Product Description

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. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (791)

Great buy
Wanted this book since we recently moved to NH and live near Exeter - where the prep school is based.Good quality, as expected.Great buy.

Boring.
Overall the book was not interesting but I did see some good in it, It really does bring you back in the past but it was just not interesting. The plot was good, laid-out very well, but I felt like things were going a little bit too slow for me, there wasn't much action to it besides maybe 3 scenes. This was my summer reading book for school though. And I read many books before and this is by far one of the worst I read. I just wanted to really stop reading it, almost tear the page off. But i had to for school. This is more for older people to read. Im 16 and couldn't find anything good to read in this book. I just didn't like it.

A Good Read
This book was one of the most exciting books I've read. It starts out somewhat boring like all other books, but it gets better as the story progresses. John Knowles must be a genius!

Very pleased with it over all
I had to read this book for school, and I thought it was a good book.It was, in all, a well written novel.

4.5 Stars . . . A Muted War
Had I been subjected to this novel as a school assignment, I, like many of the younger reviewers on here, might have found it a chore to get through. The action is sparse, the conflict more psychological than physical, and the setting hard to relate to for readers in 2010. And yet, I loved it.

"A Separate Peace" follows two high school boys, at a New England private school in 1942 and '43, as they tumble through one glorious summer and then face the consequences of that summer and the ensuing darkness of winter and world war. Gene Forrester is the intelligent, brooding narrator of the story, and he draws us into the carefree and charismatic world of his best friend, Phineas. Finny, as he is known, challenges other boys to acts of courage, comes up with unannounced winter festivals, and pushes the boundaries with his somber schoolteachers. Despite his wild-child ways, Finny never seems to get in trouble. The teachers realize he means no serious harm and acts out of no real rebellion. This intrigues many of Finny's classmates, but Gene begins to suspect an ulterior motive--and once he buys into this suspicion, finds himself plotting against his own friend.

Gene's actions lead to trouble for Finny, but Gene is the one locked away in a world of guilt and deception. Soon, other schoolmates latch onto the truth, and they push for a full unveiling. In the end, the results are somewhat sudden, surprising, yet inevitable. As others prepare for recruitment into the war, Gene discovers a separate peace inside himself, the lull after he has fought his own muted war. Like the much darker "Lord of the Flies," this book explores the evil that can sprout within the human heart, even in the midst of idyllic surroundings. Jealousy, envy, suspicion, rage--they all show their hands through John Knowles' vivid and utterly believable narrative. ... Read more

Product Description
While adolescence is never easy, during wartime its difficulty is more pronounced. This story of a boy's growing up and floating between identities is filled with moral dilemma.

This concise supplement to Knowles's A Separate Peace helps students understand the overall structure of the novel, actions and motivations of the characters, and the social and cultural perspectives of the author. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

purcase review
this was a purchase i needed fast delivery on .. had a positive response on delivery.

Easy Reading
This book helped me to help my grandson answer the questions that would promote thought. The characters became alive and understandable. I would highly recommend this book to anyone reading "A Separate Peace". The condition of the book was in excellent condition.

Tragically Disappointing
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.

Okay book...
I needed cliff notes for my report, but all they do is help... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

I Can Still Hear Finny's Crutches
This is required reading for so many high-schoolers for good reason - it is one of a very few well written, complex novels dealing with important, weighty, and moral issues for teenagers. Books like this are called classics because they never lose their relevance.

A Line Runs Through the Human Heart
Walking down the aisles of a bookstore or a library and encountering a book called A Separate Peace, flipping open the cover and noting that the copyright is dated 1959, it would not be much of an intuitive leap for the reader to guess that the subject matter involved war.The reader would be right, though he or she could not possibly intuit the richly layered tale that unfolds as pages turn, one by one, between the front and the back cover.

