Ok, who else had to read this disturbing-ass book in school? I had to TWICE! (Different schools) Because of this book, any time I go under for surgery (which is happening more and more these days), I'm afraid some freak accident will see me dead at the end of a routine surgery.

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numb3r5ev3n@reddit

Ours came as part of a compendium of short novels when I was in the 9th or 10th grade. And nearly all of them were straight downers (like The Scarlett Letter, and The Pearl.)

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RowdyRoddyPipeSmoker@reddit

Wasn't every book read in school a downer? Bridge to Terabithia, The Jungle, The Scarlett Letter...on and on

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ha! right ethan frome...I think we watched the movie in class...with Liam Neeson...man I don't remember anything about that other than it was super boring and he was in it. And same year as Schindler's List!

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drjenavieve@reddit

We watched the movie too basically he has a super depressing life taking care of a invalid wife who kind of tricked him into marriage. He finds love with a younger woman but they can’t be together because he’s married so they try to kill themselves in a sledding accident but just both end up injured and he’s now caring for two invalids and is also permanently disabled. Like just pointless depressing shit that I don’t even think had a larger metaphor or allegory.

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blueaintyourcolor11@reddit

Alas Babylon has entered the chat

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OrganicAverage1@reddit

I remember liking The Jungle. Also The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The priest was always masturbating over Esmeralda. NOT a kids book. I was shocked when Disney picked it up.

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88-Mph-Delorean@reddit

I liked the Pearl

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ennuiismymiddlename@reddit

Steinbeck is awesome!

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WildfireJohnny@reddit

I had to read it in junior year English, along with The Red Badge of Courage, which was also garbage.

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abbydabbydo@reddit

So, I really liked this book and the other one Peace Breaks Out.

One day my stepfather goes, “who wrote that book? John Knowles? Are you sure, John Knowles?”

Turns out he was a regular in a Ft. Lauderdale coffee shop place my father frequented.

Dad says “wow, I didn’t know anyone actually read that guy. To me he was just some old gay guy that with a predilection for boys”

I reread the book years later and it took on a whole new over tone.

For clarity: I never thought my father meant minor boys. Just very young men.

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Book-Faramir-Better@reddit (OP)

Interesting! Although, I wouldn't discount the man's leaning toward minor boys, given the undertones of his writing and a working knowledge of the gay community's "twink" obsession. Nevertheless! Great story (yours, that is. I still don't like the book, but to each their own.)

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abbydabbydo@reddit

Totally agree, but I also didn’t want to lob even the hint of an accusation based on a third party retelling, especially since I was like 12.

I wanted to use the word twink instead of boys, is the word still allowable?

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Book-Faramir-Better@reddit (OP)

As far as I know. Lol

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Whitw816@reddit

Yep! IB English sophomore year of high school. I actually liked it though. I had to read way worse for English like “A Room with a View” or “Catcher in the Rye.” Holden Canfield was the most whiny protagonist ever. Couldn’t stand him!

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redneckswearorange@reddit

Worst book I think I ever had to read as part of the HS curriculum. It was right up there with Silas Marner.

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Book-Faramir-Better@reddit (OP)

Aw, see I kinda liked Silas Marner. But, hey! at least we're agreed on this... this John Knowles piece of fuck right here.

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LikelyLioar@reddit

It was actually one of the only assigned books that I liked. (At least the dog didn't die in this one--just the friend!)

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122784@reddit

I liked it, too!

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scott743@reddit

Me too, but pretty sure there are only dozens of us!

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AlchemistMustang@reddit

In with the Dozens!

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JudgeJuryEx78@reddit

I'm one of dozens!

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LikelyLioar@reddit

Dozens!

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MicCheck123@reddit

I did as well. I liked it so much I purchased my own copy and have read it several times since high school.

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CaMiTx@reddit

I enjoyed this enough to re-read it a decade later, just to see if it held up. It did.

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Melonary@reddit

I loved this book & so did most of my friends.

Also ngl as a gay teen (well, lesbian) I really related, even if it likely wasn't read that way by the average teen.

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LikelyLioar@reddit

Oh, shit! That's why I loved it! Because of the gay subtext! (I was writing a LOT of X-Files slash, and also some Star Trek: Voyager at the time.)

