Title: The Outsiders

Author: S.E. Hinton

Genre: Classics     

Publisher: Speak     

Format: Paperback

Pages: 186

Rating: 5/5 stars

Synopsis (Goodreads):

The Outsiders is about two weeks in the life of a 14-year-old boy. The novel tells the story of Ponyboy Curtis and his struggles with right and wrong in a society in which he believes that he is an outsider. According to Ponyboy, there are two kinds of people in the world: greasers and socs. A soc (short for “social”) has money, can get away with just about anything, and has an attitude longer than a limousine. A greaser, on the other hand, always lives on the outside and needs to watch his back. Ponyboy is a greaser, and he’s always been proud of it, even willing to rumble against a gang of socs for the sake of his fellow greasers–until one terrible night when his friend Johnny kills a soc. The murder gets under Ponyboy’s skin, causing his bifurcated world to crumble and teaching him that pain feels the same whether a soc or a greaser.

Review:

I can’t believe I didn’t read this book in school! I wish I did as I feel like this would have been a great book to talk about! One of the students in book club chose it as one of this months reads, so I’m glad I finally got the chance to read it! And I loved it! I’ve said it before, but I sometimes think I should get my students to pick all my reads, because they always pick good ones!

The book centres on a divide in the twin: between the greasers and the socs. The Socs have been tormenting Ponyboy and his gang of greasers, and things get out of hand one a young man dies. This event causes things to spiral out of control, and so many things happen!

This book made me think about different divides within society, and how really at the end of the day we are all people! That’s what I really got out of the book. And my heart just melted for Ponyboy and his brothers and how hard they work to stay together after the passing of their parents! Just so sad!

The writing of this book was really well done and it’s crazy to think that this book was written while the author was still in high school, and how she got a publishing deal for the book on her graduation day! I read that she used her initials because people said that some wouldn’t believe that a female wrote this story, which like ok, that’s ridiculous! But such a good book that everyone should read!

Happy reading!