The Outsiders
by S. E. Hinton
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Book Reviews of The Outsiders
Book Review: The Greener Grass
Summary: 5 Stars
The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, is a book about a boy growing up without his parents, having to depend on his brothers and his gang to get him through life's many obstacles. Ponyboy is the main character and the narrator of the story. He lives with his two brothers Darry and Sodapop on the east side. Darry is Ponyboy's oldest brother. He didn't finish college. After their parents died in a car accident, Darry had to get a full time job to support Sodapop and Ponyboy so that the three of them could remain together. Sodapop was the second oldest. He dropped out of high school but he was still Ponyboy's favorite brother. Then there was the gang, the greasers. Steve was Sodapop's best friend. Ponyboy didn't like Steve very much but he respected him because Sodapop would have wanted him to. Two-Bit was the oldest of the gang. He kept everyone smiling because he was always cracking jokes. Dallas was meaner then the rest of the gang. He spent a few years on the streets of New York. That's how he became so tough. Johnny was the second youngest. He was the gang's pet. Everyone considered Johnny to be their younger brother and everyone was always looking out for him. Johnny is the main reason that the Greasers hated the Socs. The Socs are a gang from the West Side. They are richer then the greasers. They drive nicer cars and wear nicer cloths. When Johnny got badly beaten by the Socs, The gang became was more protective of Johnny and the Greasers always held that grudge on the Socs. The Greasers ran into problems with the Socs throughout the entire book. My favorite character in the book is Johnny. He was forced to grow up faster then he should have. His mother didn't care about him and his father beat him, but he was still a good person and a dedicated friend to the gang. He seemed to have everything all together. It was almost like he'd seen it all and was a walking testimony to everyone else. Towards the end of the book Johnny was more open then he had ever been, and I got a chance to see the real Johnny.
I mostly related to Darry in this book. He was a hard worker and he was very responsible. He cared a lot about his siblings, and he held things together. I care a lot about my sisters and I would help them out if they were ever in a sticky situation. I am a responsible person and I could hold a job to support my family if they needed me to. Darry was very worried about Ponyboy when Ponyboy ran away. He was scared to death that Ponyboy would be hurt or get into trouble. He didn't sleep well while Ponyboy was gone. I was really worried about my sister when she went into labor and was rushed into the hospital. I always heard about women who had trouble with their pregnancies and I couldn't sleep the entire night that she was gone. I worried that my nephew wouldn't be healthy and that my sister wouldn't get through it okay.
I really enjoyed this book. It is my favorite book and I am currently reading it again. My favorite part of this book was when Ponyboy hugged Darry. It was my favorite part because in the beginning of the book, Ponyboy doesn't think that Darry cares about him. They were almost always fighting and Ponyboy never felt close to Darry like he did to Sodapop. Ponyboy finally understood that Darry loved him. He finally realized that Darry cared about him and that he worried about him all the time. When Ponyboy and Darry hugged, it was the first time that they ever showed affection towards each other.
I have never read a book as fast as I read this one. Once I started reading it, I couldn't stop. I couldn't get enough of it. The way the book was written and my imagination helped me to actually live on the East Side and I was able to get into the book after only a couple pages of reading it. The book was fantastic and I wouldn't have changed a thing.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys adventures. The Outsiders would be perfect for anyone that is growing up or has grown up around gangs. This book is filled with nowadays situations and confrontations. Gangs fought over the same things then that gangs fight about now. This book was exciting and suspenseful. It kept me on my toes the whole time I was reading it. I recommend this book to everyone that can read. This book was easy to follow, and I guarantee that when you finish it, it will be one of your favorites.
Book Review: I'MA REVIEWIN a mediocre book.
Summary: 2 Stars
Continuing with my reviewing of rubbish I was forced to read while growing up in the public school system, we come to- "The Outsiders". A dull, 192-page mediocrity that thousands of American schools appear to have seized and decided to hold up as one of the greatest works of American literature.
I love literature. I want Americans, especially young ones like myself, to appreciate it as well. And trust me- making our children read rubbish like this is probably not going to help. However, if our children must read rubbish literature, let them read books at least as good as this. Because there is worse. Much, much worse.
