The Outsiders
by S. E. Hinton
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Book Reviews of The Outsiders
Book Review: Inside the Outsiders
Summary: 5 Stars
The book that I am reviewing is called The Outsiders, by S. E. Hinton. On the first page of the book, you, the reader, are introduced to Ponyboy Curtis, a fourteen year old boy with two things on his mind: Paul Newman and a ride home. Pony and his two older brothers, Darry and Soda (Pop) have been taking care of each other every since their parents died. They are all a part of a gang called the Greaser's. The Greaser life is filled with stealing, smoking, drinking, and fighting; however, Pony is not your average greaser. He enjoys movies, reading, writing, and yes, even school! Fellow Greaser's include Two-Bit, Dally and Johnny. Not only do Greaser's deal with the everyday struggles of being poor, but they also experience hatred and discrimination from the rich, upper class kids, better known as the Soc's. The main goal of a Soc is to make a Greaser's life miserable, or so Pony thinks. Like I said before, fights are common in Pony's neck of the woods, but he never imagined that something he was so accustomed to would change his life forever.This is by far one of the best books I have read in a long time. Its unique story line can appeal to virtually anyone. I rate this book a 5 (being the highest) because of the following things: its characters, description and message.
You always know a book is truly good when you can get inside the main characters' head. When you read this book, you can literally feel Ponyboy's troubles, good times, and frustrations. For example, many times throughout the book you are shown how different Pony really is from the rest of his crowd. He's emotional, complex, and doesn't really have anyone he can connect with, except for Johnny. Johnny is like the poor, little puppy that's been kicked around too much. His parents beat him, and he was in a near death "rumble" against the Soc's. Pony and Johnny can both appreciate the less "macho" and "tough" things in life, such as sunsets.
The Outsiders also has a ton of description. When an author writes a book about the streets, he or she can either tells the whole story, or part of it. S. E. Hinton definitely tells the whole story. We learn how difficult life is for Greaser's. How Darry has to work two jobs to feed his brothers, and how Soda had to drop out to help Darry, and also how sometimes stealing is the only way out sometimes. The constant threat of being "jumped", and the struggle simply to fit in with your friends.
Finally, the reason I fell in love with this book is because of its message. Who would believe that two hoodlums could be heroes, or that two groups who seem so different on the outside really are the same on the inside. This book teaches you about discrimination, society, perseverance, and loyalty, all in 188 pages. Moreover, the biggest lesson this book teaches you is to "stay golden" and to realize that it doesn't matter if you live on the east or west, we all see the same sunset. The Outsiders take you inside their lives, and make you one of their own in this remarkable novel. It gives you a credible view into the lives of those less fortunate, and their constant struggle to come out on top in a world that always wants to push you down.
Book Review: A Disappointed Teacher's Review
Summary: 1 Stars
It excites me that so many students have found this book so enticing and satisfying as a reading experience, but my excitement has everything to do with the act of reading, and not this specific book. I'm glad a book turned them on this much, but I hope they move on to better books, less insulting ones, and I hope other teachers feel this way, too. Look at some of the low reviews--by both kids and adults, and you'll see that there's a great deal of divided opinion, and not just because the book was the dreaded "assigned reading".
The Outsiders is an absurdly weak novel. It is almost artless in its prose, and yet Hinton doesn't supply us with persuasive grittiness in its place. The tough scenes are tough because the book wants them be so, and because the facts of death and guilt have impact on us--but not because Hinton successfully locates the real, grinding forcve of these happenings. So we have a book that just lacks expressive force, making it at most a series of sometimes engaging incidents. The characters and dialogue are problems, too. Hinton's teeage kids alternately fail to see some of the most manifest, obvious meanings behind some circumstance and then fill a whole page with insight after insight about each other and the discriminatory society they inhabit. Near the end, in the course of a couple pages, we get a whirlwind of family revelations as Ponyboy understands something about Darry because of a little shouting match and then Darry and Ponyboy realize something about Sodapop's family anxieties. The rush of these sudden epiphanies makes them hasty and unconvincing, and the fact that Hinton was a teenager when she wrote it is a problem, not a justification.
