Book Review: The Outsiders

       
            The Outsiders is a young adult fiction book written by S.E. Hinton. It is set in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the year of 1965 and centres around the lives of the Curtis brothers - Darrell, Sodapop, and Ponyboy.

          When I first started reading this novel I had my reservations. For starters it is written in first-person point of view which generally, when coupled with the term 'coming-of-age story', makes for insufferable narcissism and prejudiced narration that overall makes for the death of what could potentially have been an interesting premise. Especially in recent years this seems to be a popular theme in young adult and teen fiction. More and more books, particularly supernatural romances, are being written in this point of view because it makes it easier for the reader to insert herself (because it usually happens with a female protagonist and reader base) into the role of the narrator/heroine. That tendency and motivation is not inherently bad - but it has been (badly) done to death so many times that I have developed an aversion to any book that is written using pronouns such as "I, My, or Mine". But to my absolute delight The Outsiders does not fall into any of those detestable cliché traps, for all that it was written when Hinton was only sixteen.

       The book is funny and heartbreaking and provides a clear, relatable view into the lot from the wrong side of the tracks. All of the characters are real people rather than stereotypes. The villains are three-dimensional. It deals with a lot of grey-area morals and tough decisions by presenting both sides of the argument. The book can be a bit prejudiced at times - but that only makes it more realistic because it is from Ponyboy's POV and so relies on his view of life for its description. But it is very clear from the different circumstances and events what the actual happenings are - where Ponyboy is spot on and where he puts his own slant on things.

     This is a story that I come back to time and time again. It gets better every time I read it and I fall in love with the characters over and over. The descriptions are vivid, but not overdone, and the story is nicely bookended in a fashion that neither feels trite nor contrived. The Outsiders is definitely a book everyone should read at least once in their lifetime!

Warning: This book does contain a fair amount of violence and several deaths. References to sex and mild innuendos also exist within the text, although for the most part they are pretty much veiled or subtly mentioned. There are instances of minors smoking and drinking and a bit of light swearing.