Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Victoria

The Outsiders Book Review
When you live in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the 1960s, you are forced to stop having feelings, regardless of whether you are a Greaser or a Soc. Thats what Ponyboy Curtis, also known as just Ponyboy, experienced in The Outsiders, a realistic fiction book that was written by S. E. Hinton at the age of 17. Even though it is fiction, this book has a lot of true events. It has characters, that you grab your attention and whom you will love the moment you start reading about each of them. The character from which you see the books point of view is Ponyboy, which also happens to be the main character. At first I thought this book was confusing, because there were so many new characters introduced at once, and I had difficulties remembering who was who. I knew though from the very first page that this story would hook me in and take me through a time machine, and I would feel as if I were in the 1960s living the characters daring lives. And so it did.
As I mentioned before this book takes place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the early 1960s. The book includes a lot of amusing characters like; Ponyboy Curtis, Johnny Cade, Daryl Curtis, Sodapop Curtis, Dallas Winston and lots of others. Ponyboy is the main protagonist, and he sees the world differently than the rest of the Greasers. The Greasers include Ponyboy, Sodapop, Steve Randle, Two-Bit, Darry (Daryl), Johnny, and Dallas Winston, also known as Dally. A lot of the Greasers resemble each other, they are tough, non-chalant, troubled teenagers, but in many special ways they are different. Johnny is the gangs pet; Dally is the toughest of them all and has been through everything. Steve has a special gift, that is he can fix a car in a matter of seconds. Darry is the gangs, over-worker and works 24/7 to support his brothers Sodapop and Ponyboy. Ponyboy is the sensitive one and the one that makes people realize the beauty in life, for example sunsets. The groups charmer is Sodapop, with his good looks and charm. Last but not least good olTwo-Bit is the crowds joker, and makes everyone laugh, even though its a sad occasion.
The Outsiders consists of two rival gangs; the Greasers and the Socs. These two gangs are separated by their social status. The Greasers are a lower class gang, which wear faded, ripped jeans, a t-shirt and a big amount of grease in their hair. They have many problems, including their family life, but mostly they have conflicts with the Socs. On the other hand, the Socs are a high class gang, with madras shirts and blue mustangs. Some Socs are; Bob Sheldon, Cherry Valance, Marcia, and Randy. Socs try to jump the Greasers whenever possible. And when I say jump, I mean that they beat them to the ground, and sometimes even pull out a blade. But in the process of reading the book, you find out that Cherry and Marcia are two sweet girls which would never dare to hurt anyone, and they are not like other gruesome Socs.
The first thing that happens in The Outsiders is that Ponyboy one day is walking from the movies, when a blue mustang pulls up on the side of him, and instantly he knows its the Socs wanting some action. They beat him up, but stop when they see Soda, and Two-bit running towards them. In this book, you will also read about other problems and happenings such as murder, running away from home, getting killed, rumbles and gang violence happening between the rival gangs.
I would recommend this book to other readers because you can really relate to the Greasers and Socs problems. Also, this book makes you feel as if you were a by-stander at every scene. You will feel the emotions the characters have throughout the book, simply adore the characters, and you will wish they were your friends. However, you may come across some challenging vocabulary, were you may want to take out a dictionary. This on the other hand will expand your vocabulary tremendously. At some parts of the book, it was very difficult to really understand what was happening. This is where you go back to the place you got confused, and simply read the text again, but this time slowly. Overall, this book will surprise you, make you cry and will take you to the scandalous lives of the Socs and Greasers all in one book.
You should read this book because it has a lot of true feelings, remarkable characters and superior style of writing which really gets you glued to this book whenever you start reading. Every event that takes place in the book makes you wonder what will happen next, it feels as if you are in the characters place, experiencing their every action. Even though, as I explained earlier, it has difficult word choice. The word choice is a bit challenging because it was written for another time period. The Outsiders is a very realistic book that I would without a doubt recommend to any eager reader over the age of 11.