This book is about two 16-year-old boys in prep school, Gene and Phinaeus. They have a friendship/rivalry where Finn is naturally athletic and Gene more academic. The story is told through the eyes of Gene and takes place in the early 40s when WWII is on and the boys think and talk a lot about the war and whether or not it will last long enough for them to enlist. However, the boys are protected to a certain degree from the harsh realities of war by being at a boarding school and are even separated from the high school seniors who are soon leaving for combat. The other juniors at school are in awe of Finny and his athletic abilites and his ability to seemingly talk his way out of any misadventure simply by his charasmatic truth telling. An "accident" takes place and no one knows exactly who caused it but it has lasting effects on both Gene and Finn.
I didn't love this book. I did like the ambiguity surrounding the accident. Who really caused the accident? Was it on purpose? How will the boys recover? Maybe because it is a book about boys I wasn't that into it. I can see how great the author is and how his book stays on the list of YA lit classics. This is a quick read and I would be happy to discuss it if anyone decides to read it.
1 comment:
It sounds like you are reading some really interesting books. I may have to check some of them out one of these days. I have so many yet to be read books at home that I am a little behind in my reading. I need to work some more red-eyes. They provide ample time to read.
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