By John Knowles.
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(late 1950s) This story takes place at Devon School in New Hampshire , when one of the main characters gene flashes back fifteen years to tell the adventures his friends and him had through their experiences at Devon School. .
The story starts when Gene returns to Devon school and turns back to his past to tell the story of the days him and his friend Phineas roamed the school. Phineas or Finny was a daredevil, he would do any thing for the thrill. Gene is more of the calm, normal type of person but, when Finny and him were together they did some wild and crazy things.
The summer of 1942 Finny and Gene came up with an idea to start their own club. They called the club the Super Suicide Society of the Summer, it was a club for exciting and dangerous things. One day Finny and Gene decided to go to the river and do a dangerous stunt which was to jump of a limb into a river. Gene fell and Finny was their to save him. Gene realized that he owed his life to Finny. Many of their friends ended up joining their club. When they had enough people they came up with a game called "blitz ball", which is a mixture of football and rugby. .
Finny admits that Gene is his best friend, And Gene is touched by this and it makes him very happy. The reason it touched Gene so much is because he felt responsible for Finny falling and breaking his leg because while Finny was on the limb Gene moved it and it caused Finny to lose his balance and fall. Finny told Gene that it wasnt his fault and it was nonsense to think it was.
During the time World War II was going on the forces are recruiting people. Gene was thinking of enlisting. Gene told Finny about enlisting, Finny told him that enlisting is a terrible idea. Instead of joining the army Gene decides to train for the 1944 Olympics. There are no Olympics during the war but Gene and Finny, as his coach, went right on training.