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redflagsmoothie@reddit

I did too actually.

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Successful-Winter237@reddit

Me too

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Chance_Top5775@reddit

i'm another who enjoyed this book a great deal

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bamalama@reddit

is this the one where some kid pushes a his friend out of a tree or something and then we don’t really know if he did or not? I don’t remember the point of this book.

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numb3r5ev3n@reddit

He didn't push him, but he jostled the branch.

No I'm not putting spoiler tags on spoilers for a decades-old book that nearly everyone had to read in high school.

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maineartistswinger@reddit

He jounced the limb

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Derp35712@reddit

Which broke his leg and then he died in surgery and then the book tells the rest of his story and I am like so this is book about a murderer that faces no repercussions.

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drjenavieve@reddit

It’s not really murder. It was manslaughter maybe? But it was like an unconscious move made out of jealousy but I don’t think it was intended to actually kill him, not sure he even meant to injure him. And he doesn’t kill him from this action, just injured him and he died later from complications of the injury.

I hated this book but it also stuck with me. It was really about the unintended evil in man and the extreme consequences it causes, with the world war going on in the background, that I suppose was some allegory about why we were fighting the war. That jealousy, need to “win” and dominate and our own egos, makes us ruin perfectly happy coexistence with people who were ultimately our friends who were trying to even help us.

At least that’s what I remember from more than 25 years ago.

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Derp35712@reddit

Well that’s interesting. I just hated the guy for not feeling or expressing more guilt.

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drjenavieve@reddit

I don’t think he even consciously knew for sure if he had in fact done it until he was called out by a witness.

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Derp35712@reddit

I guess it’s an amazing book. I still recall the exact details you are referring to. The boy that went to the army and lost his mind.

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abernathym@reddit

Looks like someone else had the word 'jounce' on their vocabulary list when they read this book.

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WitchesDew@reddit

I've never heard of this book, not that I care about spoilers. I don't. But I wonder what states had this as part of their curriculum.

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lirio2u@reddit

No he definitely pushed him

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bbbbears@reddit

He absolutely jounced the limb.

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champagneformyrealfr@reddit

you remembered it better than i did, i thought he pushed him down some stairs.

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Robosl0b@reddit

Is there a broken leg involved in the storyline? I don't remember anything except maybe a broken leg that is more serious than just a broken leg

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JekBluffkiller@reddit

I think the exact phrase used in the book is he “jounced the limb.” 10th grade flashbacks.

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Venting2theDucks@reddit

This word has lived rent free in my head since 10th grade lol. The most vivid vocabulary lesson as I learned it was a combo of “jump” and “bounce”.

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Spear_Ritual@reddit

Sounds like a euphemism. 😏

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UnluckyCardiologist9@reddit

Is this the one where the boy does from a broken leg?

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Book-Faramir-Better@reddit (OP)

Yes! He goes in for surgery and a piece of bone marrow or something "falls into his blood stream" or something stupid like that, goes right to his heart,, and kills him, if I remember correctly. Ever since, I've been terrified of going under for surgery!

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kneedlekween@reddit

Yup! It’s a fat emboli a complication of orthopedic surgery. More common in trauma patients though. I was a nurse in orthopedics for 10 years and never had it happen. Now they have vacuum tools and filters that usually catch them.

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dirtymartini83@reddit

I’ve been an OR nurse for about 17 years and have never had this happen with a patient. I hate that a book has caused you anxiety over this. I never had to read this book but am now curious about it.

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Melonary@reddit

I mean, to be fair, the book is set 80 years ago. I certainly hope surgery is safer now.

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dirtymartini83@reddit

Ohhh, gotcha. I didn’t realize the time period of the book! Thanks for clarifying for me.

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BohemianRapscallion@reddit

If it makes it better, he broke his femur which can be very serious for this reason. It’s wasn’t just a random thing in a routine surgery.

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rebeldogman2@reddit

Jeez how many times do you have surgery? I’ve never had surgery ever

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Book-Faramir-Better@reddit (OP)

Well... Only five times, but three of those happened within the last several years (too frequent for my comfort, even if one of those was just an endoscopy).

