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jules1994 's review for:
A Separate Peace
by John Knowles, David Levithan
I understand that A Separate Peace is a rather popular read in American High Schools, which is how I heard about the book in the first place. From reading the blurb I was immediately interested, too.
I wouldn't say that I am disappointed now that I've finished it, but I feel like throughout the whole book I was waiting for something more. My actual rating would most likely be 3.5 stars, but since such a rating isn't possible with Goodreads I left it at a clean 3.
What I really loved about this book are its two main characters, Phineas and Gene. It was really interesting to see how their friendship worked, how simultaneously weird and weirdly fitting it all seemed. Phineas, for one, has real potential becoming one of my favourite characters, actually, because while the blurb on my edition calls him "a handsome, daredevil athlete" I feel like that does not do him justice in the least. There was so much more to him, his character so much profounder. He is a young boy you just have to feel envious about, in my opinion, because he has this terrible, easy way about him when handling school and people and life in general that makes it all seem so laughably simple that you just wish it really were. And then there is Gene, who next to Phineas is almost nondescript, but because of their friendship is also so much more. Gene is the first-person-narrator of the story and getting to read his thoughts and feelings, getting a description of Phineas as seen through his eyes, made me love the both of them.
Now to the part which I didn't enjoy all too much, which was that at a certain point in the story I just knew what was going to happen. I don't know if maybe that was Knowles' intention all along, to make it all rather obvious if only you read the story attentively enough, but I personally don't like knowing how a story will end halfway through. For me, it takes from the excitement and the mystery. And lastly, it was probably this that left me wanting more.
In any case, though, I would recommend the book. It's a fast read, with only 200 pages, and interesting topics and a kind of epic friendship that will leave you unsatisfied, wanting more, wanting less, wanting it all - I don't even know myself!
I wouldn't say that I am disappointed now that I've finished it, but I feel like throughout the whole book I was waiting for something more. My actual rating would most likely be 3.5 stars, but since such a rating isn't possible with Goodreads I left it at a clean 3.
What I really loved about this book are its two main characters, Phineas and Gene. It was really interesting to see how their friendship worked, how simultaneously weird and weirdly fitting it all seemed. Phineas, for one, has real potential becoming one of my favourite characters, actually, because while the blurb on my edition calls him "a handsome, daredevil athlete" I feel like that does not do him justice in the least. There was so much more to him, his character so much profounder. He is a young boy you just have to feel envious about, in my opinion, because he has this terrible, easy way about him when handling school and people and life in general that makes it all seem so laughably simple that you just wish it really were. And then there is Gene, who next to Phineas is almost nondescript, but because of their friendship is also so much more. Gene is the first-person-narrator of the story and getting to read his thoughts and feelings, getting a description of Phineas as seen through his eyes, made me love the both of them.
Now to the part which I didn't enjoy all too much, which was that at a certain point in the story I just knew what was going to happen. I don't know if maybe that was Knowles' intention all along, to make it all rather obvious if only you read the story attentively enough, but I personally don't like knowing how a story will end halfway through. For me, it takes from the excitement and the mystery. And lastly, it was probably this that left me wanting more.
In any case, though, I would recommend the book. It's a fast read, with only 200 pages, and interesting topics and a kind of epic friendship that will leave you unsatisfied, wanting more, wanting less, wanting it all - I don't even know myself!