If you’re a routine follower of my blog and reviews, this is an atypical post that lists discussion questions for a book club. (below) Enjoy!
Title- A Separate Peace
Author- John Knowles
Rating– 3/5
Plot/Blurb-
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 the second world war.
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.
Discussion Questions:
How do you define friendship and what characteristics do you look for in a lifelong friend?
Have you ever lived or experienced a time of war and what was the experience like for you?
How does one find their true identity and is it something they grow into?
Would you want to stay young forever? Why or why not?
Do you feel that memories make a person or do you not like thinking about the past?
What is something you’ve been jealous of in the past and why?
How do you deal with fear?
What do you think are the biggest differences between older and younger generations?
Do you ever feel as if you’re in an isolated bubble from a specific type of culture and if so, have you purposefully gone out of your comfort zone to learn more about what’s outside of your typical environment? Why or why not?
Cassie Swindon 