"The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton

I cannot believe I waited so long to pick up this book! It was absolutely amazing.

The story is set in the 1960s and is written from the perspective of a fourteen year old "greaser" named Ponyboy. The teenagers in this town are divided into greasers and socials. Greasers live on the poor side of town. Lots of them have rough family situations, run-ins with the law, bad grades at school and no real prospects in life. The socials on the other hand are the rich kids, who drive expensive cars and wear trendy clothes. To them belongs the future and all the best that life has to offer. At least, this is the view that Ponyboy has. The two groups are pretty much at war all the time. Our main character Ponyboy lives with his two older brothers. Their parents were killed in an accident, and the oldest brother Darryl had to forgo his dream of going to college in order to support his two younger brothers. The second brother, Sodapop, has dropped out of high school and works at a gas station.  Ponyboy is the youngest and the smartest in the family. He makes good grades, likes to read and watch sunsets and overall does not belong in the rough neighborhood where he lives.

Hinton does a great job describing the life of teenage boys that live seemingly outside of any adult supervision or help. Their lives are governed by the laws of the street where being tough means protecting your buddy even if he committed a crime. When I read the book I clearly remembered what it was like being a teenager and having to build your own relationships with your peers, where your interactions are not necessarily what your parents know of your life. Without giving away too much of the plot, I would just like to say that it is a great story about the social tension among teenagers, their everyday struggles, real dangers and secret hopes.

I was also completely blown away by the fact that his book was written by a sixteen year old girl. In fact, S.E. Hinton was 15 when she started writing it. She had to use initials instead of her full name because at the time, the publisher thought that no one would believe a girl could right such a book! This is definitely one of my favorite books of all time. I highly recommend it.