Maybe you have to be a bigshot English professor to appreciate this book. Maybe you have to be a pompous "Top 1000" reviewer. Maybe you have to come from the setting and lifestyle it describes. I'd have been inclined to kill somebody who started calling everybody around me "Sodapop and Pony Boy". Names like that, in the schools I went to, were insults. Not cute nicknames or badges of honor. I never, ever lived in a neighborhood where the poor kids and the rich kids routinely beat the **** out of each other in "rumbles". Why was anyone even mildly surprised when somebody got killed in the middle of all this? I mean, seriously now.
In my neighborhood, the National Guard would have been patrolling the streets in Bradley APC's after the first week of brawls. But I shouldn't let differences of customs and background get in the way of things. Because while the area I grew up in always had a well-funded police force that was quick to respond to the needs and calls of its citizens, not every area has the same setup.
I think my biggest problem with this book is that what it ultimately seems to be trying to tell me is a message that I already learned a long time ago, and was rather annoyed to have to sit around for hours in English class being told it again. The whole book, I believe, is best summed up by the film version, in which a girl who runs with the Socs- whatsername- tells Pony Boy, "Things are rough all over" in that wonderfully generic Southern accent of hers. Things are rough all over? Really? I never could've figured that out had I not read "The Outsiders". S.E. Hinton is above average in my mind, and certainly has skill as a writer. But in some cases, the ability of a writer can be discerned from looking at their whole career rather than one book. Besides this one, can you think of a single other book S.E. Hinton has written? It's been over twenty years, and though I do know she's written some six or more books in total, I can't name any of the others.
But I concede that, unlike "The Pearl" and "Brave New World" it may have some merit. Even if I can't see it. But among "coming of age" novels, there is better than this. And if the stuffy old English professors- or whoever it is- that keep making public school children read this kind of stuff would get their heads out of the clouds, stop yammering about "coming of age" and "socioeconomic issues" and so on and actually think about finding a way to turn students toward literature instead of away from it, America could make a lot of progress. And books like this would collect dust on the shelves where they belong. Or, they would spend less time in the hands of numerous resentful students and more in the hands of fewer interested students. I love literature too much to want someone to have a bad time reading a book. So if anybody, especially a high school student, happens to read this book and like it I'm glad for it. S.E. Hinton is not as good a writer as Shakespeare, Stephen King, Harry Turtledove, or my favorite writer of all time, Pat Conroy. Those writers have written far more famous works than just one, and surpass Hinton's skill in writing quite solidly. But even if no other book she has written ever become famous, this one has and despite my believing it to be mediocre is worth a look.
One final note- remember this even if you forget everything else I wrote above- say a review was helpful, or that it was not, based on the quality of the review. Not whether you agreed with their assessment or not.
Book Review: DH Miller Place
Summary: 5 Stars
The OutsidersThe book I have read was called The Outsiders by: S.E. Hinton. This is one of those books that once you start reading it you can't put it down. Just because it is fiction doesn't mean it couldn't happen!!!
This book was about three Curtis brothers Darry (age -20),
Sodapop (age- 16 going on 17), and Pony boy (age-14). There parents were killed in a car accident. The three boys can only stay together if they behave. There are two groups the Socials aka. Socs (wealthy kids) and the Greasers (poor people or not as rich as the Socs.). The Curtis boys are the Greasers. When Soda was 12 going on 13 his hobby was horseback riding and he loved a horse named Mickey Mouse and this horse would not let anyone ride and was very mean to everyone except Sodapop. Soda used to go to the stable everyday just to ride him and he could spend hours there because he cut school so he could work to help pay the bills. Darry also works many hours to pay for food and pay the bills. But still finds the time to go to school and play football and work out to keep his nice build.
