Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

46 reviews

diana_0417's review

emotional lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.25

 This book makes you think back on friend and family relationships. Although the family in this novel is not a typical type of family I could come around, descriptions and events made me feel related. I was able to feel connected to the characters that I felt grief running down at the end of the book (It got me sobbing which I don't do very often) For me, the book felt strange at some of the points, because the occasions taking place aren't common around my area of life. However, happenings related to themes like loyalty, friendship, and family are heartbreaking. It was a few chapters that made me continue reading. For example, how the characters sacrifice each other for loyalty makes you feel amazed and heartwarming. As a person who enjoys reading literary devices and symbols, this novel deliberately delivers significant messages through meaningful and emotional events that allow you to think throughout the chapters. Each character in the novel is unique and has an individuality that piques my interest to want to know more, compared to other books that I've read. Events that held me were rescuing the kids from the fire, and Ponyboy says, "I didn't have fear" just whirled me with such diverse emotions and thought back to my life "Have I ever had this kind of experience?". Themes such as social division are not topics that are mentioned and told in real life, but going through this book gives you a chance to think about a situation of struggle and class differences. Relationships formed within characters are closely tied together. In my experience, I have never had this kind of vulnerable relationship in life, so reading this story taught me emotions that could occur in the name of loyalty. The mood of this book is friendly but dark so it allows you to think seriously on theme matter. Also, the author's choice of putting the poem interested me in reading his other works. The ending is a little bit forgetful because it was kind of an expected ending. However, I liked that it tied the beginning and the ending together, usually when you reach the end of the book you forget how it started, but it ended in an opposite way so it got me thinking back on changes of my thoughts and perspectives as the story progressed. Again, the thing that I like about “The Outsider” is exploring a topic that is sort of controversial and not held so lightly, I have not got to read those kinds of books that often, and even though I do, I was hesitant to make give my thoughts but this book is set in a friendly easy-going way that I felt comfortable and got to think more about the themes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Gun violence

Moderate: Child death and Drug use

Minor: Alcohol

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

skyeshark1's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Child death, Alcohol, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Child abuse, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Murder, Gun violence, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, and Grief

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

mj_tabbs's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

One of my first classics I ever picked up and was instantly enchanted by. I was swept up and obsessed with this world. Even though it so different from our modern times, the characters and dialogue are relatable and mirror any male’s transition from boy to man. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Gun violence

Minor: Sexism and Cursing

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

cadybooks's review against another edition

dark reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Gun violence, Child death, Classism, Racial slurs, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Murder, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexism, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

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

theenbybookworm's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-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

3.25

WARNING : PLEASE BE CAREFUL WHEN READING THIS BOOK!!! AT THE VERY LEAST, PLEASE READ THE CONTENT WARNINGS BELOW!!! MAY CONTAIN SENSITIVE TOPICS TO CERTAIN READERS!!!
I generally enjoyed the book. Perhaps it was how I read it - it was required for my 8th grade English class -, but I feel like I might have enjoyed it more had I had better circumstances to read it under. Nonetheless, it is a very heartfelt and deep story. My favorite character was definitely Johnny - I love a good character-development. Overall, would recommend to someone who likes morals and angstier(?) stories about living in a difficult situation.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Classism, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Child death

Moderate: Gore, Drug use, Death of parent, Cursing, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Police brutality

Minor: Abandonment, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, and Domestic abuse

So many things that people need to be cautious about with this book.

The death of 3+ people are described in quite a bit of detail. This would be Johnny (who died from injuries of the fire), Dally (who generally went crazy after Johnny died and proceeded to make him an obvious target for police - essentially committing suicide), and Bob (who we had the description of his dead body and the aftermath quite clearly, as it is a main focus).

Evident Drug Use and Alcohol Use from multiple characters. Lots of Street and Gun Violence. Please be careful and aware before you read this.