I loved this book and the movie. This is a cult classic book that is widely known by many. I remember reading this book as a whole class in middle school and it is a book that really stuck with me. ( )

Mistakes were made, OK. I had never read the book, saw the movie yes, but never read (or listened to it) before now. Why now? My son had to read it for school and I thought, damn, I remember that movie (kinda) and if he has to read this modern classic, I should too. Give us something to talk about.
Well I forgot most of what happened and am thoroughly disappointed in myself for having waited so long to get through S.E. Hinton's work of art.
Friends and family, what are they? who are they? Adolescence. School. Loss. Life...such big questions, so much to get through. Who can you turn to? Who can you trust? What does it all mean? All of these were on the table for Hinton's 1967 work "The Outsiders". This title made me think, reflect, and remember. Well written, heck more than well written, S.E. Hinton is a woman who wrote a coming-of-age book about boys and young men and never missed a beat. What a feat! The stresses of youth, the life on the wrong side of the tracks, life on the run, but from who or what. And the story of family who they are, finding them, losing them and finally discovering something unlooked for.
What a book, and I might add, extremely well read by Spike McClure. I cannot recommend this more highly than I do. Everyone should read this and experience it. I am absolutely kicking myself for making the mistake of putting off for this long. ( )

Absolutely outstanding. Seen the movie in high school. Now, during quarantine, I read the book. ( )

try 1: Heavily abridged version, oops. Got to find the real one.

try 2: Success! The things they chose to abridge were really odd, including a lot of the sense of place. I thought it was supposed to be NYC, and then Chicago, but it's really somewhere in the southwest (AZ? NM?). ( )

I didn't know what this was when I started it, but it's an old young adult book. The line "stay golden, Ponyboy" comes from this book. A group of boys who consider themselves lower class, or greasers, tangle with a group of upper class boys, or socials. It's mostly about finding out that people are people with problems and longings no matter what group you put them in. This was written by a woman and there are almost no women in this book, which I thought was strange. I'd say this still holds up otherwise though. ( )