Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

53 reviews

cloe52's review

emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

To be honest I didn’t expect the sudden death of the characters, and  kids getting jumped. Although, since I have experience in being jumped in the past, It draws me in more and I could relate to the kids a little more than others would have. It was really sad that some of the main characters died, but I think because of those, I could be emotionally drawn into reading more. 

I also liked the foreshadowing that was written from time to time. It made me excited or scared to read the next parts but without them I would have been a little bored.

The characters are all very different, they each have unique parts in the gang and that makes the group even stronger. I really love how the characters grew over time and learned to think more maturely. (especially ponyboy)

There was a lot to put in the theme identity, I think most of the book is just part of it. The kids go through a terrible traumatic experience but still know what their identity is and their identity is the most important part of their lives and relationships.

I have also seen a lot of cycles of violence. It’s something people can’t really help, someone who had experienced child abuse, sadly usually does it to theirs, bully victoms become bullies. Although I liked that ponyboy didn’t continue that and stayed the pure boy he always was.

Other than that I liked the way the story went really fast, it was also very fun to annotate. The story was somewhat realistic and believable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

kiwichill's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was made into an iconic movie when I was a teenager.   The themes of brotherhood, loyalty and social standing are still relevant today.  Life is precious and can be gone in the blink of an eye, something the characters are well aware of.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Medical content, Violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicide, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Car accident, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Body shaming, and Cursing

katreena's review against another edition

adventurous sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Grief, Classism, Child death, Cursing, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, War, and Vomit

claire_leibovitz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Alcohol, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Cursing, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Pregnancy and Death of parent

inirac's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, Bullying, Grief, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Alcohol

Moderate: Abandonment, Toxic friendship, Blood, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, and Murder

Minor: Cursing and Vomit

sarasreading's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

It took me long enough, but I've finally read this book! The narrative was simple, but engaging. In some ways it was telling that it was written by a teenager (like all of the physical descriptions of every character), but in other ways it was deep and seemed full of wisdom beyond the author's years. The depictions of PTSD and commentaries on classism and family conflicts were all excellent. It was probably going to be a 3.5 star read for me, but the very ending was clever and bumped it up for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder

Minor: Death of parent

jennmeadows13's review against another edition

tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This might be a hot take, but I don't understand why this is so beloved. Is it impressive that S.E. Hinton wrote this while she was in high school? Yes, but her character development is lackluster and I found the character development to fall flat.

When Johnny died in the hospital, I didn't feel any emotion. I always want a connection with the characters when I read a book. I just couldn't connect with Johnny or Dally, so their deaths didn't really impact me.

Who knows? Maybe I am just a heartless bitch, but I was hoping to be more emotionally invested in these characters, especially since many friends encouraged me to read this with a box of tissues. One of the reasons that I think I couldn't connect with the characters as deeply was the sheer number of characters. For a 180-page book, there's quite the cast in this book. Most felt one-dimensional to me outside of Ponyboy. Also, it is BANANAS to me that Hinton decided to name two important characters Darry and Dally. Like what the actual hell? At times, it was confusing keeping the two boys apart. I know that many people read this while in high school. When I was younger, I might have connected to this more. However, now that I am in my thirties, I felt more connection to Darry as a fellow eldest sibling than anyone else in the book. I do recognize that this book was absolutely critical in paving the way for young adult fiction, so I still see value and importance in reading it. But for me personally...I won't be returning for a reread. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Blood, Death, Alcohol, Bullying, Classism, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Minor: Death of parent

lawbooks600's review against another edition

emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Representation: N/A?
Score: Seven points out of ten.

I wanted to read this for a while after adding it to my list but I put it off for a while; a few months later I finally picked it up and read it. When I finished it I thought it was one of the few books that were less than 200 pages yet it could still tell a great story which I appreciated and I'll remember this one for a while. It starts with the main character Ponyboy (whose last name I don't know) living presumably somewhere in America with other characters part of a group called the greasers whose enemy are the Socs (I don't why those two gangs hate each other but oh well. It might be an incident in the past that the novel never mentioned. Or something else entirely.) Everything looks fine initially until an altercation happens forcing Ponyboy to flee somewhere else, and soon enough they find a church where they stay for a few pages of the narrative. Did I mention they smoke a lot? I've never seen a book where teenagers smoke until now (and they still read books, I know some teenagers still read books but most of them don't unless it's required reading.) A few pages later the church burns down nearly killing some characters and I soon discover Ponyboy recovering but nothing much happened save for a heartrending conversation (don't get me wrong, that is a flaw in the book but it didn't ruin my enjoyment in any way) which ends the book on a low note.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Bullying, Death, and Car accident

Full trigger warnings: Murder and attempted murder, bullying, fire, building collapse, near-death experiences, death of parents in a car crash in the past

itsjadenbaby's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I was not expecting to like this as much as I did. I always struggle reading things that have a lot of hype around them. I’m lucky I found this book in a used book sale for really cheap to give me the push to buy and read it. The characters are well-developed and so very lovable. The plot kept me engaged and was just the right amount of sad but hopeful. I will definitely be keeping this one on my shelves.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Alcohol, Death of parent, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Alcoholism, and Police brutality

Minor: Murder, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Bullying, and Car accident

jonssweater's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Classism, Physical abuse, Child death, Murder, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Domestic abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Blood, Bullying, Gun violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Suicidal thoughts