Set in an all male and very exclusive high school academy (Devon), this boarding school drama takes place in late 1942 and early 1943.Though populated with a rich assortment of characters, the book revolves predominantly around only two, Gene and Phineas (Finny). Attending a summer session at Devon, Gene and Finny form the Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session, and the two charter members seal their friendship by leaping from a tree into a river.The tree, the origin of the cornerstone event that anchors the novel, is "tremendous, an irate steely black steeple beside the river."In this tree, while attempting the dangerous leap into deep water on two separate occasions, both Gene and Finny will lose their balance.In one instance, a steady hand shoots out to save the other friend.In the other, no hand is forthcoming, and the friend plunges downward towards an injury that will permanently alter the life course of both boys.This fall is the polar axis upon which John Knowles, author of one of the most unusual of all books written about wars, be they personal or political, allows his tale to revolve.

Only distantly related to the genre of anti-war books,A Separate Peace does not have the gritty and blasted geography of trench warfare in All Quiet on the Western Front, the brilliant cynicism and satire of Catch-22, or the surrealistic and all TOO realistic horror of Slaughterhouse-Five. Knowles' approach to human on human violence, be it two individuals in combat or millions against millions, is subtle, almost understated.After listening to two of his friends debate about the causes of WW II, Gene dissents:"Because it seems clear that wars were not made by generations and their special stupidities, but that wars were made instead by something ignorant in the human heart."Why might Gene's statement be important?Because it disallows us the convenience of separating people that fight wars into good folk and evil monsters.Alexander Solzhenitsyn chimes in here "If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them.But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"

Knowles, a winner of the Penn/Faulkner Award, was a brilliant observer of human nature.It is somewhat eerie to see the close correlation of his observations with cutting edge 21st century advances in the nature of human memory and the biological roots of aggressive human behavior (including war).Recent research has made it compellingly clear that we humans are able to freely construct memories that are more consistent with the personal narratives that we want to tell ourselves than they are with accurate depiction of past events.In the recently published Sex and War: How Biology Explains Warfare and Terrorism and Offers a Path to a Safer World, Potts and Hayden discuss the research that shows that our primate roots have left "something ignorant in the human heart", something uniquely male in nature.John Knowles, through simple observation, beat Potts and Hayden to the punch by a half century.

Several brief thoughts, if you are considering reading this book.This is a book about men, and the few women that appear are almost ghost-like.Though written more than fifty years ago, the level of craftsmanship and wordsmithing in A Separate Piece has not been surpassed in the 21st century.Although the story is engaging, connoisseurs of prose will find it much more to their liking than will aficionados of action novels. Historical fiction buffs will get a kick both from the powerfully nostalgic description of war-time America and from the fact that characters in the book are reportedly modeled on well known people, e.g. Gore Vidal(one of Knowles' classmates in real life) claims that he was the model for the Devon upperclassman Brinker.Not a page turner, but deeply evocative for those with the leisure to let the ebb and flow of Knowles' prose wash gently over them, A Separate Piece has become defined as a classic.This reader agrees wholeheartedly with that designation.

A Separate Piece of $&*%
This is the perfect book to make boys hate reading forever.I was forced to read this in 8th grade and could not read another book for over 20 years.I hated everything about this book and seeing the cover again gave me the willies.I am not a big fan of book burning but I would buy a copy of this book if there was a good old fashioned book burning.

I still hear Phineas' crutches on the stairs.
This book contains a number of surprises that keep the reader engaged. It is also narrated by a boy named Gene, who the reader gets to know inside and out. He shares his personal insecurities with the reader such that he becomes a very real person, with trials and triumphs that will make you gasp in fear or sigh with relief as the plot unfolds. The other main character, Phineas, is one of those people who appears to be successful at everything he does. Gene gets jealous of this. The reader though, is distant enough to know that Phineas is far from perfect and as I read the story I was hoping that Gene would figure that out a little sooner than he did. I give five stars to this book for the realistic portrayal of the two main characters, who continue to interact in my head long after the story has ended.

P.S. I think they've got the wrong date on this title. My copy is from 1967 and it is the eighth printing. The copyright and first printing is dated 1959.

Great story and wonderful writing
I wouldn't have heard of this book had it not been for my parents.And I probably wouldn't have read it had an illness not put me in bed for so long.But this book was a great way to spend my time.I was amazed at the complex issues in the story and how well it was written.

