It’s been a while since I’ve read a “classic” novel, and I am glad I read A Seperate Peace. It is a tale of two boys struggling with adolescence and a turbulent world around them, engaged in war. It explores the fall from grace of what seemed to be a perfect, loving relationship. John Knowles writes with beautiful prose. Oftentimes, I not only found myself walking the grounds of Devon, but I also felt the peaceful stillness in the air, the light fading peacefully over the trees, the exhilaration of being young, and careless, and free. Knowles had great varying, flowing sentence structure. The moment Finny died, I knew that was the way it had to happen. His very substance was so powerful and explosive that his life could only suddenly end.

Overall, this was a pleasant read. Knowles writes in a way that left me feeling exactly as the Devon boys did: in a tranquil world, with danger and evil in the air.