Mango's Reviews > The Outsiders

THIS WAS SO GOOD I HAD TO READ IT A SECOND TIMEALSFJSKLFJASLKFD
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“Stay gold, Ponyboy, stay gold.”

I'M NOT CRYING, YOU ARE.

Ok, before I get to the review, I would like to say a couple things. This book was read for school! So in school, we were given 5 books, and had to choose one book to read for a literature study.

The choices were:
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Copper Sun
The Outsiders
The Giver

Now, you might be asking why I chose this book, and that's because I found this book in my recommendations a while back! So, I would like to thank Izzy for recommending this book to me, I really loved it! <3

Now...onto the review:

I really loved this book! I did not expect to like it, because, well my school usually doesn't pick good books for us to read. But, I did have higher hopes than usual since this was recommended by Izzy. :) I was not disappointed!

Let's start with the plot!
PonyBoy, the main character, is a Greaser. They are more like outsiders of their town, having to watch their back against Socs. Socs, or Socials, are the people with the money, and the richer folk who can get away with anything. The Socs and Greasers are at constant battle, always fighting with each other.

But, PonyBoy it proud to be a Greaser. Even though his life is rough, he has his family to keep him company. His family consists of his two brothers, Soda and Darry, and some friends considered family, like Steve, Two-Bit, Dally, and Johnny.

So life is good, PonyBoy goes to school, and hangs out with the gang. However, everything changes when his friend Johnny, kills a Soc (not a spoiler, it's in the synopsis). Some Socs jump PonyBoy and Johnny, and one of them tries to drown PonyBoy. Johnny then has no choice but to kill him. He never intended to kill, but what's done is done.

PonyBoy and Johnny then have to adjust to the criminal life. They run away to a different town, and hide. This is basically half the plot, but Hinton really makes the plot interesting!

In the next half of the book, there is a fire in a building, and children are in the building. Johnny, PonyBoy, and Dally (who met them in the church later), go in to save the children. Then, they go from criminals to heroes. So this half of the book is very different, as they are adjusting to their new selves.

But, there's a problem. Johnny and Dally? They got injured in the fire, and are now in the hospital. There's no guarantee whether they will survive or not.

This worries the crap out of the gang. And many shocking events follow.

The plot twists were quite interesting with this one! I was quite shocked when (view spoiler)[Randy refused to fight the greasers. (hide spoiler)] It also totally broke my heart when (view spoiler)[Johnny died. You see the quote in my review? Those were Johnny's last words. (hide spoiler)] I was literally in tears when (view spoiler)[Dally killed himself because of Johnny's death. (hide spoiler)]

The plot was really good, made me quite emotional. But what made me more emotional was the fact that I could connect to these characters.


Let's move onto the characters:

I really enjoyed the characters! I found that I could connect with some of them, and I love characters whom I can emotionally relate to.

PonyBoy: Our main character! PonyBoy is the youngest of his 2 brothers, Soda and Darry. He is a kind guy, not your typical greaser. He enjoys reading and watching sunsets. So you can see why I could connect with him lol. But anyways, PonyBoy grows up with the gang, and is the youngest of the group. I honestly thought being in his head was quite interesting.

He thought some pretty deep things. Throughout the book, he talked about books he read, and how they applied to real life. And the way he thought them, it wasn't like reading a textbook. It was actually interesting. Who knew analyzing poetry could be interesting? XD

I definitely saw a lot of growth in him throughout the book. In the beginning of the book, he was an uncertain boy who loved to read. Now, our PonyBoy has grown up so much! Look at him, giving wise saying and thinking smart things. He is so much more confident of himself and I'm proud of him!

Soda: Soda holds a special place in my heart. He is the middle child of the three brothers. He quit school, because he claims he was too dumb, and works at a gas station.

Soda is so supportive, it's very sweet. When PonyBoy was sent to the hospital, he was the first one there. When PonyBoy was in the dark, Soda turned on the light for him. He really helped PonyBoy in a way I found really sweet. This is the definition of the best sibling relationship.

Soda definitely grew too! In my opinion he was perfect at the beginning, but at the end, he definitely became more mature and more responsible. Rooting for him!

Darry: Darry was...interesting. I didn't like him at first to be honest. He was bossy, and seemed to have something against PonyBoy. Darry is the oldest of the brothers. He could have gone to college, but he left school to get money to support the gang.

That sounds great, but he was so harsh to PonyBoy, and clearly favored Soda over him. But, as the story progressed on, he grew on me. I found out that he really did care for PonyBoy, he just did not know how to express it.

When PonyBoy was in the hospital, after Soda, Darry was the second one to show up. It was such an emotion scene when (view spoiler)[the two brothers hugged. (hide spoiler)] I could really sense that they finally understood each other.

So did Darry grow? Heck yeah! He grew from an emotionless, tough rock to a caring big brother. He definitely changed a lot through the book, and I'm proud of his transformation!

Dally: I hated Dally with pure hatred at first as well. He harassed girls, committed crimes, and had a crazy criminal record. He was tough, and nothing got to him. I saw him as kind of evil.

But, only at the end, when (view spoiler)[Dally killed himself, (hide spoiler)] I caught a glimpse of him. He wasn't unbreakable. He wasn't evil. This was just his way of life. The reason he (view spoiler)[killed himself (hide spoiler)] was because he was in grief. (view spoiler)[Johnny's death (hide spoiler)] finally broke him and that's how he dealt with it.

He is now one of my favorite characters, even though he broke my heart. :(

Johnny: He also has a special place in my heart! Who am I kidding? All these characters are special! Johnny is considered the "pet" of the gang, second youngest to PonyBoy.

He had very low self-esteem, because the Socs gave him a really bad beating one day. His parents didn't want him, so his gang was his family. I wouldn't say he was happy like PonyBoy, he really wanted his family to love him.

When Johnny killed the Soc, he changed completely. He was scared of himself. But, when PonyBoy and Johnny run away together, he definitely grew.

When he was caught in the fire and ended up in the hospital, he became more sure of himself, and learned to love himself. Unfortunately, (view spoiler)[he did not survive. I feel so sad he didn't get a happy ending. He totally deserved it. :( (hide spoiler)]

Overall, Johnny was an amazing character, whom I will never forget.

To conclude, I really loved the characters! Too bad this isn't a sequel to this book, I would have loved to see more of them! <3


Moving on to the writing!

The writing was quite simplistic, but it still holds a special place in my heart. There was a lot of slang, and I honestly appreciated it. A lot of authors make the characters talk so formally, it gets unrealistic. Hinton has the characters talk in a very casual tone, and it had its own charm.

I have nothing more to say about the writing, but I really loved it!

Overall, I really loved this book. It covered some very deep topics such as empathy, honor, identity, and divided communities. I honestly learned a lot from this book. Really? Who would have ever thought a fiction book could teach you something? Believe or not, it did.

Thank you S.E. Hinton, this was a masterpiece.
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This was absolutely amazing and heart-breaking. Review to come.