Krishna
The story revolves around, and is narrated in the first person, by Ponyboy Curtis. He has lost his parents and lives with his two brothers. The eldest, Garry Curtis, who is strong and big and has given up studies to support his two brothers, is the strong, silent type, who was forced to grow up instantly when he found himself the family provider. Sodapop Curtis, the second brother, has the handsome good looks of a Matinee Idol but drops out of school to find work in a gas station. The Gang consists of Johnny, Two-Bit, the quick tempered and dangerous Dally and Steve.
All of these and a couple of other gangs are known as Greasers and have almost a running feud with the well heeled gang called Socs. When the story opens, Ponyboy finds himself narrowly escaping lynching by Socs by the timely arrival of his family and other gang friends.
Ponyboy combines the dashing good looks of Sodapop with the brilliance of Garry and the whole family dreams of their escaping the constant violence of the gang way of life into a decent job and a better life; but life does not go always as planned.
The incident where Johnny and Ponyboy get friendly with two Soc girls, Cherry and Marcia is the unwitting trigger for escalating violence between the two gangs. When Ponyboy runs off in a huff with Johnny, they have the misfortune of being sighted, without extra help, by the Socs and the resulting brawl ends in a terrible tragedy when something in Johnny snaps.
They are forced to flee the town and tragedy follows them.
The story is interesting, and is reminiscent of Louis Sachar’s Holes (Reviewed earlier here ) in its style and language – though the plot is not as stylized or so well put together. The plot is simplistic, the dialogs are sometimes very corny, especially in the beginning, but it takes root as you read, and you begin to understand its success in the commercial market. For a sixteen year old author (I keep getting back to it), it is a phenomenal achievement, for sure.
It gives a lovely message of hope in a grisly package of violence as a way of day to day life; the ending is unnecessarily a bit tame and equivocal; people seem to fall into and out of strange behaviour at will (as in Ponyboy’s behaviour after the rumble, towards the very end of the book). But that may be because you, as the reader, are not led into the situation with adequate preparation.
Overall, a good read for the young readers.
Let us say a 5/10
— Krishna