The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
My daughter read this book as part of her assigned reading for 7th grade English. As I rifled through it before she began, (I had never heard of it) I was iffy about it. She went on to read it and really enjoyed it. She really wanted me to read it so I downloaded the audio version on Overdrive.
I was intrigued by the idea that it was written in the sixties by a sixteen year old girl.
I was not disappointed. Set in Oklahoma, the book is written in the first person by a member of the "greasers" named Pony Boy- a wrong side of the tracks orphan. The book relates a series of events that pit his gang against a rival upper glass group of teenagers. The book has in depth dialogues and analysis of the boys that make up his group, two of which are his own older brothers who are committed to filling the place of the parents who died.
SE Hinton wanted to portray the true nature and similarities between kids of different classes in her own world. She unpacks the inner emotions beneath these tough exteriors. The narrator did a wonderful job with his Oklahoman accent and great emotional expression.
Some of the dialogues felt redundant but the author manages to convey tragedy with a sense of hope and a sense of bitter sweet camaraderie that prevents it from being a downer.
I can't wait to PonyBoy, Johnny, Darry, SodaPop, and Dallas in the movie version!
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