The year is 1942, the setting a boys' school in New Hampshire, the narrator Gene Forrester, now in his thirties, as he looks back at his last years at Devon School for Boys. His room-mate and best friend was Phineas, athletic and enigmatic, processing a charm, vitality and way with words that would soften the hardest of masters. Gene, excelling academically while Phineas does in sports, takes us through the final years of their schooling and his remarkable friendship with Phineas, all set against the background of WW2 and the looming threat of becoming and active part of that war.

It is a beautifully told story, rich in imagery and symbolism. The friendship the two boys enjoy is heart warming and touching, yet there is hint of a darker undercurrent that could possibly lead to ruin that keeps the reader in a gentle suspense.  ( )

Tiresome as stale potato chips.
Not that it wasn't well-written--but I didn't even read this for school and it still made me yearn for a nap. The most interesting part? Discovering at age twelve that the name "Phineas" is actually pronounced "FIN-ee-us," not "fin-AY-us." Hmmm. The logic in that still eludes me. ( )

Like most folks, I read this in high school...one of the few school books I enjoyed reading. A coming of age story focusing on two friends and memories sifting from imagined to realized. The TV show MASH "borrowed" an event from this book for one of their episodes. ( )

I have to say, I really enjoyed this book. I read it last year for english class and thought it was very well written. The relationship between Gene and Finny is a meaningful one. The feeling of friendship is mutual, but the aching feeling of jealousy is always present. I found this very true because there always seems to be a line between friends. It's the line that separates laughing and joking from jealously and skepticism. Is he/she really my friend? Are there underlying meanings to what he/she is doing? I found myself able to relate to both Gene and Finny. At the end of the book, I couldn't help but experience this feeling of peace. Even though Finny was gone, there was calmness that Gene possessed. I would recommend this book to any one of my friends. ( )

One of the first novels I ever read. It still brings pleasant memories. ( )