“A Separate Peace” is a Coming of Age story with 236 pages and was published by Harvill Secker. Written by John Knowles, this novel is about adolescence, specifically the dark side, during World War II, in the setting of a boys’ boarding school.
I believe the author’s purpose in writing this novel was to write about how the war affected children and how it impacted their lives. The book discusses the fact that humans cannot remain at peace in their relationships with others until they find inner peace for themselves. Gene and Finny used their school, Devon, as their own escape from the war. Finny had a great power over Gene and he began to realize that, which resulted in a strong rage internally. Jumping off of the tree brought them both closer,
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The novel tells a story of conformity, growth, and it truly is a coming of age story. Gene was reliving his experiences through the eyes of a younger boy. The tree as well as Finny contributed to Gene’s growth and had a great significance. I think the writing is very effective and the author did a great job with getting his point across. Telling his own story through a fiction was much better than if he were to tell the story himself in the form of an autobiography. There was never a dull moment in the novel and I consider it to be one of the best books about the World War II out there. I don’t usually read this genre of books, but I will say that I would recommend it. Overall, I think “A Separate Peace” is a pretty decent book and although it tells a painful and depressing story, it talks about life during the World War II in the perspective of a child. It is a journey of deep understanding and growing into adult hood, while having to go through some painful things in order to be an adult. This book teaches a hard lesson and isn’t necessarily for everyone, but I enjoyed it. If you like Coming-of-Age stories, “A Separate Peace” is definitely for