The Outsiders in A Book Walks Into a Bar

Apr 13, 2017 Travis rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I started reading The Outsiders when I was in middle school but quit before finishing half the book because I didn't like it. Thirty or so years later, I decided to give it another shot, and my opinion is not much improved: although it's not a terrible book, it is subpar.

The Outsiders was written by S.E. Hinton when she was sixteen, and her lack of maturity, both as an individual and as a writer, is unmistakable. The plot advances haphazardly, with sudden jumps and narratively unexpected and log I started reading The Outsiders when I was in middle school but quit before finishing half the book because I didn't like it. Thirty or so years later, I decided to give it another shot, and my opinion is not much improved: although it's not a terrible book, it is subpar.

The Outsiders was written by S.E. Hinton when she was sixteen, and her lack of maturity, both as an individual and as a writer, is unmistakable. The plot advances haphazardly, with sudden jumps and narratively unexpected and logically unlikely events. The primary conflict in the novel, between the Socs and the greasers, doesn't ring true. Even for shallow adolescents, the level of hatred and violence based on little more than class difference, is not credible; moreover, many of the greasers--especially the three brothers, Ponyboy, Soda, and Darry--are not the delinquents and borderline criminals that Hinton tells us they are. And that is another problem with this novel: Hinton tells rather than shows. The story is not organic; it is forced.

Hinton does a better job developing her characters than developing the plot, but, even so, none of the characters seems genuine: you can feel Hinton consciously trying to shape them; they are more caricatures than characters. Still, Hinton does induce us care for the characters, especially the brothers and Johnny. We do want them to escape their situation. We root for them. We are invested in their successes and failures, and I think that's where much of the appeal of this novel originates, with the readers' concern for the major players.

I've rated this novel 2 stars, but if I were to take into consideration that it was written by a sixteen-year-old, I would give it 4 stars: it is an amazing accomplishment for someone that young to write a novel of this caliber. Now, granted, I don't think the novel is that good in and of itself, but few writers could have composed something so well done at such a young age. Although I was not, overall, impressed by The Outsiders, I am quite in awe of what Hinton was able to accomplish as an adolescent. ...more

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Sep 19, 2016 Laurie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2016

This is my first read of this book -- I somehow missed it in the teenage years when I am pretty sure everyone else in the world was assigned it for school. The story is simple -- teenagers are classified as "greasers" or "socs" and struggle with what that means, their places in the world, and how to grow up. But the writing is just so clean and clear and the characters so vivid. I'm impressed with what SE Hinton could do in such a short book, and at the age of 16. If you haven't read this, or ha ...more

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