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A Separate Peace by John Knowles
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A Separate Peace

by John Knowles

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4,84559401 (3.68)73
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Showing 1-5 of 59 (next | show all)
One of the first novels I ever read. It still brings pleasant memories. ( )
  Anagarika | Nov 3, 2009 |
I bought this book years back, after discovering that it was Jack Bangerter's favorite book. I never got around to reading it though, until just after I graduated, right before we went to Europe. My copy had water spilled all over it, and never really dried in the humidity, so as I read it, each page disintegrated and came unattached as I turned it. It's a really nice story of two school friends around WWII, Gene and Phineas, and while my recollection is slightly fuzzy about each, I would probably characterize this book as a less Jewish The Chosen. Monumental (and highly surprising) ending, also. ( )
  Stodelay | Nov 1, 2009 |
An interesting book. I might have liked it better if the prof in Adolescent Lit hadn't beat me over the head with all the symbolism. ( )
  MerryMary | Oct 29, 2009 |
A coming-of-age story set in an English boarding school at the start of WWII. Gene and Phineas, though very different, form a deep friendship that is tested one summer. The boys' actions show that the line between good and evil is perhaps not so clear-cut as we would like to believe. ( )
  mrsdwilliams | Oct 19, 2009 |
There is a lot of lovely language in this book, but I found it hard to connect with any of the characters. The whole mood of the book feels slightly overdramatic to me, and even though I understand that this was most likely an intended stylization, I got impatient with it. I'm sure that I would have enjoyed and appreciated it much more if I'd had some interest and/or connection with the characters. ( )
  melopher | Oct 13, 2009 |
Showing 1-5 of 59 (next | show all)
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Series (with order)
Canonical Title
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Awards and honors
Epigraph
Dedication
To Bea and Jim with gratitude and love
First words
I went back to Devon School not long ago, and found it looking oddly newer than when I was a student there fifteen years before.
Quotations
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original publication date1959
People/CharactersGene Forrester, Elwin "Leper" Lepellier, Brinker Hadley, Phineas
Important placesDevon School (New Hampshire, USA)
Important eventsWorld War II
Awards and honorsRadcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century (67), National Book Award finalist (Fiction, 1961), New York Times bestseller (Fiction, 1960)
DedicationTo Bea and Jim with gratitude and love
First wordsI went back to Devon School not long ago, and found it looking oddly newer than when I was a student there fifteen years before.
Last words(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
BlurbersMiller, Warren, Menen, Aubrey
Book description

Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0743253973, Paperback)

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, 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.

A bestseller for more than thirty years, A Separate Peace is John Knowles's crowning achievement and an undisputed American classic.

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:10 -0400)

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