Lynda Edwards

The Outsiders

Dave | Storyphoria

I’ll have a full review soon up on aicstories.com but this is my first revisit of this book since junior high school and man does it hit hard. 

The first half feels a bit simplistic at times but the final act is such a beautiful and heartbreaking gut punch that really wrecked me in a way I never remembered from way back then and certainly never expected.

Highly recommended.

FULL REVIEW AT: https://aicpod.com/review/the-outside...

Spencer McWilliams

This book is probably one of the best books I ever read.
I laughed, I cried, I smiled..you name it.

elle t

Where was the plot? Such an anticlimax ending, there was so much potential. They do one good thing then the problem is over like they didn’t commit a federal crime? 

All the characters names where stupid. Who in their right mind names their kid Ponyboy, or Soda Pop!?

All their personalities where so similar to. It just didn’t intrigue me that much. They where all so boring, the only bits of personality we got from people that weren’t PonyBoy was that they where all gang members with hard lives. The author never mentioned 1 thing they liked. I never connected with the characters. 

While reading I heard that the author of this book is problematic and that made me want to finish less. 

Don’t recommend.

Katie Leuteritz

This is the book that got me out of my reading slump. For that I will always be grateful <3

So sad at the end, you stay silent for a while.

Celeste Richardson

Full review now posted!

Wow, this was an incredibly powerful book. And it was made more powerful (for me) by the knowledge that the author was only 16 when she penned it. 

The story of Ponyboy, his brothers, and their gang of greaser friends was profoundly emotional. The violence between opposing gangs, and the lack of adult knowledge or interference, seemed so sad and pointless, but adolescent rage with no direction or purpose has to exert itself in some way. These boys just wanted to survive, and to possibly find happiness in the process, but life is so very against them.

All of the greasers, even those who weren’t present quite as often, were very well developed. Each of them were unique individuals, despite being members of a gang that sprang from the pen of a teenager. However, my two favorites were Ponyboy, our main character, and Johnny. These two were a little more obviously sensitive than the rest of their group, and the other boys fought desperately to preserve this innocence that they themselves had already lost. This protectiveness was sweet and heartbreaking and seemingly futile in the face of poverty and gang wars and other symptoms of having to living in such a broken world.

But even in the midst of such tragedy, there is always hope. Sunsets and chocolate cake for breakfast and brothers who would give you the shirt off their backs if it would make you smile all proclaim this hope. Good friends and track meets and laughter and Gone with the Wind all make life worth living, even when it hurts. 

This is another book that I wish I had found when I was a teenager, but better late than never, right? Hinton wrote the story she needed, one of teens portrayed as they really are, in all their angry, laughing glory. This was a tale of hardship and how unfair life can be and the resilience of adolescents. It was sad and moving and life-affirming. If you haven’t read it, please do so. And if you know a teen that is raging against the hand they’ve been dealt, try to get a copy of this into their hands.

A buddy read with the lovely Mary!

For more of my reviews, as well as my own fiction and thoughts on life, check out my blog, Celestial Musings.

Wes Michaud

** spoiler alert **
           I really enjoyed this book it was good and I am surprised that I didn’t cry at certain parts especially when Jonny dies

Brianna

so much complexity and emotion and validity in one shot of a book. It burns going down, but in a good way. 
Wish I had read it sooner.

Piper Summer

Important perspective into both high school life and the real world implications of stereotypes.

Vittoria Vespoli 

Abbey

Abigail Dougherty

THE BEST BOOK I READ IN SCHOOl. i literally love this book, i fell in love with these characters because they arent perfect and they make mistakes but they have amazing personality. one of the best books ive read

Maria

Dally's death😭😭 the ending was a bit rushed and I didn't fully understand it

Mariam Mohsen

This book was so great, I fell in love with it till the end, I loved how the brothers have solved there problems even though they weren't perfect, totally worth reading, thank you so much to my wonderful best friend for recommending me this very awesome book

For summer reading, we had to read this book. I probably would've read it anyway, required or not, because so many people were raving about how great of a YA book it was. 
What I was then subject to was about two-hundred pages of utterly delayed epiphanies and ingenuous prose. Maybe it's merely because of the young protagonist, but, honestly, it was more than a bit of a stretch.

