Book 44: The Outsiders

Book 44: The Ousiders

S.E. Hinton
1967
Rating:
3


Amazon.com Review


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. This classic, written by S. E. Hinton when she was 16 years old, is as profound today as it was when it was first published in 1967.
 
What Do I Think?
I first read this book back in Eighth grade, and I didn't much like it then. To be completely honest, I still don't like it. I mean, yeah, it's all right, but the plot is really strange and it's almost as if Hinton said 'I want them to do this. No, I change my mind, now they're going to do this.' They start out in their town, Johnny and Ponyboy get beat up, on faithful night, and Johnny kills a Soc. They need to run away, so they do, and they go to a church a few towns away. They live there for a few chapters until Dally (Darry? Confusing character names are confusing.) comes to the town and they decide to leave with him. The church is on fire and there are kids inside. They get the kids out, but Johnny breaks his back. They go back into town in an ambulance. Then there is a big fight and all the Greasers win. Hurray. Johnny dies, then someone else kills himself, and they all watch. Darn.
I mean, it's good for a sixteen-year-old and is quite relateable, the plot is just a little wibbily-wobbily.