Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Majken

Nothing gold can stay.
This is what Ponyboy is brainstorming over. Digging sunsets isn't maybe the first thing you see a greaser doing, but this is Ponyboys hobby. What does the quote mean?
The book The Outsiders written by S.E. Hinton is a very realistic book (realistic fiction) that settles back about 50 years ago at the east coast of the U.S. The book is very realistic with no fairytale endings. The story is written in first person and told by Ponyboy, 14 years old. He is the one going through the pain, but also describing it in the book.
S.E. Hinton who wrote the book was only 17 years old when she started. The book was the first one she had ever written. She started it because she was angry at a Soc that had called her friends greasers. It made her express her feelings.
When I first started this book I was not very pleased. I thought the teachers made a bad choice, because it seemed everything else besides interesting. The beginning was confusing with the character descriptions but of course they were useful then later on. When read further on the book I even had some problems stopping to read when class was over because everything was so clear. That is also why I finished the book before half of the class. The middle of the book was a bit hard to understand also because everything went past so fast and I had problems to understand what was going on. One example is that first something very serious happened, then they moved and suddenly they were back. This just didnt seem realistic enough.
The main character of the book is Ponyboy. A couple of the minor characters are Sodapop (Soda) and Darrel (Darry), Pony's brothers. Then there is also the gang: Johnny, Dally, Steve, and Two-Bit. Soda is the nicest one in the gang and he cares about people. The characters in the book also call him movie-star handsome. Darry is a bit tougher then. He seems very hard, but it is because he wants other people to success in school and get a sophisticated job when he didn't. Johnny is often frightened and shy. Steve has a big mouth and is not very friendly. Two-Bit then again thinks that life is a joke. Two-Bit never takes anything very seriously.
They all go through a lot of adventures. For example in the beginning of the book Ponyboy gets jumped by 5 Socs. In the book there are two different sides, the rich side; the Socs, and the poor or mistreated side; the greasers. Later on in the book there are fights - mostly between Ponyboy and Darry - but one of the fights even lead to death. The fights between Darry and Ponyboy are nothing serious though, mostly about school and behavior Of course the police find out about the murder and soon they are caught. What is unfathomable with this is that they were claimed heroes after they saved kids in a burning church. Sadly some important characters die. Now if I reveal any more about the book you will understand the book before you read it, because the plot is very simple and easy to guess.
Some positive thoughts about this book are that it's very detailed and real. It feels like you are actually living with the characters. The book has satisfying action and a very clear and message to everyone. A negative thing is that it contains hard words from the 50's. Of course you can think about it in a positive way because it makes the book more realistic. If you don't understand, you can use a dictionary or internet.
My opinion of this book is very positive. I liked the author's way of writing and showing how unfair the world can be. She used many mental pictures to show the world and this relates pretty much to the present. I thought S.E. Hinton had a talented and excellent word choice. But mostly why I liked this book was because Ponyboy just seemed too much like me. He acted the same why but the only difference is that I have a lot of energy meanwhile he is more calm. I recommend everyone over 10 years old to read it. Younger kids might not understand the book as well as older children. But the world isnt fair, is it?