Book Review: The Outsiders, by SE Hinton

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Have you ever read a book that changed your life?

For me, it was this book, which I first read when I was fourteen years old, over forty years ago.

Ponyboy Curtis lives with his two brothers, Darry and Sodapop, in Oklahoma, on the wrong side of the tracks. Their parents died in a car accident some time prior to the events of the book, and Darry is struggling to hold what's left of the family together, while working as a roofer.
The three of them have a group of close friends, their "gang", with whom they hang out. The gang all backs each other up like family. For the book's purposes, the two most important members other than Ponyboy are Johnny, a sixteen year old who is timid and abused by his parents, and Dallas/Dally, who is as tough a hood as you'll find anywhere.

Johnny and Ponyboy get jumped by the rich kids in town, known as the Socs (for Socialites), and Johnny stabs one to keep Polyboy from being drowned in a park fountain. The two split town, with the help of Dally.

The events that follow will drag you up and down the emotional staircase, and leave you wrung out by the end of the book. I learned a lot about love, and loyalty, from reading this book. I have read it a number of times over the years, and every time, it makes me cry.



View all my reviews