A Separate Peace

A Separate Peace


By: Harper Lee
Reviewed by: History Gurl, 15
Rating: It was amazing!


A Separate Peace, written by John Knowles, was a tale of young boys growing up in London during World War II. The story begins with Gene, a young boy who is dull, but very intelligent and his friend Phineas, the handsome athlete.

The majority of the story shows us the readers the path of adolescence to adulthood through the events that occur. In the Devon Boarding School for Boys, these young men find ways to pass of the time in the summer, setting of the fire for the terrible events to come. Gene finds himself asking himself the familiar questions we all ask,” Who am I? and, why am I here?”. Although Gene is intelligent, he finds himself finding the wrong answer, causing a terrible mistake to be made between him and his best friend Phineas. Throughout the story, teenage readers can compare themselves to Gene and Phineas, and understand what the main characters are going through.

The main setting is described as an “unendable war”, and can be related to today. Like today, the boys push away the fact that there is war, and even get to a point where it seems like there is no war. However, John Knowles also includes the proof that there is a war with the image of Gene’s deranged friend, Leeper.

I myself liked A Separate Peace very much, as it can be related to most teens today. I appreciated that John Knowles included a setting that can be applied nearly in every time, and in a moving way.


Recommended to: readers wanting to learn about young teens growing up in a time of war, much like today.