A review by sweetsummerchild
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

The Outsiders is a story taking place in the 50’s-60’s discussing childhood gangs. This book was a very enjoyable read for me and is not usually something I’d pick up to read but I thoroughly enjoyed it. As Ponyboy is just about my age I had to try to put myself in his shoes as to how he lives his life as opposed to mine. This book brough awareness to children and gangs and violence among children which is a topic that not many books execute well but I found this book managed to do it while still being something for young teens as myself to enjoy. Despite this book coming across to be violent, it has such a great place for reflection and meaning. We realize these kids aren’t rough just being it’s their nature, they just long for love and affection. Ponyboy being the youngest happens to be the most innocent, and wouldn’t intentionally hurt someone. We see the other gang members, primarily Johnny trying to preserve this. In this we see a heavy message of innocence or as the book refers to, the colour gold. 
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