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draculasbloodtype@reddit

I went to high school in Exeter, NH, where the story takes place. We read it EVERY YEAR in high school because of that. Being a public school kid we hated the Academy kids, which lead to another level of hate for the book. They had a habit of walking out in front of you while driving as if they were entitled to the road no matter what.

Fun fact: Serial Killer H.H.Holmes attended Phillips Exeter Academy.

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Ok_Difficulty6452@reddit

I went to HS at Winnacunnet. At least you have John Irving.

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thethirdthird@reddit

WinnaWHAT

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yerfatma@reddit

You heard them. And I doubt I'm the only one who pronouces Coos Country that way.

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Book-Faramir-Better@reddit (OP)

Oof. I'm sorry, man.

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draculasbloodtype@reddit

Your user name is A+

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9thgrave@reddit

I went to Concord High, and we had to read this dog shit book because the entire 9th grade English curriculum was centered around New Hampshire, be it author or setting. This book was easily the most hated piece of literature we had to read.

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Background_Title_922@reddit

Not from Exeter myself although I've spent a lot of time there as my family goes way back in the area. I do come from generations of Exeter High School (or what was the women's high school when they split by gender) graduates and they would all say the same.

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NectarSweat@reddit

I actually loved this book. The story is a bit haunting but I think that's what made me like it. The complexity of friendship and envy within it was eye-opening at the age I read it.

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drjenavieve@reddit

I always understood it to be an allegory about war. That the “peace” they experienced as children away from the war was actually filled with the very same reasons people go to war.

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NectarSweat@reddit

I think my middle school brain interpreted the title to mean that Ethan and Phineas had separate ideas of what peace means to them. My adult brain agrees with you.

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drjenavieve@reddit

I do think it’s both in a way but also intertwined.

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Melonary@reddit

Yeah, I think I'd feel very differently if I read it first as an adult.

But as a teen, it hit me hard and I felt it deeply.

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Deep-Interest9947@reddit

I did but I very much blocked it out.

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drainbamage1011@reddit

Yeah, I know I read it and vaguely recall it being broadly disliked, but that's it.

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Deep-Interest9947@reddit

Was it a civil war book? Literally all I remember is that our class kept spelling separate “seperate” and it made the teacher so mad.

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drjenavieve@reddit

I got called out for calling it “a separate piece”. But yea it was about WWII. That was actually a huge underlying part of it, if not part of the actual story.

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KourtR@reddit

Are you thinking of the Red Badge of Courage? G-d I hated that book, worlds worst

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Deep-Interest9947@reddit

Yes! Thank you. They all suck

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LemurCat04@reddit

No, it was the one set at the boarding school where the really cool athletic one breaks his leg.

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Deep-Interest9947@reddit

So my memory is indeed worthless. Thanks!

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selfishsooze@reddit

Same here. I know I read it but I have no idea what it was about.

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drjenavieve@reddit

I mostly remember getting my essay severely downgraded for referring to the book as a “separate piece” and even being called out on this in front of the entire class.

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XFrankXGrimesX@reddit

This book was written to make Freshmen hate it.

The only book we read in school I didn't like.

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originalbrowncoat@reddit

This one and Ethan Frome

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drjenavieve@reddit

Omg Ethan Frome. I’m still angry about that book. It’s the most depressing nihilistic and just pointless book I’ve ever read.

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OldJames47@reddit

Add Tess of the d’Ubervilles to the list

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XFrankXGrimesX@reddit

Jesus, you had to read "Ethan Frome?" That book maybe deadlier than "Silas Marner"

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originalbrowncoat@reddit

Ethan Frome was so awful I wrote a poem for another class about how bad it was.

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Aquatichive@reddit

Hahahahahahahahahah!!!!!!

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CorgiMonsoon@reddit

It was Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man that made me want to wallop my freshman year English teacher

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Melonary@reddit

Weirdly enough I remember most of my friends liking this one? I actually really enjoyed it. Fairly short/easy reading as well, so at least for those who hated it it was over quickly.

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ennuiismymiddlename@reddit

Agreed. Much like Catcher in the Rye.

