The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

 

Title:  The Outsiders

Author:  S.E. Hinton

Narrated by:  Spike McClure

Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.

Length: Approximately 5 hours and 48 minutes

Source: Checked out with Hoopla through the Kewaunee Public Library.  Thank-you!

 

What is your favorite book that you read in middle school?  I don’t really remember being assigned books in middle school, just short stories, but I loved reading R.L. Stine, Christopher Pike, the Nancy Drew Case Files, and Sweet Valley High during that time.

I somehow missed reading The Outsiders.  My two boys read it and enjoyed it in middle school and my daughter has just started to read it at school this week.  I noticed it was one of the top hundred favorite books in the PBS Great American Read in 2018. I finally read The Outsiders myself in January as part of the #classicbuddyread hosted by @dees.reads.

Ponybox Curtis is a fourteen-year-old orphan.  He has two older brothers that take care of him and want him to have a better life.  Over a two-week period, he struggles with what is right and wrong in life between his group, the greasers, and the rich kids, the socs.  When a tragedy occurs, how will Ponyboy and his friends handle it?

My thoughts on the novel:

·       It started off slow for me, but I got sucked into the story and I couldn’t quit listening to the audiobook.

·       I was shocked and moved by the story.

·       It’s amazing to me that this book was written by a teenager, and I think it really helps it to speak to teens.

·       This is a found family story.  I love that Ponyboy learns to appreciate his brothers and understand their sacrifices as the story progresses.

·       Ponyboy realizes that his enemies are people too who make both good and bad decisions and are loved.

·       People make assumptions about the greasers, but they can also be heroic and good.  Don’t judge a person by their appearance.

·       There was a LOT of smoking in this novel.

·       I had never watched the classic 80’s movie.  I finally watched it over the weekend, and it was pretty good.  Bravo to whoever the casting director was.  I don’t know how they wrangled that many future stars into one movie.

Favorite Quote, “It seemed funny to me that the sunset she saw from her patio and the one I saw from the back steps was the same one. Maybe the two different worlds we lived in weren't so different. We saw the same sunset.”

Overall, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton was a good book and definitely worth reading, even as an adult.