A review by cloe52
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

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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