Johnny is the child of alcoholic, abusive parents. Since his parents do not pay much attention to him, Johnny sees the greasers as his true family. In particular Dallas is the most protective of him. Johnny was once beaten up really bad by the Socs. and is now terrified of them. One day Johnny, Two-Bit Mathews (real name is Keith; he is a wisecracking greaser who regularly shoplifts. He prizes his sleek black-handled switchblade.), Dallas, and Ponyboy went to a movie. They had met two girls Sherry Valance (but her friends called her Cherry b/c of her red hair, she is a Soc and Bob Sheldon's girlfriend) and Marcia (Randy's girlfriend, and also a Soc.). They were there only because their Boyfriends were drunk and they didn't like to see them like that. Johnny, Two-Bit, and Ponyboy went over to go sit down and they started talking. Ponyboy and Cherry found out they have a lot in common. Dallas drove Johnny, Ponyboy, Two-Bit, Marcia, and Cherry home in his T-Bird. When they were driving they noticed the blue car drive by and Marcia and Cherry noticed it was the Socs. car, they started to get very nervous. Then when Dallas had stopped the car the Socs. had come back around and Randy and Bob had come over to the car because they thought they had seen their girlfriend in the car. Randy had asked why they were hanging out with the Greasers and Marcia said "because you were drinking and I don't like to see you like that." Then Marcia and Cherry got out of the car and told the greasers that she would see them later. Johnny and Ponyboy had laid down to look at the sunset and they feel asleep. When Johnny had woken up he saw that Ponyboy was still sleeping he had woken him up and told him to go home. When Ponyboy had gotten home he had realized that he was extremely late. Darry was waiting there ready to yell at Ponyboy. When he opened the door Darry let him have it....Sodapop tried to stop them but it wasn't going to work. Darry got so mad that he hit Ponyboy! Ponyboy had never been hit and he got so upset that he turned around and ran back to where he and Johnny were laying. Darry felt bad and tried to get him come back, but Ponyboy just kept running. He got back to Johnny and Johnny had asked what was wrong and Ponyboy had explained the whole thing to him. Ponyboy thought that if they went for a walk around the park he could go home. This is where disaster strikes them.....You will have to read the rest and find out what happened!
This book is very interesting and I can relate to some parts. Just remember your friends will fight and defend you if they're real friends. This book has affected me by letting me see what it is to have a really bad life. I advise you that you should ask your parents to set a guideline and lay down the rules because when you get too much freedom things can go wrong!
*****Have Fun!*****
Book Review: The Outsiders Ratings
Summary: 4 Stars
S.E. Hinton's novel of class conflict, choice and determination, set in 1950s Oklahoma, creates empathy for characters that live on the periphery of society. Hinton's protagonist, Pony boy, along with his fellow "gang" members, including Two-bit, Dally, Darry and Johnny, are "greasers". Outwardly, they are an unsavory lot. They wear their hair long and greasy, wear jeans, t-shirts and, if they can eat chocolate cake and soda for breakfast, live in unfashionable homes in poor neighborhoods and are generally doomed to poor-paying blue-colored jobs. They do little to endure themselves to those who are not of their group. For instance, at the drive-in movie, they "introduce" themselves to some girls through uncouth behavior.The average greaser's nemesis is the "soc". The soc comes from a privileges background, wears fashionable clothing and often enjoys his or her parents' indulgence.
Hinton, through a series of plot elements, presents the greasers as the misunderstood heroes of the book. For instance, Johnny, the least aggressive of the greasers, kills a soc. However, the killing is clearly presents as a case of self-defense. Further, we understand that Johnny had previously been savagely beaten by the very same soc who, on this occasion, without question, had intended to kill Johnny. Johnny later suffers fatal wounds when he rescues a group of children from a burning church- the same building in which he and Pony boy had been hiding out subsequent to the killing of Bob.
The toughest greaser also is portrayed sympathetically. Even when Dally ends up being shot by the police after he attempted armed robbery, Dally seems more a tragic than a threatening figure. Pony boy reveals that Dally's gun did not hold and bullets; Dally desperate act is attributed to his inability to cope with Johnny's death.
Throughout the book, the greasers are portrayed as loyal and misunderstood, imbued with an anger and despair that has been etched upon their psyches through years of abuse and neglect.
Despite this, Johnny and Pony boy are able to maintain a grasp upon their humanity. Johnny pays with his life. Pony boy's fate is more promising. His nervous collapse at the end of the novel galvanizes the resolve of the rest of the greasers. They vow to break the cycle wherein their fate seems pre-determined if not for their own sake, then for Pony boy's. "Don't get tough," Two-Bit urges Pony, "You're not like the rest of us and don't try to be (Hinton 1989, p. 152).&qout; Soda reminds him, "I you don't have anything, you end up like Dallas... and I don't mean dead, eather (Hinton 1989, p. 152)."