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Cheddartooth@reddit

I don’t remember anything about it. Read it in 7th or 8th grade, but I remember liking it, too.

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chamrockblarneystone@reddit

Hitler’s only got one ball

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dbmajor7@reddit

I fucken hated that book! Boooring!

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Spear_Ritual@reddit

I hate John Knowles.

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CorgiMonsoon@reddit

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CorgiMonsoon@reddit

Thank god this is the top comment, lol

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Tinselcat33@reddit

I remember me and my freshman year bestie HATING this one, and I can’t remember why.

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CSWorldChamp@reddit

I see your “A Separate Peace” and raise you “Hatchet,” by Gary Paulsen.

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ennuiismymiddlename@reddit

Except Hatchet is really good.

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anonmygoodsir@reddit

I've never read it but i still have this fear.

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AuntAmrys@reddit

I don't remember the "jounced" everyone's talking about, but I do remember "Our chore/is the core/of the war." And also that it was at least less awful than "Seize the Day" or "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter."

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serenitynope@reddit

I wonder if this was the inspiration for "Dear Evan Hansen".

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princessph8@reddit

I read this in 7/8ths book club (7th and 8th grade but we thought we were cool to make it a fraction). It wasn’t part of the required reading. I went to a private girls school. As a result, I didn’t mind it. I despised Lord of the Flies, tho but that’s another post.

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MexicanVanilla22@reddit

I remember reading it in high-school. I remember literally nothing else about it.

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BillElliott9@reddit

I’m a little surprised no one mentioned the sequel, Peace Breaks Out, which is really only related in that it is based at the same school. It focuses on a student with possible psychotic tendencies. It didn’t have nearly the success, but I’m the minority of liking A Separate Peace so I liked that one, too.

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Starbreiz@reddit

God just scrolling by this pic gave me feels. I hated it.

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jackfaire@reddit

I've literally never heard of this book before today

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Just-Try-2533@reddit

Oh my god. I loathed this book. The only fond memory I have of it was when we watched the movie and they sang the song “Hitler only has one ball.”

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stunneddisbelief@reddit

Still have a copy on my bookshelf.

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Lcky22@reddit

I’ve never even heard of this book!

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OnlyDwarvesfeetpics@reddit

Is the book as homoerotic as I remember it being in 9th grade lit? I was the designated "actually read the fucking book" source of info before class so I can recall teaching this to 30 other 9th graders in the span of 5 minutes so our teacher didn't pop quiz us but I can't recall if it's this one or the chosen that was super homoerotic.

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Melonary@reddit

Definitely this one, lol. I thoroughly enjoyed it as a gay teen with little else to read.

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9thgrave@reddit

Yeah, the gay subtext isn't exactly subtle.

“The flaps of his carbine jacket parted slightly over his healthy rump, and it is that, without any sense of derision at all, that I recall as Brinker's salient characteristic, those healthy, determined, not over-exaggerated but definite and substantial buttocks.”

“I threw my hip against his, catching him by surprise, and he was instantly down, definitely pleased. This was why he liked me so much. When I jumped on top of him, my knees on his chest, he couldn't ask for anything better.”

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Chance_Top5775@reddit

it was this one

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epidemicsaints@reddit

I remember our new teacher selecting this. None of us understood what was going on. We did not understand why they lived at school.

It was like On My Honor, only I didn't care about anyone in the book. Rough housing rich boys, get me out of here.

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justonemom14@reddit

Exactly. Being a not-rich, not athletic 15 year old girl in the not-wartime 90s, I had zero identification with the main characters in this book.

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Melonary@reddit

Weirdly enough I know a couple of gay people who had kind of an identification with the homoerotic undertones.

Probably not intended by the curriculum but you take it where you can get it!

I also have family in the world wars and it was interesting/sad inn that sense, although they weren't rock of course.

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theponderizer@reddit

An embarrassing high school moment happened to me because of this book. I disliked the how the story ended, so when I found out that the author had written a sequel years later, I read the sequel hoping to get a better ending (spoiler, the sequel wasn’t better or worse and I still don’t have favorable closure). When I mentioned that I had voluntarily read another book during class discussion all my classmates, and even the teacher, looked at me like I had something off.

