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3.46 AVERAGE
3.46 AVERAGE
This was a heart breaking coming of age book that magnifies adulthood not having a place for youthful innocence and the ironic twists and turns that life tends to lead us.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Oh my god that was so good. The writing was excellent, the weaving of the war with life at Devon, the relationship between Finny and Gene. I didn’t expect to feel this way about this book.
“I did not cry then or ever about Finny. I did not cry even when I stood watching him being lowered into his family’s strait-laced burial ground outside of Boston. I could not escape a feeling that this was my own funeral, and you do not cry in that case.”
“I did not cry then or ever about Finny. I did not cry even when I stood watching him being lowered into his family’s strait-laced burial ground outside of Boston. I could not escape a feeling that this was my own funeral, and you do not cry in that case.”
I've wanted to revisit this classic that I originally read on assignment in high school for a number of years. It does have some very poignant moments. The setting at a New England boarding school and the sense of restlessness and pointlessness the senior students are going through knowing they are going to be drafted into WWII as soon as they graduate is thought-provoking stuff. The messy and complicated relationship between our narrator-protagonist Gene and his best friend Phineas is really the heart of the story. Gene's mix of admiration and envy toward Phineas who seems to exist in this unaffected world of whimsy and charm is relatable to most of us self-conscious human being.
As a reader, I was struggling to see how these two main plot elements really mixed together, and the final chapter did have one of those character explanations/thesis explanations that made me go 'uh, oh!' Author John Knowles was trying to explore the failings of human nature through the various students at the Devon school, and while I can appreciate that big picture, when it came to reading... the gaps of the story were Phineas wasn't present were just kind of boring.
This is one of those books I'm sure has more layers to peal than I pealed at this time, but on a reading-please regulation, I only just "liked" this book, so three stars.
As a reader, I was struggling to see how these two main plot elements really mixed together, and the final chapter did have one of those character explanations/thesis explanations that made me go 'uh, oh!' Author John Knowles was trying to explore the failings of human nature through the various students at the Devon school, and while I can appreciate that big picture, when it came to reading... the gaps of the story were Phineas wasn't present were just kind of boring.
This is one of those books I'm sure has more layers to peal than I pealed at this time, but on a reading-please regulation, I only just "liked" this book, so three stars.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What should I have expected from a boarding school story set during the 1940s? Of course, it's going to be full of entitled rich white males. It must've been nice to have the luxury to dare each other to jump off trees while people were dying across both the Atlantic and Pacific.
I read this book about 6 years ago and I have thought about it occasionally ever since. This book never left me and I think that is deserving of 5 stars. Upon rereading it I find that I will not easily ever forget this one.
I read this book some ten years ago or so for my middle school class. I remembered reading it, but the ending was vague up until a certain point when it all came crashing into me. Reading it now, all these years later, for the second time... was more pure and painful a torture than the one I called this book when I said it was "boring and dull" for class; "pointless," "torturous," and what have you. No... this time around, I read it not remembering much of anything until I was almost at the end and it hit me so sharply that it was like a slap to the face.
This book hurts. At first it was wonderful, it made me smile, it gave off a flirty, youthful enjoyment. And then it became twisted and horrible in a demeaning, small, selfish and stupidly cruel way. But even when all that seemed to heal over-- slowly, slowly-- during the slow pacing of the parts afterwards... none of these feelings could compare to what was coming when that signal, that fatal foreshadowing moment Number Two that no one would but vaguely guess at unless they had read the book before came up-- and it hit me so full in the face it was like I'd been hit with a freight train.
And then I had to sit there and endure, and endure, until that moment when it came... and I broke down crying because it was too painful. The leading up to it, the happening, the way Phineas walked out... it broke my heart. And then it dove so sharply I had nothing left but this wrenching, horrible sorrow. --God, I'm crying again.
And you might call me a sap for it: say what you will. But this book is wonderful in the most painful of ways. I want to give it five stars because it hurts you so perfectly that it'll leave you miserable afterwards. It'll steal the breath from you like a strangling wind, and you'll be left choking on words you can't muster. It is a great book... but it's great in the most horrible of ways.
I gave it four stars alone because Gene pisses me off so badly that I can't forgive him. But I feel like, for Phineas's sake, I should give it five stars alone.
Because Phineas is what makes this book. It's him that I cry for. And it's his character that is so tragic that I know I'll cry for him no matter how many times I have to go through this again.
I don't regret reading this book again, and I definitely recommend it to anyone. I know a lot of times we groan at the books teachers give us in school, and while I may hate some parts of the duration, while the message may hurt in getting it across, while it's horrible to face-- it's still a good, good book. If only for the horror and mortification alone.
Read this one when you get a chance. Libraries and used book stores are sure to have it. Just prepare yourself-- though I don't know if you can-- because this is going to hurt.