I enjoyed A Separate Peace greatly more than most of our books that I have read in English class this year. As most of the books we read deal with hardship, this book was refreshing, because of the innocence, joy, and youth of the boys. Even though there is some death and hardship, Finny has a optimistic attitude  that lightens the mood of the story. Finny is my favorite character, because he acts like a little child only concerned with having fun. Although his leg is broken and he will no longer will be able to play sports, he still has fun and tries to get everyone to join in on having fun like the winter carnival. The things I would change about Finny is to make him more responsible, so his natural ability to be a leader would be put to better use than convincing people to skip school. If Iwas Knowles, I would completely change the character Gene. The only thing I like about Gene is his loyalty to Finny.  I greatly dislike that Gene is very smart, but does not use his brain to think for himself. I thought the book was okay. I wasn’t able to connect with boys very well. I don’t think I would recommend the book to girls, but I might recommend the book to boys.