It isn't even clear that the book has compassion for its own characters. In the flashback that tells of Johnny's bad mauling by Soc kids, the other greasers show up (they always seem to know where to find each other immediately after something awful has happened) and they just sit around listening. So Johnny's supposedly gut-wrenching pain becomes merely a cause for character conversation, and that flashback just leaves him there bleeding, in the company of friends. He is the novels' maudlin spectacle. Frankly, Dally is dangerous because the book keeps saying so, not because the book really demonstrates or illustraes a dangerous quality in him. Many of the characters are just indistinguishable guys with unrevealing dialogue or action; they lack definable individuality.
The theme of being judged by appearances has been done better in almost every work of fiction I have ever encountered. Heck, I read my own children a funny, spirited picture book called "I Stink," about a garbage truck, and that offers the topic more useful examination than this does. The unremitting suffering and misuderstanding and misdirection these charcaters undergo in Hinton's novel is more punishing and melodramatiuc than revealing. The book is simply substandard reading that satisfies the way a bad summer movie does, and it cares about that much for its characters and is about as insulting to its readers.
Book Review: A book with out much story line........
Summary: 1 Stars
The Outsiders is a book written by S.E. Hinton. SHe wrote this book about teenagers in her neighborhood. This book is nothing that any of todays children can realte to. The Greasers are a gang they are composed of Two-Bit ,Dally,Johnny,Darry,Soda Pop,and Pony boy. Their rival gang is the socs.This book is not what teenagers can not even relate to. The main character Ponyboy, yes that is his real name, has family problems. Both of his parents are dead and he is raised by his brothers Soda Pop , another real name, and Darry. Darry and Soda Pop both dropped out of school to give Pony Boy a chance at a better life. Johnny is an abused child who no one loves. His "real" family is the Greasers . Dally and Two-Bit are tough, not because the book portrays that but because all lthe author ever saids is Don't mess with Dally because he grew up on the streets of New York City. He does not do anything tough the whole book. Except when he is over run by grief and wants to die . He robs a conveinent store and when the police find him he turns a broken gun on the police. They of course shoot him.The Socs are the rival gang. They dont like the Greaers because they put Grease in their hair. So because of the way they do their hair the Socs attack and some times kill the Greasers. I having a teenage daughter know that this book is nothing like any teens life. A child is ridiculed in school because of the way they dress but you could never die because of it. So one night Darry hits Pony Boy and Johnny run away to a church. Dally helps them run away , yea thats real tough, and tells them how to lay low. When they leave the church with Dally to go to the Dairy Queen the church catches fire and children are trapped inside. Johnny and Pony Boy risk their lives to save them. Johnny breaks his back while trying to save these children. Johnny refuses to see his mother and only wants to see the gane because his mother hated him. If I was dying in a hospital and I hated my mom I would want to tell her I loved her before I couldn't tell her any more.Pony Boy starts to fail English and he writes this book so he can pass. The End....
I don't really see where this book went. The author wrote it when she was a teenager, but it still does not change the fact that this was npt really a book . It was more like the prolouge.Many teachers force their Sudents to read this book and they often enjoy it because of the violence . I don't think this book should have been published. It was not well written because the Greasers don't think about life like teenagers will. Instead they have page long analysis's about why they are he way they are. Like Dally ,who the author claims is so bad because he has been to juvie,is said to be bad because he grew up in New York City and had a hard childhood. A child would see this as he wanted attention because if his behavior was because of his upbringing then why is he nice to his friends if he was a horrible person. The author portrays that the Streets of NEw York are so bad to live on, but I don'tsee how where the Greaers were living was so much better.
Book Review: Nothing Gold Can Stay
Summary: 5 Stars
Have you ever read a book that was so good you could not put it down? A book where you could relate to some of the characters and the problems they had? Have you ever thought that your brothers/sisters don't understand anything that you are going through in life and you just want them to get out of your business? Well that has happened to me and it happens in this book, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. It is a great book that all teenagers can relate to and understand very well.
The story takes place in Oklahoma in the 1950's. It is about a group of poor friends that are in a gang called the "greasers." They face a lot of problems with the rich kid's called "socs." But throughout the story Ponyboy, the youngest from the gang, finds out that even the socs have their own share of problems.