The best thing about this book was the feel of it.It takes place in a time period I've always dreamed about.Things were simpler, but a big event was unfolding and no one knew what the future held.The thoughts and feeling that run through Gene throughout the book are what it's all about and the author does a good job presenting the feelings to the reader. ... Read more

Product Description
Gene was a lonely, introverted intellectual. Phineas was a handsome, taunting, daredevil athlete. What happened between them at school one summer during the early years of World War II is the subject of "A Separate Peace". ... Read more

Product Description
In the uneasy peace after World War II, the senior year at Devan School for Boys in New Hampshire changes from a time of fiendships into a stunning drama of tragic betrayal. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Not even worth it if its free!
I noticed this book had not been given one star yet so I had to be the first. It is just as terrible and boring as A Separate Peace. If you did not like it you will not like this book. Peace Breaks Out and a Separate Peace should be ritualistically burned and then have their ashes put in a vault and dropped in the deepest part of the ocean or perhaps launched into the sun so no student will every have to bear the burden of being forced to read them.

The WASP Voldemort
Wexford, the aloof, manipulative newspaper editor at a postwar Devon school, is startlingly similar to young Tom Riddle, of Harry Potter fame (they are even the same age) although Mr. Wexford is definitely a more determined sociopath.

His adversary is an noisy and aggressive Nazi sympathizer, and it's hard to say which of the two of them is more repellant. Not that they're boring -- I was completely interested in them the whole time.

The book explores questions about what it's "okay" to think and express, how patriotism plays out in an atmosphere of disillusionment, how well-meaning or even brave impulses can be perverted when there's no good place to act them out.

So, it's interesting, but it's...a real come down from A Separate Peace, where the characters, no matter how awful their mistakes were, were always striving to be good people. Knowles makes it clear there's no such thing as Finny in his postwar world.

The characters were not as engaging and vivid as Knowles was capable of -- disappointing really, but only because we know he's done better.

The structure could have been better as well. You'll notice places where key plot information is given only a few paragraphs befor it becomes relevant. Some of the information could have been placed better.

Also, Knowles may or may not have crossed the line between making subtle points about social class and downright snobbery.

The dialogue is fantastic, though. The classroom scenes are the best. Of course, if you think that prep school is even slightly tiresome as a setting, you should just avoid this one.

Great novel!
I loved A Separate Peace, and I loved this follow-up just as much, if not more. It captures the true impulsive nature of young men. Set in post World War Two America, it is a story about ego and revenge. It has the same tone as Salinger's Catcher in the Rye. I loved every page of it.

Peace Breaks Out
Peace Breaks Out by John Knowles, is a novel about life after WWII. The first two chapters were about the days in the war for Pete Hallam and how hard it was after the war was over. After he gets out of the war, he goes back to school and becomes a teacher for High School American History. I liked this book because it shows how much people care for their country and others. Other people that would like this book are ones who would fight for what they believe in and people who like learning about how life was before their time, when people found it more difficult to get back on their feet. This book is about a small-town boy going to serve his country, and react to it after his job was done. I like this book because it includes something different every chapter. I recommend this book to people who like learning about history and how different point of views give you mixed feelings about the war.

Definately Not a Separate Peace
Going in, I knew this book had to be different than Separate Peace, it of course can not be a clone of it. But to be blunt, it wasn't as good as a separate peace. the plot was simple, like a separate peace, but that book had a much more emotional impact on me. i halfwished the story was about Gene and what he did after he left Devon. There were two small references to Phineas, that I enjoyed. It's a decent read and we get to visit Devon one more time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Phineas; Six Stories, waspy humor and old Prep school charm
In Phineas; Six Stories, the character Phineas, featured in Knowles other novel A Seperate Peace is again placed in the spolight at his school.This time it is in a sequence of short stories, some involving Phineas's witty charm, others displaying his coveted athletic talents. All stories are examples of Knowles's flawless style of writing. If you enjoyed the Knowles previous books, and you like a book that offers waspy comedy and old prep school charm, this is the book of short stories to read. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Very nice writing - enjoyable stories
John Knowles' "A Separate Peace" has been called 'the perfect novel'.One of the characters in the novel was the remarkable, Phineas (Finney).I started this book thinking that it was likely an expansion on Finney's life before A Separate Peace. I found the opposite -- strangely, this book is a collection of six short stories.One of them, Phineas, is a severe abridgement of A Separate Peace. MUCH is left out, including the matter of Phineas' death.

