, and try to understand it, they probably would of gotten way much more out of it. Please, if you are going to read this book take note of everything that is happening in the novel, and I can garantee you that you will not be sorry. Personally when something tragic would happen in the story, I felt like throwing that book accross the room because of the fact I was so p.o. But that is what made the book so good, it kept me reading, and eaven though to be honest I don't like to read, this book just kept me reading, and I WANTED to read!!!!

When I buy a book from online, I trust one star more than five stars. Because that realy save my money.

The is the first book I have read with REAL marketing insightsinstead of some fluff written by a consultant. I highly recommend this book...

I am an Internet executive who has read most books on Internet marketing. I can honestly say this was the best book on Internet marketing I have read to date. The interview format solicits true insider advice, and is extremely useful and practical. I was especially impressed by John Herr's chapter (VP of Buy.com). Great book!

A Separate Peace is a novel by John Knowles about one man's fight to strengthen his character throughout his high school days. This story takes place at the Devon school, a prep school in New Hampshire during World War Two. This well - written book shows many great struggles in a relationship between two people. This is a good book in my point of view especially since I attend prep school and can relate to some of the same struggles as the main characters Phineas and Gene. Gene explains to his friend in the hospital after Finny has fallen from a tree and has broken his leg, " I jounced the limb. I caused it." "I deliberately jounced the limb so you would fall off." From this moment, this book becomes a battle of truth and conscience. A Separate Peace is a book worth reading for all ages. Any person could relate to Gene and Finny's common struggle between two friends.

This summer i was assigned to read A Separate Peace for outside reading. I have very busy summers and I don't like to read that much. I thought I would just bore my way through this book like I've always done before with other summer reading books. As I started this book though, I got more and more into it and really started to enjoy it. The main character of this book is Gene Forrester. He is telling us the story in his point of view which is first person. He has gone back to the school, Devon, after fifteen years to try to put what happened there behind him so he could go on with his life. Gene shows us that there is evil lurking every where because we see the potential of evil in the human heart through him. Finny is another very important character. Gene and him are best friends though two very different people. Finny has trouble in school but is excellent on any playing field and is almost too perfect. While we see evil and jealousy through Gene, all we see is honesty, innocense, and loyalty from Finny. The story takes place in the school Devon. Devon is an example of a small microcosm, which is a small world contained in itself. The war is going on outside the school while there is a small war going on under the surface at Devon. Gene is jealous of Finny and thinks Finny feels the same way but he finds out that he doesn't and that Finny is too good to be jealous. There is a tree which they jump from. This tree symbolizes the tree of knowledge and Gene's loss of innocense. As Gene and Finny were on the tree about to make the first double jump, Gene made Finny lose his balance and fall to the ground crushing his leg. Finny falls physically while Gene falls mentally and spiritually. Finny will never be able to play sports again or go to the war and he doesn't know that Gene caused the accident. Gene and Finny are still very good friends but there are many things throughout the story that foreshadows a trial that brings out the truth. Brinker sets up the trial and the truth wouldn't have come out except for Leper. Leper was a shy guy that kept mainly to himself. He had to gone to the war and became crazy. Leper was the only one that had seen Gene make Finny fall from the tree. When Leper was testifying Finny ran out of the room and fell down the stairs breaking his leg again. As Finny was in surgery, a piece of bone marrow got into his blood stream and stopped his heart which killed him. Gene feels like it is his funeral when he attends Finny's because he realizes that he caused Finny's death. I thought the author did a very good job writing this book. He shows us the potential of evil in the human heart and many other things. Many people can relate what has happened in this book to something that has happened to them. The author also did a very good job foreshadowing which keeps us reading and interested.

