Separate Peace (New Windmill)

Probably unlike most readers of this novel, I was well past high school when I first met Phineas and Gene. 

I mention these characters first and foremost because they are what make this novel great.  Phineas shines like a beacon of humanity -- happy, well intending, light -- and stubbornly/endearingly refuses to acknowledge the existence of ugliness in the world.  And Gene seems like an average flawed teen -- jealous, introverted, academic, but relatable.  Did anyone else read this novel and think:  "I should be more like Phineas?"  

Getting into the story...I remember the first chapter begins with a fairly dull account by the book's narrator, Gene, of his visit to Devon.  Devon is the stuffy, elite boarding school where Gene and Phineas were schoolmates long ago.  He takes care to visit very specific places -- places with a certain significance the reader has yet to learn.

(An aside: It's rumored the book is autobiographical, since Knowles attended the elite Devon-esque Exeter boarding school in his youth.)

Anyways, midway through the first chapter, we're whisked into the past and the story picks up.  We meet a compelling cast of supporting characters, and, by the end, maybe (hopefully) we learn something about the nature of friendship.

After the first read, I find it interesting how much more meaningful and emotionally-charged the beginning of the first chapter becomes.  Knowles' description of the fateful tree is iconic:   

The tree was tremendous, an irate, steely black steeple beside the river.

That imagery inspired a drawing from yours truly.  Here's a link -- it's the piece titled Knowles.

I find that people have a love/hate reaction to this book.  I'm always surprised by the intense anti-Knowles fervor -- is it because this was compulsory reading in high school?  In any case, it's only 100 pages and change...go read it, then come here and sound off!

Probably unlike most readers of this novel, I was well past high school when I first met Phineas and Gene. 

I mention these characters first and foremost because they are what make this novel great.  Phineas shines like a beacon of humanity -- happy, well intending, light -- and stubbornly/endearingly refuses to acknowledge the existence of ugliness in the world.  And Gene seems like an average flawed teen -- jealous, introverted, academic, but relatable.  Did anyone else read this novel and think:  "I should be more like Phineas?"  

Getting into the story...I remember the first chapter begins with a fairly dull account by the book's narrator, Gene, of his visit to Devon.  Devon is the stuffy, elite boarding school where Gene and Phineas were schoolmates long ago.  He takes care to visit very specific places -- places with a certain significance the reader has yet to learn.

(An aside: It's rumored the book is autobiographical, since Knowles attended the elite Devon-esque Exeter boarding school in his youth.)

Anyways, midway through the first chapter, we're whisked into the past and the story picks up.  We meet a compelling cast of supporting characters, and, by the end, maybe (hopefully) we learn something about the nature of friendship.

After the first read, I find it interesting how much more meaningful and emotionally-charged the beginning of the first chapter becomes.  Knowles' description of the fateful tree is iconic:   

The tree was tremendous, an irate, steely black steeple beside the river.

That imagery inspired a drawing from yours truly.  Here's a link -- it's the piece titled Knowles.

I find that people have a love/hate reaction to this book.  I'm always surprised by the intense anti-Knowles fervor -- is it because this was compulsory reading in high school?  In any case, it's only 100 pages and change...go read it, then come here and sound off!