Although I would not regard this book as the best I have ever read, it would certainly not fall into the category of a time waster. The book revolved around Gene Forrester but more of his actions and events rather than his actual feelings. It was left up to the reader to determine the emotions of Gene and his true internal battle, torn between his love yet jealousy and hate of Finny. I appreciate Knowles’s descriptive imagery to effectively portray the beauty of the Devon School setting, but sometimes it did become a bit monotonous. I did enjoy Knowles’s extensive use of dialogue to successfully convey the unique personality of each individual character.
The overall plot was not as captivating as I would have liked. I felt almost as if this book was lacking action; it required reading between the lines to see the deeper conflict of an interior struggle and the effects war has on the individual. I particularly enjoyed the character of Finny and his innate ease in sports and social situations, his confidence, and his humbleness, but he was not the stereotypical character in that he was not good at everything—he had a weakness in schoolwork, which made him more realistic and relatable. It was deeply upsetting to me that Finny suffered from Gene’s jealousy through a broken leg and eventually, his death. Gene, the best friend he could ever ask for (so he thought) betrayed him. However, Gene did prove to be an interesting character to examine in that he was flawed, a victim of infinite envy and feelings of inferiority. It was this conflict which I found interesting in the novel. Overall, this book was worth reading for its attractive conflicts and characters and artful use of language, but worth a second read? I think not.
Yes, I would have to agree that this novel is not the best novel I have read. I found the author's detailed descriptions of the boys' school and other seemingly unimportant topics to be a bit tedious; however, A Separate Peace interested me more as I began pondering the author's message and his purpose for writing this novel. It was interesting how Knowles utilized a somewhat unimportant topic (Gene falling out of tree) to illustrate a bigger message about society. Similar to what you said, I was able to relate easily to almost every character in the novel. Finny was my favorite character as well, for although he was seemingly perfect, he had flaws, and it was interesting how the author did not describe these flaws until the end of the novel. I will have to disagree with you in that I do believe I would read this novel again. Now that I understand the story, it would be interesting to reread A Separate Peace and detect any foreshadowing the author employs or to further investigate the author's purpose in writing his novel.
ReplyDeleteYour review is very insightful. I agree with both of you that this novel is definitely not one of the best ones I have read. Although the figurative language that was employed added texture to the writing, it seemed to be a bit overdone and slightly monotonous. Since the plot invloved a great amount of "reading between the lines" I did not thoroughly enjoy the it. As Kiki explained, it seemed to lack action and at times the story became lackluster.
ReplyDeleteI also favored Finny over Gene and felt that it was unnecessary for him to suffer because of Gene's selfconscienc and envious character.
I also doubt that i will pick up this novel again. Although Knowles writes beautifully, the novel failed to keep my attention.
I hadn't noticed the novel's focus of Gene's actions over his feelings, but having read your explanation, it makes perfect sense. It was Gene's actions that ruined Finny's life, and Knowles' diction and style show how Gene's feelings lead up to this climactic moment.
ReplyDeleteI certainly agree with you opinion that the book required a lot of reading "between the lines" in order to be able to fully understand the nature of the conflict within the characters. Well done analysis.