About a month ago, I bumped into my cousin at the library.  We got to talking and I confessed that I needed something good to read but I seemed to be picking similar books.  After spending a good twenty minutes rifling through bookshelf after bookshelf, we finally decided on A Separate Peace by John Knowles.

Even though they are the best of friends, Gene and Phineas are vastly different.  Gene is introverted and an intellectual, and Phineas is an exuberant athlete.  Nestled in a New England boarding school, they spend the summer playing games, having adventures, and breaking the rules, all the while World War II looms far off.  But when one of them gets in a terrible accident and several of their friends enlist, the war becomes much more real and hits too close to home.

John Knowles tells a story of innocence lost and the friendship of two boys and how it’s tested.  The characters were wonderful and frustratingly human. and the line between truth and lies becomes increasingly blurred.  All in all, A Separate Peace was a quick, painful read, and I rate it four out of five stars.