John Knowles (1) (1926–2001)

I think a lot of people read this in high school, but I didn't. I decided to pick it up because I kept seeing it everywhere. My impressions:

1. There are almost no females in it. The lack of girls and the lack of interest in girls among these 16- to 18-year-old guys, made me think that the two main characters were in love with each other, which is probably just because I minored in gender studies. But, really, the total lack of anything sexual was an interesting choice.

2. This is a deep, dark book about living in wartime. I was reminded of how little the Iraq war affected my time in college compared to how tremendously WWII affected the boys at the boarding school in the story.

3. Obviously, this is also a story about the psychology of adolescence, particularly among young men, particularly in a competitive and isolated environment. The way they talked was so old-fashioned, though, that I kept picturing them as much younger, like 12 or 13.

4. How reliable of a narrator is Gene? Can Finny really be so perfect? I went back and forth on this. I kind of hated Gene, but I also felt so sorry for him.

5. Overall, a really fascinating book that I'm sorry to read all by myself with no professor to guide a discussion.… (más)

The book tells the story of boys at a boarding school in New Hampshire during 1942-43. The heart of the book is the relationships between the various boys at the school. It is primarily about the protagonist, Gene, and his friend Phineas, their friendship and their rivalry. But the war is an ever present background, which eventually intrudes in the story when one student leaves to enlist, and suffers a mental breakdown as a result, before he is ever sent overseas to fight. There is a surprising plot twist at the end.

Overall, this is a sad story, and I have mixed feelings about it.… (más)