The Outsiders in Overdue Podcast

Jul 13, 2024 Edward Chamberlin rated it really liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I thought I would dislike this, since I never grew up reading Young Adult lit. and haven't exactly had great experiences reading it as an adult (Hunger Games was really disappointing), but this was actually a fun read, if somewhat slight.

I think the Robert Frost poem that first appears in chapter 5, and then is quoted by Johnny on his deathbed, really serves as the heart of the book. Frost's poem (or at least the part quoted, since I don't know the poem--on another note, I really need to read F I thought I would dislike this, since I never grew up reading Young Adult lit. and haven't exactly had great experiences reading it as an adult (Hunger Games was really disappointing), but this was actually a fun read, if somewhat slight.

I think the Robert Frost poem that first appears in chapter 5, and then is quoted by Johnny on his deathbed, really serves as the heart of the book. Frost's poem (or at least the part quoted, since I don't know the poem--on another note, I really need to read Frost's poetry sometime) seems to be about how youth (depicted as springtime in nature) is "gold" (i.e., precious), since it is so rare, fragile, and transient. The strongest element of the novel is how it depicts this shimmering, golden world of adolescence perfectly--the friendships we have as teenagers that mean the entire world to us, how the movies we watch and the books we read then become our entire world, and how the thoughts we think are so profound--and it's an interesting curiosity of the book's vintage that it also depicts a pre-Vietnam/Watergate world, which only adds to the theme of the innocence of youth. The dichotomy of Greasers and "Socs" (i.e., preppies) is just such classic Americana. I really don't think this book could have been written much later than its date of 1967 and be anything other than knowing, but I do believe it could still be written as late as 1967 in certain parts of the country and still be as free from irony as it ultimately is.

The best things about this book: this milieu of mid-century America is almost totemic, and that is a lot of the reason I think that it lasted so long beyond its relatively isolated environment; the characters are all strongly sketched, if somewhat shallow; and, like Catcher in the Rye, the writing does a good job of capturing the feeling of its main character and his world.

I've been pretty positive about the book so far, and I do think it's certainly a worthwhile coming-of-age novel for young kids and young adults, but I do think it's ultimately pretty shallow, and boy-howdy is it ever cheesy! I think that adds to its charm, but it also made it rather cringe-inducing to read at times. There wasn't exactly much of a plot to hang a hat on either, but it certainly kept at a rollicking pace that was always enjoyable to read. Ultimately, it does well to evoke a very specific time, place, and cast, and, in doing so, gets at something universal about the pains and pleasures of adolescence.

3.5/5

PS: What's with the circular beginning and ending sentences? What's this--Finnegans Wake? ...more

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