Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Bethany

"When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home."

THE END

CHAPTER 1
"When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home."

Doesn't something sound similar? These two sentences are thought by Ponyboy at the ending and beginning of the story, THE OUTSIDERS. They're exactly the same! This part was my favorite part of the novel. How it starts and ends the same. It was amazing how the author was able to do that and not confuse anybody. The book goes around in a circle, connected like the circle of life which this book made me think about. The Outsiders was the first book written by S.E. Hinton AKA Susan Eloise Hinton when she was only seventeen and it was a great hit. The book has been in libraries and stores for over fifty years!

"Socs!"
"Greasers!"
"Socs!"
Greasers and Socs are the two rival gangs that have been fighting for a long time. They are completely different. West side rich kids, high classed, mustang drivers, does bad stuff just for kicks, jumps Greasers... Yup! Those are the Socs. The cool guys. On the other hand, East side poor kids, low class, wild, and greasy haired... That's the Greasers.
Realistic-Fiction is a perfect genre to describe this book. You always can relate or disagree with books like these, makes you become the character and think and feel. The book has very strong writing with very good details and many lessons can be learned by reading this book. Normally, a realistic fiction book may become boring because of the long text, but this book kept me reading. It made me wonder what will happen next. It didn't confuse me like a lot of other books from this genre do.


The Outsiders was written like a diary from Ponyboys point of view.
This story took place in a small city called Windrixville. There were a lot of important characters in this book in my opinion. But I would say that Ponyboy and Johnny were the two main protagonists this book. They taught the readers a huge lesson. Ponyboy, the main protagonist of this book is a Greaser. His parents had died when he was still a young boy. That is why he lives with his brothers Sodapop and Darry. He always thought that Sodapop was the kind of look he wanted to be but his own looks are not pretty bad either. Long light brown almost red hair, and greenish grey eyes. He loves movies which a lot of the gang likes too, but he also likes to draw, read, and watch sunsets. Not a lot of Greasers or Socs like these. He has a great friend Johnny who is also fourteen years old, sadly abused by his parents, and very sensitive. They both have a tough and hard life being a Greaser. Things are rough all over. Most of the story talks about how Socs and Greasers are in a fight. For example the time when Socs drown Ponyboy or when four of the Socs scare Johnny really badly.


This book taught me not only one lesson but many important lessons. When you think about the lessons of this book you may say isn't that obvious? Everybody knows that! But because some things are so obvious, you forget about it a lot of times. For example do you always think, I am so happy I'm with my family? Do you think about it every single time you see them? No, I don't think so. If someone asks you about it, you would probably say, of course I am happy being with my family! But it happens every day that we don't think about it too much and I think it is the same with other stuff. A few of the themes of this book were lessons but I think a most were reviews. For example, one of the themes I recognized was "A hero is not always a person that is good." Johnny and Ponyboy became a big hero but they weren't good all the time. Nobody can be perfect was also brought up in this book.


I highly recommend this book to teenagers and young adults that ever felt like or feel like outsiders. On the other hand I don't recommend this book to little children because of the story that comes strongly to your heart and it may be a bit hard to understand. It lets you think positively, and makes you look at the world from a different view. I liked this book a lot because it had a lot of emotion and strong writing in it. Everybody would have some way to relate to one of the characters or their feelings.


I hope everybody who read this review would be interested in The Outsiders. If you imagined a perfect novel, this The Outsiders is one that would cross the perfect line. It had a drop of adventure, a teaspoon of humor, a pinch of emotion, and everything you can expect from a book.