The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton

From: amazon.com
Ponyboy can count on his brothers and his friends, but not on much else besides trouble with the Socs, a vicious gang of rich kids who get away with everything, including beating up greasers like Ponyboy. At least he knows what to expect–until the night someone takes things too far.

Written forty-five years ago, S. E. Hinton’s classic story of a boy who finds himself on the outskirts of regular society remains as powerful today as it was the day it was written.

Do you have a group of friends or family that you care about, love, and trust? You probably do. Just like how Ponyboy loves his “gang” member, or also known as the “greasers”. I did enjoy the book quite a lot, and even though it was written a long time ago, it still made me feel really into the book like if  I was a character in the book watching the whole thing happen.
I loved how the writer described each character, the characteristic of them really left deep impressions in my mind as a reader. It has a lot of 60’s themed parts to it like their leather jacket, since it was written during this time. I always find myself just imagining myself living at the time and going through what Ponyboy was going through. The book was written in Ponyboy’s point of view, that helped me get into the book, because as a teenager myself, it is easier for me to understand Ponyboy’s thought and maybe if he wrote if as Darry, who is an twenty year old, that was forced to mature in order to stay with his younger brothers.
This is kind of a dramatic type of realistic fiction, instead of writing about a teenagers daily life worrying about what they are going to wear to prom, the writer went with teenagers in gangs and getting jumped, having to kill to save their friend, and even having to lose their friend forever. I think the fact that it was so dramatic really make your heart beat while your reading. It make you think about how important your friends are, and it includes a lot of emotions, which made me cry on some of the parts while I was reading. The way the book has separated the “greasers” and the “socs” in the way were it make you think about how you can be completely against someone, but at the end of the day you still share the same sunset, and you can’t judge someone by who they are with.
Another thing I most enjoyed was the fact that even though there are two gangs completely opposite of each other, that already makes the different, but the characters even had their own unique personality, for example, Cherry Valance, a soc girl, she is different than all of the other socs. She don’t like fights, and she is brave enough to help the greasers for something that she think is right to do.
Over all I think this is a very inspiring book. I think ever teenager should read this book, it really does teach you a lot about life and friendship. Sure not a lot of us have been through anything that Ponyboy has been through, but we can still related to our daily small events, like an argument with your friend, or confusions about how to treat someone. Great book, definitely recommend it.