Notwithstanding, it's an excellent story.So are the other five, as you would expect from Knowles.I won't detail the sories for you, but they are typically the detailed experiences and inner thoughts of various male subjects' often boys.Subjects range from painful boyhood peer relationships, to the town peeping-tom.Knowles has a remakably keen memory for what it was like as a boy.He also has a remarkably keen insight into the human animal and its foibles.

As usual, the writing is faultless.Nice collection, well-constructed and quite readable.

Six Short Stories
A typical John Knowles writing. This book contains 6 short stories of different characters, each filled with its own events and plots. I want to note that this book is not completely about Phineas, the character in A Seperate Peace. He's in one of the six stories, alright, but it's just another brief summary of what happend in A Seperate Peace.

The table of contents:

1. A Turn with the Sun
2. Summer Street
3. The Peeping Tom
4. Martin the Fisherman
5. Phineas
6. The Reading of the Will

Here's a description of the 3 main characters involed in 3 out of the 6 short stories listed on the first page:

Phineas: "He was free, fearless, the envy of everyone-and completely unsuspecting of the one who betrayed him."
Christopher: "With his father dead and his mother sole heir to the fortune, there was only Ernie-and he had to travel 5,000 miles to find out that Ernie didn't want him either."
Lawrence: "He was neither grotesque nor courageous enough to make a mark-but for one single act he would always be remembered."

Knowles does it again
This book is basically a summary of what happens in "A spearate Peace," providing a bit more background to it. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a biography of John P. Holland, whose technological innovations led to the launching of the first modern submarine in May 1897. The work draws on diaries and papers to trace the inventor's eventful life, including frustration with the US Navy and the eventual loss of his company. ... Read more

Product Description
A lively, in-depth discussion of A SEPARATE PEACE.Students are taken on an exciting journey of discovery through every scene or chapter. Also included are unique text notes, ideas for term papers, notes on the author's life as well as a glossary. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (26)

A Separate Peace
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 WWII 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 trustthe 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 distrustin 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 somethingfarther 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.

A Separate Peace
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 trustthe 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 distrustin 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 somethingfarther 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.

A Separate Peace
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 WWII 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 trustthe 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 distrustin 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 somethingfarther 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.

A deep message
A Separate Peace is a book with a deep message for all the people about the real meaning of friendship, values and consequences of the World War II in American teenagers. It is easy to read, because Knowles places the time and settings with a particularity as he knows how to do.It is sad and dramatic story, however you learn the real meaning of FORGIVENESS with Finny and Gene friendship. We really recommend the book, but it is necessary to get time and patience for a good comprehension of the message that Knowles wants to transmit it. Give a chance and create your own opinion about the book. We give it four stars, thanks Mr. DeMaria!

a seperate peace
It was hard to get into it in the beggining. I had to start over about three times after reading five pages and not knowing what i had just read. But, it did get better and more gripping. it was an interesting story that delt with real things people could go through. Overall it was pretty good. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

3 very intersting stars for any Knowles fan
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. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Uncertain Genius Yale Sophomore Makes a Fool of Himself
This story is about Lou Colfax, a paragon of potential who squanders it by simply not knowing what he wants.Lou is shown to be extremely intelligent yet unmotivated, more interested in rabble rousing than planning ahead.

'Paragon' attempted to follow the same themes an Knowles earlier work, 'A Separate Peace,' but generally failed.As a college man, Lou is past his adolescence, and the antics he embraces lead into consequences he is not prepared for.He does not know how to take responsibility for those consequences, or have an adult relationship.He's a man-child in his world, full of curiosity and drive, but without any goals.

