The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton
So, I loved this book when I was growing up. I read it when I was pretty young and saw the movie and thought that it was all pretty great. Then, in maybe 6th or 7th grade (I really have no idea) we read it as a class and I learned that not only was S.E. Hinton a woman (I had just assumed that a man wrote this book), but she wrote this when she was 16 years old. At the time, I really wanted to become an author and this was more encouragement to me than I can even tell you. It made me love it even more.
I loved their names: Ponyboy, Soda Pop, Dallas, Two-Bit… how can you get any cooler than that?
Seriously though, the issues touched on here: life, death, classes, friendship… it’s all deep stuff that’s just done in this really great way. It’s all about teenagers and written by a teenager, so I think that it touches on how these issues are perceived by teens in a real way. I think that that is why a book with, let’s be honest, not a whole lot of literary-merit has had such staying power. Seriously, great stuff. The “nothing gold can stay” bit? Classic.
And I know I’m supposed to be talking about the book, but the movie? Awesome. Rob Lowe, Emilo Estevez, Matt Dillon, Tom Cruise, Ralph Macchio, Patrick Swayze, Diane Lane…. how can you beat that? I’m of the opinion that not a whole lot of good came out of the 80’s, but this is everything that is great about the 80’s. Awesome.
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