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jasonmoyer@reddit

I dunno if I'd call it a freak accident.

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Low_Soil_6831@reddit

I jounced that book right into the dumpster

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GrandeDameDuMaurier@reddit

I think I read it for fun. I liked it. I still own it. Why all the hate?

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bendybiznatch@reddit

I made the case that this book was dumb and we wouldn’t be studying it if he hadn’t gone on a huge tour to flout the book. Most books we read critical examinations by OTHERS. I feel like if you have to do that for your own book maybe it just isn’t very good.

My teacher was unenthused but I read the damn thing.

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Carrie_D_Watermelon@reddit

My older sisters school copy is on my book shelf right now - i loved this book, or at least the idea of loving it when I was young 😅

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enyardreems@reddit

I have no memory of this and somehow I think I'm happy about it.

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Own-Complex-2839@reddit

I liked it???

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WhiskyStandard@reddit

Somehow the first time I heard of this book was the day we were supposed to discuss it. Everyone else had read it and I spent the entire time trying to figure out if they were all f-ing with me. Until the teacher called on me and I had to admit I had no idea what they were talking about.

Then I read it and was like “I had a panic attack and started to doubt my sanity for this?!”

Best I can figure I was sick when the teacher told us to read it and my brain just ignored the rest of the times she talked about it.

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New-Anacansintta@reddit

Is this the water tower book?

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Hot-Significance-462@reddit

My most hated HS reading assignment

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pimpvader@reddit

Damnit, I have surgery on December 5 and now I’m remembering everything about this damned book.

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spinereader81@reddit

John had such a pretentious writing style. The kid couldn't just jostle the branch. Oh no, he had to jounce the limb!

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dwreckhatesyou@reddit

Nah. We just read books about dogs dying for some fucking reason.

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Comesontoostrong@reddit

HE JOUNCED THE LIMB

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SloopDonB@reddit

Literally the only thing I remember from this book.

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abeeyore@reddit

I liked it on the first read through. By the 4th round on analysis, I was starting to be jealous of Phineas.

Damn. I can’t believe I remembered that name.

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Kookiecitrus55555@reddit

Loved this book so sad

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Kookiecitrus55555@reddit

I was also a big sucker for The Bridge to Terabithia

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TheGreatRao@reddit

the only book like this that i remember were: the scarlett letter the great gatsby a separate peace winesburg, ohio huckleberry finn the catcher in the rye and the Prince

the last two are the only ones i remember

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teriKatty@reddit

Was that the one where the friend fell out of a tree?

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Ok_Picture9667@reddit

I read this on my own because I found a copy somewhere. It left me more with a nostalgia for school experiences I never had. Funny I just forgot about the death.

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Sillycats2@reddit

I read this my sophomore year. I loved my English teacher and that class, but dear god. The reading list (at an all-girls school) was nothing but a compendium of whining fuckbois. These two garbage protagonists. Holden Caulfield, for god’s sake. The weird pedo-adjacent Seymour Glass and his twisted family. The only book we read that I actually liked was “All Quiet on the Western Front” because, while depressing, it at least had an MC with some redeeming qualities. However, one of the few things I remember about that book is the kid having to, like, pull his dick skin down and tie it so he looked uncircumcised and could hide that he was Jewish.

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9thgrave@reddit

This book was such fucking garbage that I ended up failing the unit because I couldn't stand reading it.

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BaFungul@reddit

I always guess this as a Jeopardy answer because i don’t remember much about it. I haven’t been right yet, but someday.

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DiaphoniusDaintyDude@reddit

It was the ‘gay’ book at our school.

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therog08@reddit

I had to read it. I don’t remember a single thing about it

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2gecko1983@reddit

Ninth grade English we had to do a report on the book of our choice. My classmate chose this book.

He started off his book report by throwing the book in the trash.

Funny thing is it ended up being required reading the following year, so we all got to read it AND watch the movie whether we wanted to or not.

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11B_35P_35F@reddit

Never heard of the book or the author.

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HermioneMarch@reddit

I loved this book!

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donakvara@reddit

I will always love this novel.

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54sharks40@reddit

Phineas or something?

