How well off were you growing up money wise? How would you deal if you were living in a poor side of town and struggling with food and money? This book revolves around poverty and the people that are well off. They call the less well off people the Greasers and the rich/very well off the Socs. Throughout the book there is a lot of conflict with the Socs and the Greasers mostly ending up in fights or even someone getting killed. The main characters in this book belongs to a gang of Greasers who stick together throughout the whole book. The book describes their personalities to the best of it’s extent without taking up too much time of the book and has the best balance between describing the characters and actually telling the story. The book is told in first person by the youngest kid in the gang named Ponyboy whose only fourteen. It really made the book more interesting with a younger person telling it instead of the author.

The other people in the gang are Soda, Darry, who are Ponyboy’s brothers, Dallas, Two-bit, and Johnny. Two-bit is known for keeping the humor in the gang, Dallas is the tough one from a real gang in New York, Johnny who’s the quiet one with a sad past, and Darry Soda and Ponyboy who take care of each other as a family without parents. All of them really compliment the group with their personalities and I really enjoyed the characters and it really gave a different feel to the book with so many characters that you are super drawn to and love so much.

The book really starts the main conflict about halfway through the book where a big fight breaks out between the Greasers and the Socs and something happens. Two of the main characters get in a lot of trouble and they need to hide. Later in the book those two turn their life around and it’s definitely very inspiring with how you can change your life around even after you do something very bad or something bad happens. The book gets you close to tears at times and ecstatic at another. What makes the book stand out from other books like this is because it’s based on a true story.

By far this was one of my personal favorites if not my favorite book of all time, it’s a pretty short book but it conveys so much that it feels like you’ve just read a thousand pages. You should read this book.