Book Review

Ponyboy Curtis is a fourteen year old greaser who lives on East side New York. With no parents, Ponyboy lives with his two older brothers Soda and Darry. Money is tight for the Curtis family so Darry is forced to work two jobs and Soda works at a gas station. Money isn’t the only problem for Ponyboy, a gang known as the Soc’s enjoys getting in rumbles with Greasers like Ponyboy and his brothers. One day someone takes things too far. As things start to turn for the worse for Ponyboy and his friend Johnny they are forced to make a difficult decision that changes their life for the good and for the bad.
Ponyboy Curtis is the smartest Curtis brother and wants to prove that he is as tough as the other greasers in his gang. Sodapop is close to both of his brothers and is a fun “go-lucky” kind of greaser, very unlike his brother Darry. Since the automobile crash his parents died in Darry has been very uptight because he is forced to play the role of both mom and dad. Johnny is known as the Greaser's pet because he is friends with everyone in the gang. Johnny is also very quiet and is nice to almost everyone he meets. The characters are realistic because they act like teens in the 1950’s that are tough and get into fights like teens in real life. The characters in the book could be described as tough young hooligans because they get into rumbles with the Soc’s. I like the characters in the book because they have a good personality and you can relate them to real people. The characters importance in the story is to help Ponyboy and the other Greasers to become good people and not become people like the Soc’s.
The book the Outsiders deals with gangs, friendship, and family life. The two gangs in the book are the Soc’s and the Greaser’s. The story deals with family life because Johnny is beaten by his parents and Ponyboy is being raised by his two brothers because his parents died. Also the book deals with friendship because the Greasers stick together like family and help each other out when times are tough. This book makes me think about gangs at other schools and the issues that the Greasers face and the issues teens in gangs face.
I enjoyed the book because I could relate the issues the characters face in the book to issues people face in real life that are around my age. The book made me more aware of what happens to teens that are in gangs and how they are like family. In the couple last chapters of the book Johnny and Ponyboy were in the burning church trying to save the little children that were trapped inside. Johnny and Ponyboy worked as a team to get the kids safely out of the church through a window, but unfortunately Ponyboy was burned and Johnny was hurt really badly.