A Separate Peace [B1768]

2003 PB reprint of the 1959 classic YA coming of age novel, in excellent condition. Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read. An American classic and great bestseller for over thirty years, A Separate Peace is timeless in its description of adolescence during a period when the entire country was losing its innocence to World War II. Set at a boys' boarding school in New England during the early years of World War II, A Separate Peace is a harrowing and luminous parable of the dark side of adolescence. Gene is a lonely, introverted intellectual. Phineas is a handsome, taunting, daredevil athlete. What happens between the two friends one summer, like the war itself, banishes the innocence of these boys and their world.

From the many recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "A homoerotic friendship/'rivalry' between two boys in a new Hampshire school, set during ww2? count me in. Its been a long time since I've devoured a book this quickly, and my only complaint is wishing it was longer."; "Loved this in high school. Wanted to see if it held up for me more than a decade later . . . and it does. At least for me. Knowles' prose and Gene's internal struggle still pull me along."; "Can seemingly instant, simple decisions determine our lives? Questions to think about especially now in a world that leans towards the irrational."; "It was a good book. Sad, dreary, but good. Gives you a new perspective on WWII and how it affected those living at the time."