THE Outsiders
by S.E. Hinton
Length: 180 pages
Format: Kindle book
Price: $6.44
Basic Premise: Set in the 1960s, this novel follows orphan Ponyboy Curtis and his brothers as they struggle to live life alongside their rival gang, the Socs (short for "socials"). The Curtis boys and their gang, the Greasers, find themselves caught up in a murder case rife with violence and scandal. As he tries to make sense of what has happened, Ponyboy begins to believe that there is more to life than what's in his.
My Take: 9 out of 10 (scale here)
I first read this book in college. I was in a YAL class and I had to read nearly 40 books total, so I took a caseload of books with me when I went to South Africa. I read this one on a particularly long bus trip to Capetown. (Interesting note: we drove through the country of Swaziland, which is surrounded on all sides by South Africa. We got off, got our passports stamped next to an enormous condom despenser, and got back on the bus only to repeat the process an hour later as we exited the country. Weird.) I don't remember being particularly impressed by it, other than liking how the beginning and ending sentences were the same. I decided to reread it this year because we had students write a paper which compares this novel with the one we read in my class. This is the first year I have done this project, so a reread was in order. And I enjoyed it. I can see why my reluctant readers - most of them, boys - gobble this book up. It's violent, it's mature, but it's a great book, and a great lesson in the dangers of stereo-types.
I think I would love to teach this book.
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