Where Hinton's vision lacks courage is in her portrayal of the greasers as societal victims who lack genuine flaws. Certainly the greasers keep irregular hours, watch too much television, smoke and have poor diets, but they do not have serious faults. Any faults can be readily attributes to their circumstances and to the inequitable political and social systems that subjugate them. Hinton's novel would have been more of an achievement had she been able to generate empathy for the members of an underclass who are not simply "noble savages". It is easy to accept the romantic portrayal of a marginalized class of people; it is difficult to accept a cold, accurate rendering of the same group, especially when the group's attitudes, values and behaviors are profoundly different from those of the reader.
Still, Hinton's work, while it is often sentimental, is also also sensitive and even poetic. We can hear Hinton herself speaking through Pony boy when he laments, "I could picture hundreds and hundreds of boys living on the wrong sides of cities, boys with blink eyes who jump at their own shadows. Hundreds of boys who maybe watch sunsets and looked at stars and ached for something better (Hinton 1989, P. 155).
Book Review: A Thrilling Realistic Story
Summary: 4 Stars
S.E. Hinton's novel of class conflict, choice and determination, set in 1950s Oklahoma, creates empathy for characters that live on the periphery of society. Hinton's protagonist, Pony boy, along with his fellow "gang" members, including Two-bit, Dally, Darry and Johnny, are "greasers". Outwardly, they are an unsavory lot. They wear their hair long and greasy, wear jeans, t-shirts and, if they can eat chocolate cake and soda for breakfast, live in unfashionable homes in poor neighborhoods and are generally doomed to poor-paying blue-colored jobs. They do little to endure themselves to those who are not of their group. For instance, at the drive-in movie, they "introduce" themselves to some girls through uncouth behavior.The average greaser's nemesis is the "soc". The soc comes from a privileges background, wears fashionable clothing and often enjoys his or her parents' indulgence.
Hinton, through a series of plot elements, presents the greasers as the misunderstood heroes of the book. For instance, Johnny, the least aggressive of the greasers, kills a soc. However, the killing is clearly presents as a case of self-defense. Further, we understand that Johnny had previously been savagely beaten by the very same soc who, on this occasion, without question, had intended to kill Johnny. Johnny later suffers fatal wounds when he rescues a group of children from a burning church- the same building in which he and Pony boy had been hiding out subsequent to the killing of Bob.
The toughest greaser also is portrayed sympathetically. Even when Dally ends up being shot by the police after he attempted armed robbery, Dally seems more a tragic than a threatening figure. Pony boy reveals that Dally's gun did not hold and bullets; Dally desperate act is attributed to his inability to cope with Johnny's death.
Throughout the book, the greasers are portrayed as loyal and misunderstood, imbued with an anger and despair that has been etched upon their psyches through years of abuse and neglect.
Despite this, Johnny and Pony boy are able to maintain a grasp upon their humanity. Johnny pays with his life. Pony boy's fate is more promising. His nervous collapse at the end of the novel galvanizes the resolve of the rest of the greasers. They vow to break the cycle wherein their fate seems pre-determined if not for their own sake, then for Pony boy's. "Don't get tough," Two-Bit urges Pony, "You're not like the rest of us and don't try to be (Hinton 1989, p. 152).&qout; Soda reminds him, "I you don't have anything, you end up like Dallas... and I don't mean dead, eather (Hinton 1989, p. 152)."
Where Hinton's vision lacks courage is in her portrayal of the greasers as societal victims who lack genuine flaws. Certainly the greasers keep irregular hours, watch too much television, smoke and have poor diets, but they do not have serious faults. Any faults can be readily attributes to their circumstances and to the inequitable political and social systems that subjugate them. Hinton's novel would have been more of an achievement had she been able to generate empathy for the members of an underclass who are not simply "noble savages". It is easy to accept the romantic portrayal of a marginalized class of people; it is difficult to accept a cold, accurate rendering of the same group, especially when the group's attitudes, values and behaviors are profoundly different from those of the reader.
Still, Hinton's work, while it is often sentimental, is also also sensitive and even poetic. We can hear Hinton herself speaking through Pony boy when he laments, "I could picture hundreds and hundreds of boys living on the wrong sides of cities, boys with blink eyes who jump at their own shadows. Hundreds of boys who maybe watch sunsets and looked at stars and ached for something better (Hinton 1989, P. 155).