I have just finished reading “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton. This book is a 180 page realistic fiction book. I really enjoyed reading this book because there was a lot of action, suspense, and description which helped me better understand, and enjoy the book.

In this book, there is a 16 year-old boy named Ponyboy Curtis, who is in a gang called the Greasers. They are located in North Texas Near Oklahoma. His brothers Sodapop and Darry are also in the gang, Along with some of his close friends Two-bit, Dally, and Johnny. Their rival gang, the Socs, are always looking for some action like a fight between them and the Greasers. One night Ponyboy stepped out of the movie theater. He had no ride so he was going to have to walk home. When he was about half way to his house, a red Mustang pulled up to his side. Four Socs jumped out of it and started to follow Ponyboy. He noticed what was going on and he picked up the pace a little bit. But the Socs were too fast. They picked it up in an instant and had Ponyboy pinned to the concrete sidewalk. One of them pulled out a blade and said “Need a haircut greaser?” with a bitter grin on his face. Ponyboy jerked and the blade slashed the side of his head. The Socs continued to beat Ponyboy until there was a couple screams and in an instant the Socs were gone, and Sodapop and Darry were looking down at Ponyboy.

Throughout this book, the conflict between the Socs and the Greasers keeps on getting heated and heated and heated. After Johnny punned the trigger on a Soc, one of the Soc’s buddies injured Johnny and put him in the hospital, and in bad shape. The Greasers were out to get revenge. One night things got heated to a boil with the two groups were in a full-out fist fight, no weapons, just fists, Socs vs. Greasers. Is was a HUGE fight. Ponyboy beat his man and ran over to help another Greaser with his. Them one of the Socs yelled “RUN!” And that is when the Greasers made history. Sodapop, Dally, and Ponyboy went to the hospital to visit Johnny right after the fight knowing that his time was very close to being up. When they finally got to his room, the first words that came out of Darry’s mouth was “We won, we beat the Socs!” All Johnny could do was sit there.

Quoted Passage:

“Dally licked his lips nervously. “They’re still writing editorials about you in the paper. For being a hero and all.” He was talking too fast and too calmly. “Yeah, they’re calling you a hero now and heroizin’ all the Greasers. We’re all proud of you buddy.” Johnny’s eyes glowed. Dally was proud of him. That was all Johnny ever wanted. “Ponyboy.” I barley herd him. I came closer and leaned over to hear what he was going to say. “Stay gold, Ponyboy stay gold…” The pillow seemed to sink a little, and Johnny died.” Pg: 148

This passage really struck me because, if I were Ponyboy in that moment, I wouldn’t know what to say or do. That would be very shocking to me. Especially if he told me to stay gold, that would be an honor.

I rate this book a 9 out of 10 because this was a very good read and it is exactly what I am looking for in a book. I liked How the author used a lot of action and suspense to keep the reader at the edge of their seat. It also made me want to keep reading until I got to the outcome of the book!

From,

Tiernan