In short, the novel meanders and goes nowhere.Themes include drugs, the class divide between rich and poor, fatherhood, and war.I can't say 'coming of age' because Lou never really learns anything, and he is already an adult.

Overall, I didn't find much enjoyable inside this novel.Though the quality of settings and characters were high, the pacing and (especially) plotting left me disappointed.

Yale and the paragon
From the author of a Separate Peace follows a little tale of Yale, New Haven, and romance, with classic scenes including polo horses in dorm rooms. A must read for anyone who has an interest in Yale or John Knowles, but perhaps a little too light for serious novel-goers.

Middle of the Road--but worth a read.
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.

The Paragon
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.

disappointing ending
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. ... Read more

Product Description
Researching and tracing information is an essential skill that students need to master if they want to succeed both in their legal studies and in their future careers. A practical guide to effective legal research, this new edition presents the information on a step-by-step format leading students through the world of legal research from using a law library to searching online. ... Read more

Product Description
The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars.
Medical theory and practice of the 1700s developed rapidly, as is evidenced by the extensive collection, which includes descriptions of diseases, their conditions, and treatments. Books on science and technology, agriculture, military technology, natural philosophy, even cookbooks, are all contained here.
++++
The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification:
++++
British Library

T108451

In fact by Sir Charles Knowles.Half-title: 'A refutation of Capt. Crookshank's charge against Admiral Knowles.'.

London : printed for A. Millar, 1759. [4],36p. ; 8° ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Gay? Not the point
In this era of "Brokeback Mountain", when many heterosexual filmgoers are finding out to their surprise that even the most masculine of men may form unexpected emotional attachments, it's worth taking another look at "A Separate Peace" to consider whether the long-implied homoeroticism of the story is true, and whether it makes any difference.

I first read "A Separate Peace" as a sexually questioning male college student at a small isolated liberal arts school, much like the mythical "Devon". I experienced homoerotic infatuations with two Finny-like characters, both of whom became "best friends" with me and neither of whom became sexual partners (nor did anyone else until I was 38 years old). I felt a remarkable affinity with Gene and with his conflicted idolization and envy of Finny, whose Pied Piper attractiveness I could neither avoid nor imitate. I just re-read the book this weekend, shortly after turning age 50, now in a long-term monogamous relationship with another man and much "sadder but wiser" about the whole question of sexual orientation.

Here are some factors that would favor a homoerotic interpretation of "A Separate Peace": 1) as far as I can recall, there is not a single mention of teenage girls anywhere in the book. To think that a bunch of straight teenage boys imprisoned in bleak all-male dormitories in the frozen winter wouldn't even talk about girls late at night strains credibility. 2) The Devon boys never attended mixers with girl's schools, nor was there any evidence that any of them ever snuck out at night in search of sexual gratification. 3) When Gene and Finny rode their bikes to the beach and spent the night, there is no reference to the girls who surely must have been there. Gene talks only about Finny, about Finny undressing to go in the water, and about their intimate conversation just before going to sleep in the dunes. 4) Actually, the only references to women that I can remember at all are generally unflattering descriptions of professors' wives, hardly the objects of male teenage fantasies.

More important than any of these circumstantial evidences is the relationship between Gene and Finny. Based on my own similar experiences in college, I would guess that any homoerotic feelings were all on Gene's part: he knows exactly how much Finny weighs and how tall he is; he provides an almost lyrical description of the way Finny's muscles flow smoothly from his legs up to his neck; he misses no opportunity to report Finny being unclothed, from not wearing pajamas in the dorm to the final visit in the hospital, when Finny for no apparent reason is not wearhing a shirt.

Gene's terrible feelings of resentment toward Finny that caused Gene to jounce the tree limb could well have had their roots partly in repressed sexual frustration--I threw a couple of totally irrational fits toward my own objects of affection in college for that very reason.

So does it matter whether "A Separate Peace" has homoerotic overtones? Only if you think that "Brokeback Mountain" was nothing more than a "gay cowboy movie" and to heck with the fine acting and directing. The emotions that "A Separate Peace" expresses are universal and cross-cultural. That's why the book will always be a classic. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Boring
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. ... Read more