Reviews with content warning for Bullying - The Outsiders

To be honest I didn’t expect the sudden death of the characters, and kids getting jumped. Although, since I have experience in being jumped in the past, It draws me in more and I could relate to the kids a little more than others would have. It was really sad that some of the main characters died, but I think because of those, I could be emotionally drawn into reading more.

I also liked the foreshadowing that was written from time to time. It made me excited or scared to read the next parts but without them I would have been a little bored.

The characters are all very different, they each have unique parts in the gang and that makes the group even stronger. I really love how the characters grew over time and learned to think more maturely. (especially ponyboy)

There was a lot to put in the theme identity, I think most of the book is just part of it. The kids go through a terrible traumatic experience but still know what their identity is and their identity is the most important part of their lives and relationships.

I have also seen a lot of cycles of violence. It’s something people can’t really help, someone who had experienced child abuse, sadly usually does it to theirs, bully victoms become bullies. Although I liked that ponyboy didn’t continue that and stayed the pure boy he always was.

Other than that I liked the way the story went really fast, it was also very fun to annotate. The story was somewhat realistic and believable.

Content Warnings

kiwichill's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was made into an iconic movie when I was a teenager. The themes of brotherhood, loyalty and social standing are still relevant today. Life is precious and can be gone in the blink of an eye, something the characters are well aware of.

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katreena's review against another edition

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adventurous sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

claire_leibovitz's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

inirac's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

sarasreading's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

It took me long enough, but I've finally read this book! The narrative was simple, but engaging. In some ways it was telling that it was written by a teenager (like all of the physical descriptions of every character), but in other ways it was deep and seemed full of wisdom beyond the author's years. The depictions of PTSD and commentaries on classism and family conflicts were all excellent. It was probably going to be a 3.5 star read for me, but the very ending was clever and bumped it up for me.

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