The Outsiders details the conflicts of an adolescent named Ponyboy as he achieves maturity and tries to find his way among the street gangs of his hometown. From an objective standpoint, The Outsiders is just a preposterously weak novel. In the place of the jolting grittiness necessary to carry the violence and toughness, we have artless prose that is bland and unrevealing. These emotional scenes are full of anguish because the book itself wants this, and because of the natural human reaction to violence and death. Hinton doesn't really convey the real wrenching, heartfelt sentiment behind these events. So here we are, with a completely expressionless book that is basically just a shopping list of incidents that happens throughout Ponyboy's youth.

Sometimes, it's difficult to see if the novel has any sort of emotional attachment to its own characters. When Johnny's past is finally revealed and the other greasers show up after he was attacked, all they do is sit around, spewing sympathetic remarks. Johnny's harrowing ordeal becomes just a reason for some conversing among the characters. He becomes nothing more than a specimen to be measured and observed, then tossed away as other matters build up through the novel. 

These are issues faced with Dally, too; he is dangerous because the novel itself says he is, rather than he himself demonstrating any real rebellious characteristics other than the matter with the policeman. These characters really just lack individuality as a whole. 

These teenagers fail also fail horribly to see the most blatant meanings behind the situations in which they find themselves. In the last couple of pages, we get insight after insight as Ponyboy finally puts everything together and sees the "meaning" behind everything. Yes, Ponyboy finally understands a little more about Darry because of a little family tiff. Then, both of them finally understand something about Sodapop and his anxieties to fit in with the family. The slap-dash job of shoehorning all of these epiphanies and thoughts into one confused tangle of ideas make them all incredibly shallow and unconvincing. 

With these thoughts in mind, I gave it a two-star rating not really because of any redeeming qualities in particular, but really just because it's a far cry better than a lot of the other paranormal "YA" books. 

A final thought: Most people believe that all of these issues are justified by saying, "Hinton was so young when she wrote this, though!"
...
Well, yeah. You can tell.

baelgia

You'll notice a pattern with how I rate books/decide whether or not to add them into my so-called Perfection shelf: the amount of tears shed is directly proportional to the number of stars. I think I cried thrice through the last 40 or so pages of The Outsiders, starting from when the infamous line, "Stay gold, Ponyboy," was uttered. So that five stars and the membership into my exclusive shelf? Extremely well deserved.

Now excuse me as I go reread the last few chapters and cry some more.

Nadine 

Thanks to a reference to this book in another I finally got around to listening to it. Definitely a classic that has stood the test of time.

Nuria Diaz 

I loved the book! I had to read it for school and usually I don't like the supplementary novels that my school gives, but I loved The Outsiders. I found the characters very complex especially Dallas, I found him very intriguing. The book was very nicely written, not too much detail nor too little. S.E Hinton has a very particular way of writing that I liked, I could imagine all the scenes without a problem. This book was very good and I recommend it to anyone especially teenagers, it was worth the read!

Qaisarah Kamal Fariz

Toni Turner

In the ninth grade when I read this in my English class It was the second time I read this book. The first time was when I found it in the library of Joe Walker. I still remember reading it before bed and bawling my eyes out... both times This, I honestly think, was the very first book I read that made me emotional. Great stuff.

Samirah Arif

I am the only person I know who didn't like this book. I think the reason why is because of personal preferences rather than issues with the actual book. For example, I prefer longer books, especially those in series so I have a chance to actually connect with the characters. I didn't really have that here. It was just too fast-paced. I also found it kinda annoying (view spoiler)[that he ran away after being slapped once. He would never last in a desi household. I dunno. (hide spoiler)]

Kendall Gray

ponyboy and sodapop have my heart <3
i loved all the characters so much

Hannah Alexander 

I love this book it teaches you a great lesson!! And I love the characters and the way the author writes!!

Marii

Short and sweet(ish) but packs a punch is how I would describe this book.
 At the start of this novel I didn't know what to expect, all I knew was this book is a classic and many people's favorite. Slowly I began to feel for theses characters and was nervously awaiting the end. By the end before I even realized I was sobbing wishing I could re read this book and hopefully the ending would change. But this book was perfect. 
Stay Gold Ponyboy. Stay Gold.

The Outsiders

Reviews