The Outsiders

Reader reviewed by Kate

We had to read this book in school as a novel study. I finshed it in like 5 days.
I cant really remeber the detalails of this book because I read it a long time ago, but its about two gangs of teenagers. Greasers - poor, from bad famaly's, usually with no parents and I dont remeber the name of their gang but teenagers who are from rich famaly's and think very highly of them selves. The two groups are always in fights, serious fights with knifes. Later in the book two of the main charectors die.
This book is really deep and sad. It made me think about stuff, how not fair the world is sometimes, how people get judged by pointless factors.
Our teacher told us that S.E. Hinton wrote this book when she was in high school and how she saw things like that happening alot.
I would defenetly recomend this book to evryone! READ IT! IT'S THE KIND OF BOOK THAT WILL LEAVE YOU THINKING ABOUT THINGS.

Reader reviewed by Booksr4me

OMG!If you haven't read this book you need to wrench your self away from this computer and go to your nearest book store and buy this book! Now!!!!!!!!

Anyway this just may be the greatest book of all time! Ponyboy ( YES that is his real name) is the main character and its about his one night when his brother hits him and he runs off and him and this other guy kill a guy. It is a awesome book.

Reader reviewed by Morgan

The Outsiders has got to be one of the best Young Adult reads out there. My favorite part even though I hated the fact that Johnny died i loved the part when he said "Stay Gold Ponyboy"

Reader reviewed by chatterbox891

I love this book so much that I took it from my brother, and have read it at LEAST 9 times.

In this gripping novel you read from Ponyboy's point of view and learn what it is like to be a Greaser. Those hooligans your mom always tell you to not hang out with, but if you are a girl, you can't wait to see their harley. (or something like that :P) Ponyboy has to deal with death, hate, love, and loss all in this short book.
This stroy really taught me not to be so quick to judge people, and that people are different no matter what their backround is.

Reader reviewed by Alyssa

'The Outsiders' by S.E. Hinton describes the conflict between two social classes, the greasers and the Socs. The narrator, fourteen-year-old Ponyboy Curtis, lives in a world where you've got to be tough; you've got to stand up for yourself and your gang. Throughout the book, Ponyboy learns many important lessons about life and growing up.

What I enjoyed most about this book is that I could closely relate to Ponyboy-- we are close to the same age. Despite this similarity, I could clearly see that we viewed the world through completely different eyes. It was also enjoyable to see what was the same and different in comparison of myself and other characters.

Additionally, S.E. Hinton makes 'The Outsiders' such a great book by actually swaying the reader to sort of befriend the characters. I could really feel the hardships that each character had to go through; I felt their pain and happiness.

The characters are wonderful, too. Sodapop and Darrel (the other Curtis brothers), Two-Bit, Dallas, Johnny, and many more characters contribute to the novel's fascinating plot and story.

Overall, 'The Outsiders' by S.E. Hinton is the best book out there. Trust me. Once you open the front cover, it won't close until you finish the book. I definitely recommend 'The Outsiders' to anyone in search of a book about friendship, belonging, and loyalty.

Reader reviewed by Jerrica

Yet another great book for a class reading. My class was assigned this book in the 7th grade. This book teaches valuable lessons and has a great story line.

Reader reviewed by tali

The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton is one of the most amazing books I have ever read! It is about a 14 year old boy named Ponyboy. He is part of a gang. His parents are dead and he lives with his two brothers, Darry, and Soda. He feels like no one understands him. He is different, like anyone would be, than everyone else in his gang. For example, most of the people in his gang get into fights or rob stores for no reason, but he doesn't.

As you have probably guessed, the charachters aren't exactly perfect. Most of them smoke, and are violent, and are thiefs. What I thought was really great about the book was that the author doesn't pass judgement on the charachters. She doesn't just straight out tell the reader that smoking, theft, and violence is bad. In fact, I never got the message from the book that smoking and theft are bad. However, the story is told from Ponyboy's point of view and he doesn't believe in violence from the begining, but throughout the story he learns more and more about this.

I would reccomend this book to anyone from the ages of 12- adult!

Lastly, I just wanted to point out that the author wrote this book when she was in high school. And yes, however supprising it may be, due to the lack of female charachters, S. E. Hinton is a woman.

Reader reviewed by Erin

Most of us have to read The Outsiders in school, seventh grade was when I was required to read it. I had heard it was a movie with a list of great stars including Tom Cruz. I figured I'd skip reading the book and instead watch Tom and Patrick Swazee (is that how you spell it?) act the book out for me. My mom caught wind of this and refused to allow it. I, unhappily opened the book and began reading. Little did I know I wouldn't be able to stop. This book is amazing. It blew me away. I wanted more. I did however end up watching the movie, disipointed really. For no book, let alone required school reading book, I have ever read been so GREAT! I can read it over and over again, as I can guarentee you would be able to.

Reader reviewed by No

This book is so great because it focuses on the bonds of the characters rather than their social status. This book doesn't categorize the characters as greasers and then show how they fit into that stereotype; instead S.E. Hinton shows how each character is an individual with a heart and a mind, despite their social status. I can't believe this book was written by a sixteen year old, and a girl for that matter! But it's a great story that I loved when I first read it at the age of 13 and still love now at 18.

Reader reviewed by M.L

S.E Hinton's "The Outsiders" should be a classic. Its about a gang called the "greasers", who live on the bad part of town. If you weren't a greaser you were a "soc," they lived on the good side of town. The book takes place in the 60's when gang members would jump people and have rumbles. But what the book is really about is growing up. Ponyboy curtis lives with his two brothers because his parents died before. He is best friends with Johnny. The book has different characters with different characteristics. Dally is titled as the bad one and when a couple gang members get in some big trouble he's there to help. Dally, Pony and Johnny have been through the most. As you read this book you'll feel sypathy for Ponboy because he's growing up. Robert Frost's poem "Nothing can stay gold" is what the books about.