Like "Catcher in The Rye", "A Separate Peace" is very much a book about the adolescent experience, and I think part of the reason I enjoyed the book so much is my relation in age to the characters. Despite that, the book has wonderful character development. Gene and Phineas become real, to the point that I can remember small details or their idiosyncracies even though I read the book two years ago. Gene is the narrator of the book, which is set in a boys preparatory school in New England. The book has many themes, some people emphasis the theme of the war, which has presence, but this book is very much human. Maybe more about being young and envious. Or being young and dependent on close friends( young and insecure?).
I know, that I would most recommend this book to teens. There is something about reading it when you are going through it. About imagining your own friendship as that of Gene's and Finny. About your experiences (as they happen) put down in writing.

In my opinion, this was a good novel. You are a bit confused at the beginning, but you start to understand it by maybe the third chapter. Although I don't like what happened to Phineas at the end, it was an element that really gave the book reality; every book can't end with "...and they lived happily ever after." John Knowles' A SEPARATE PEACE was a moving novel that gets you thinking. I strongly recommend this book to those who are open-minded; otherwise, you probably won't enjoy the story too much.

A number of reviewers have called this book long, slow, and boring. Well that's either beacuse they must not enjoy reading too much, or because they're too young to understand the true meaning of the book. It does not have much action in it, but it's very deep, and gets you thinking. If you like a powerful, provocative, psychological novel, then this one is for you. It is for people that would enjoy reading about the incredible complexities of humanity. Great book!!

The book is essentially a reflection of a 30-something year old man trying to convalesce from two psychologically traumatic experiences that happened in his youth at a New England boarding school. Gene was not ready, in his teen aged years, for the experience of Phineas - a character more mythologiclly true than realistic. Although the excellently crafted subtlies of this novel could by pass the shallow reader, there is a wealth of youth, human, psychology for the keen eye and the sensitive soul. Understand this book, and it will change your view of friendship and war forever. How can anyone read that last paragraph: "All of them, all except Phineas, constructed at infinite cost to themselves these Maginot Lines against this enemy they thought they saw across the frontier, this enemy who never attacked that way - if he ever attacked at all; if he was indeed the enemy" and not immediately want to read the book again,... and not have her/his naivete immediately shattered.

Although this book did not have the deep impact like most of knowle's other works do, it was still entertaining. The characters, (as usual) have depth and there is the inevitable moral dilemma. If you're a knowles fan, you should order it, you'll probably like it.

A Separate Peace was difficult for me to understand because it takes a path deep in to a teenager's mind. You see the pains, successes, and problems of the main character's life.

It is fairly obvious that John Knowles tried to capture the same success of "A Separate Peace" with this novel: New England, war time conditions,adolescent boys, maturity, and school life. But "The Paragon" falls far short of "A Separate Peace." The same emotion is never quite there. Instead, I felt like I was reading the script to a Sunday night made for TV movie. The thoughts of the main character,Lou Colfax,are overstretched and unintentionally humerous. I almost felt sorry for Knowles at one point in the book. He describes a character as being a worn out writer who only had one successful work attributed to his name. I'll give you a little pity John--2 stars.

John Knowles does a good job of developing Lou Colfax' character, only to waste it with a rushed, so-so resolution of this man's troubles in the end. He does present good insights about war, life in New England, and early 20's angst. The various characters around Lou are also very interesting. It was only at the end that I felt let down.

Its a solid story that makes you want to keep reading. One problem is that it has some chronology problems. HIppy beatnicks in the wrong era. But if you want something to read, pick it up.

This cliff notes is very disappointing. To much analysis and not enough straight fact from starters. Also, as I perused it in 10th grade for my final exams, I wondered if Cliff and I had read the same book. The book is short..you're better off reading the book. At best, use it as a companion to the book.

I needed cliff notes for my report, but all they do is help...

After slogging my way through 1/3 of this story, I realized I didn't give a bean about any of the characters. Before abandoning it, I skimmed the rest to see if I was going to miss anything. I don't believe I did.

It's hard to believe that the person who wrote "A Separate Peace" wrote this dreadful thing.