I'm reaching waaaaay back into my brain

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salve__regina@reddit

And Gene!

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childerolaids@reddit

The name Phineas is the only thing about this book that I liked.

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Cisru711@reddit

I read it on my own and really enjoyed it. Not the story so much as the vibe of the setting and tone.

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maineartistswinger@reddit

"Jounced", really, "jounced"? That word has stuck with me as being used nowhere else, ever since.

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Low_Kitchen_9995@reddit

We spent way too much time discussing the phrase “jounced a limb”. It’s all I remember

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pizzabirthrite@reddit

This book made me want to shoot George Harrison

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Funkopedia@reddit

I hated this book so damn much.

However, many years later as a grown adult, the movie was on tv and i watched it, and i absolutely hated that too.

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Dazzling-Hornet-7764@reddit

I went to a weird private school and someone's parent in an higher grade complained about the book so it got removed from the reading list before I had to read it. Yay!

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CheesyRomantic@reddit

I had to read it. I don’t remember much of it though. Except Jean was jealous of Finny… is that right? And he pushed him down the stairs. I feel I’m getting that wrong though.

That must be why im petrified a broken limb can lead to death.

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limabeanseww@reddit

This destroyed me and honestly probably kicked off my life long depression

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kneedlekween@reddit

Yeah Grapes of Wrath didn’t help either ☹️

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arcxjo@reddit

Someone's a Llama ...

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MothyBelmont@reddit

I thought it was fine. I was a big reader on my own so I didn’t really like getting reading homework. Like let me just have my Stephen King and Dean Koontz please.

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Clevergirlphysicist@reddit

Hmm I know I read it but I can’t remember what it was about.

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MaceZilla@reddit

I think about this book a lot and it's a book that has made a big impact on me. I read it voluntarily in my early 20s instead of being forced in school which may have helped.

Im drawn towards stories about regret as if they're horror. Causing irreparable harm for a moment of jackassery is one of my biggest fears, it's up to a phobia level. If anyone else is in the same camp, check out Robert Cormier's We All Fall Down. It's the same guy who wrote The Chocolate War. There's also the movie Calibre.

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Shaolinchipmonk@reddit

How about reading The Lottery in middle school.

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Y4himIE4me@reddit

I chose to read it twice...

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Book-Faramir-Better@reddit (OP)

Why do you hate yourself so much?

You have people who love you and they'd be hurt if you die.

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Y4himIE4me@reddit

Lol. I read it in High School, thought it was an interesting p.o.v. on a significant culture event.

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HortonSquare@reddit

I came here to say I liked this one but whenever I bring it up to people they either don’t remember it or hated it. Judging by the comments, that’s spot on!

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highpriestess420@reddit

I remember reading it, it was the reason I thought having a broken bone could kill me.

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epidemicsaints@reddit

It absolutely can though. Blood clots!

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highpriestess420@reddit

Knock on wood I've never broken one yet so thanks for the continued anxiety 😬

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GregariousLaconian@reddit

This this this this. This book is like inception for medical paranoia.

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youdneverguess@reddit

I still hate Ethan Frome so very much more.

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mrwynd@reddit

The Chocolate War was a much better coming of age book IMO.

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LemurCat04@reddit

Agreed. Poor Jerry.

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dereksredditaccount@reddit

I enjoyed it

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Shaman7102@reddit

I still remember the bone marrow.....

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GeetarEnthusiast85@reddit

All I remember is I disliked Phineas. I still don't like him.

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ArmadilloPenguin@reddit

Did Tom Gauld do that cover?

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Fuckspez42@reddit

I regularly reference this book as one of the worst I’ve ever read.

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kayla622@reddit

We had to read the abridged version of it in the 10th grade Prentice Hall English text book. I'm pretty sure it was in this book:

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RemoteCompetition918@reddit

I had to read it 2x at the same school and I loved it but it was also the first high school book I'd read with clear gay subtext

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Crafty-Ad-2238@reddit

Ugh new fear unlocked

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AerwynFlynn@reddit

I actually liked it. I mean, I’m also the weird kid lol. It was an interesting (to me) look at how unintended consequences, jealousy, and guilt shape your life and changes who you are fundamentally as a person.

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