We have all read S.E Hintons book The Outsiders. Many people don’t know that The Outsiders has four other books that fall under the same plot. They all follow the same plot of troubled teenagers being chased by the police. These books are The Outsiders, That Was Then, this is Now, Rumble Fish, Tex, and Taming the Star Runner.
In this review I will cover The Outsiders, That Was Then, This is Now, and Rumble Fish.
The Outsiders by S.E Hinton is an iconic novel nobody can hate. Both the movie and book are pieces of art. It’s about Ponyboy Curtis and his life being a greaser and growing up in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was the first book I read that made me cry, so for me, it’s an unforgettable experience. Picking a favorite character is definitely hard, but my favorite has to be Ponyboy. He is the character I most relate to in both the book and the movie. I also love to read and watch movies much like he does. I also love Dally, Johnny, Soda, Darry, Steve, and Two-Bit. Is that all of them? Yes, it is, it’s just so hard to decide the best character. I definitely did not like Cherry Valance, she was very annoying. I also think Randy was misunderstood and my favorite was definitely when he visits Ponyboy (that scene is not in the movie).
The next book is That Was Then, This is Now. This book isn’t exactly a sequel to The Outsiders but many similar characters are seen. We briefly see Ponyboy, Tim Shepard, and Curly Shepard. Curly is only mentioned in The Outsiders not shown. The book was a great book I loved the ending and the characters, especially Mark and Angela Shepard. A character I disliked at moments was Bryon, the main character. I would recommend this to anyone who loved The Outsiders. The movie was not the best, I feel thats it is very rushed and doesn’t live up to the movie.
The last book I will review is Rumble Fish. In my opinion, this book is the best of the collection. I loved the book, it was a page-turner. The way the characters developed and all the twists and turns in the book. I also loved some of the lines from the book. The main character Rusty James is such a fun character and he’s definitely my favorite. Rusty is a versatile character that developed so well and the ending was also unexpected. Motorcycle Boy was definitely a mysterious character. I disliked the Character Smokey a lot and what he did at the end of the book was…unexpected. The movie for sure lives up to the hype and it’s one of my favorite movies. The movie stars Matt Dillion as Rusty James and I don’t anyone else could have played Rusty better than him. Rusty is very tough and Matt Dillion played this out perfectly.