Ponyboy Curtis is the smartest and the youngest of the gang. He has two brothers. One is named Sodapop and he is 16 years old and another one is named Darry and he is 20 years old. Their parents died a couple years before in a car accident. So Darry, the oldest, takes care of Ponyboy and Sodapop. Darry is considered their guardian but if they get in trouble with the police they could be sent to a boy's home. Darry and Sodapop are also greasers. The greasers' lives are going great until someone takes things too far and changes their lives forever.
I think that this is a very good book. While I was reading a summary of the book I saw a quote that immediately told me it was a drama and maybe a gang relative book. It was, "Nobody in this neighborhood's going to call the fuzz." I think people who like teen drama would love this book. When I started reading this book I could not put it down. It got my attention so much. I could really relate to it because almost all the situations in the book are true ones that some teenagers go through. It talks about issues like the "in group," the "out group," gangs, and friends.
The one thing that really got my attention in this book was that the author S.E. Hinton she wrote this book when she was fifteen. Then it got published when she was sixteen. She was a tomboy and she had friends that were greasers and socs. She found out that socs had their own share of problems too. She said that all of Ponyboy's thoughts were her thoughts too. Her inspiration to write this book was when one of her friends got jumped by these "nice kids" because they didn't like his being a greaser. She was very mad so she started pounding out a story of a boy who was beaten up while he was walking home from the movies. That was the beginning of The Outsiders. She also wrote other books like That was Then This is Now, Rumble Fish, and Tex. These books all have one thing in common, and that is that they all are teen related books that teenagers can understand. And even if the book was written a long time ago, teenagers today can still relate to it very well. I truly recommend this book to you and you will see that this book is filled with drama and action. Once you start reading this book, you will not want to put it down.
Book Review: An Outsider Review- The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
Summary: 4 Stars
The outsiders, an amazing book, is one of my personal favorites. This book is unpredictable and well written, and causes your reaction to change throughout the book. Even though it's set in the past, it relates to today's world in many ways. There is a sequel to the book called, That Was Then This Is Now, that I wish to read in the near future. S.E. Hinton shows great talent while writing the book, particularly because she was only sixteen at the time she wrote it. I felt like the character as I read, as if I was walking in their shoes, and seeing what they saw. I was facing the problems they faced, and feeling what they felt. This truly amazing writer definitely got through to me, and touched me.
As you read the book, it takes you on a roller coaster ride of emotion. Sometimes I was astonished and glad, sometimes shocked and sad. No matter which way I was feeling, it held my attention and kept me turning the pages.
The story takes place in a city, with two very different sides of the town. There is the West Side and the East Side. The East Side is where the greasers live. They're hoods with no money, which are looked down on by people that are "better" than they are. Some wear hand-me-downs because they can't afford clothes. Most of them are dropouts that have a poor job and a pack of cigarettes handy. Almost everyone that isn't a greaser thinks that the greasers aren't well educated, and don't have any manners or are just plain rude. Ponyboy (Pony) Curtis, a greaser, is the main character. Darry Curtis, Sodapop (Soda) Curtis, Dally Winston, Johnny Cade, Two-Bit Matthews, and Steve, are also members of the greasers. Through the many difficult situations in the book, including deaths and murders, the greasers always stick together.
On the other side of town, the West Side, the Socs are rich, stuck-up snobs. They're smart and don't have any problems (well, that's what all the greasers think). The Socs have as many problems as the greasers do, and are normal people like them. However, you'll find in the story that the greasers think they don't have any problems at all. The Socs own rich, fancy cars, such as the Mustang. The greasers and socs don't like each other at all. For fun, the socs "jump" the greasers.
Pony, Soda and Darry live alone with out their parents who died in a car accident. They aren't forced to go to a boys' home, but if anything goes wrong, they will. Darry, the oldest, and Pony, the youngest, don't get along. Darry is responsible for Pony and Soda, though he takes out all his stress out on Pony. At one point in the book Darry gets furious and causes Pony's absence, creating a big scene that is central to the plot of the whole book.
This extraordinary book relates to today's world in so many ways. This book definitely says that "you can't judge a book by it's cover" meaning that it's not what you do physically that counts the most, it's what kind of person you are on the inside.
The Outsiders is an amazing, extraordinary, and fabulous book that I strongly recommend to other people.