Hide this

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Peace Breaks Out by John Knowles
Loading...

Peace Breaks Out

by John Knowles

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
277637,309 (3.26)45

None.

Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

Showing 1-5 of 6 (next | show all)
John Knowles’ “A Separate Peace” is one of those seminal novels that High School and College readers find affixed to the top of their reading lists. Its lesser-known follow-up, Peace Breaks Out is every bit the worthy successor to its more famous sibling. The later novel follows the adventures of Pete Hallam, an intelligent, motivated adolescent with an already well-formed view of life and its characters. Knowles is a careful, thorough writer who knows what it takes to craft a great sentence; and Peace Breaks Out, like its predecessor, is full of them. The book was written a few years after the turbulent nineteen sixties and many viewed it at the time, as a reach for a kind of nostalgia, a portrait of “the good old days.” The novel is much more than that and its treasures are available if readers are willing to plume the nostalgia. ( )
This review has been flagged by multiple users as abuse of the terms of service and is no longer displayed (show).
  RobertPriceRifkin | Oct 26, 2011 |
After World War II, Pete Hallam returns to his alma mater, the Devon School, to teach American History and Physical Education. The story follows his reintroduction into civilian life after the war and the lives of several boys in their senior year at the Devon School, including two boys at odd with each other and most of the school, Wexford and Hochschwender.

The book was slightly less flat than A Separate Peace, perhaps, because there seemed to be a bit more depth to the characters and story but not by much. The exposition contained more details but there was overall too much exposition. I felt like I was being told what to think.

It seemed that several of the boys at the Devon School felt left out and guilty for missing war. They talking and thought about the war as some grand adventure and a way to make their marks. Pete Hallam offered the counter balance as to the realities of war. I wonder with less media available at the time and only certain people telling the stories, if the war was idealized to the youth at home in the US.

I also wonder about the purpose of Pete Hallam's ex-wife and chapter about Wexford's weekend in Boston. They seemed like out of the main story inclusions used just to make a point about the characters. ( )
  chrine | May 5, 2009 |
2645 Peace Breaks Out, by John Knowles (read 5 Sep 1994) On Mar 14, 1970, I read the author's masterful A Separate Peace. In 1981 this book was written, also about Devon, and laid in the years 1945-1946. It is not as good, but is an obvious attempt to repeat his prior success. It tells of Wexford and Hochschwender. Wexford is antagonistic and he succeeds in getting Hochswender killed. Devon is a great place for murder, or at least involuntary manslaughter. I am not sure this book was worth reading. ( )
  Schmerguls | Apr 3, 2008 |
Sequel to A Separate Peace. Pete Hallman returns to Devon to work as a history teacher and coach, and from his own experiences in World War II can detect unmitigated hatred between two members of his class. Excellent. ( )
  Elishibai | Jul 29, 2007 |
Showing 1-5 of 6 (next | show all)
no reviews | add a review
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Series (with order)
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Awards and honors
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
Quotations
Last words
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Publisher series

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (1)

Book description
Haiku summary

No descriptions found.

Pete Hallam returns to teach at Devon, a private school, after the war.

» see all 2 descriptions

Quick Links

Swap Ebooks Audio
33 avail.1 pay

Popular covers

Rating

Average: (3.26)
0.5
1
1.5
2 5
2.5 4
3 17
3.5 4
4 8
4.5
5 4

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

Help/FAQs | About | Privacy/Terms | Blog | Contact | LibraryThing.com | APIs | WikiThing | Common Knowledge | Legacy Libraries | 82,012,991 books!