Are there still Outsiders fans out there?

[XxDark AngelxX]

I personally LOVE the Outsiders. Does anybody else out there feel the same way?

[Inkidu]

I love that book. It's been years, I need to find a copy. :)

[XxDark AngelxX]

I actually have a copy of the book :) I've read it over four times haha. I love it so much. The movie was great but doesn't compare to the book.

[cptBacon]

The movie was great but doesn't compare to the book.

I'll second that sentiment. I fully subscribe to the belief that most movies based on books aren't as fulfilling to consume as the books themselves, but I still think this is a fantastic example. I thought the movie was just okay. Loved the book, though.

[Corbin]

I third that statement! Since I absolutely adore the book in school, I just had to get my own copy. The movie could've been a bit better, true fact right there. :)

[XxDark AngelxX]

Why yes, I believe they could've made the movie a bit better but hey, it was good and entertaining.

[Mathim]

I didn't hate it, but I never expected to hear about it again after 9th grade. It's hard to get nostalgic about anything that happened during high school, especially Freshman year.

[XxDark AngelxX]

Really now? What was your opinion on it?

[Oniya]

I feel gypped - in ninth grade, our class read 'Catcher in the Rye' instead.

[cptBacon]

But, but, The Catcher in the Rye is a great book, too. I think that might be one of my favorites we had to read in school.

[XxDark AngelxX]

I've never heard of the Catcher. Is it good? What is it about?

[Oniya]

It's been a while, but let me see what I can still remember about it.  It sticks in my mind because it was the first time most of us had seen the word 'fuck' in an assigned text - half of the class was snickering and the other half was in shock.  The main character uses it a lot, but I don't think the story would have as much impact if it was sanitized.

Holden Caulfield is a guy who hates 'phonies'.  This includes most of the 'establishment' (teachers, parents, cops, etc.)  There are a few that he respects, but for the most part, he's your standard Angry Young Man.  He also sort of sees himself as a 'protector' figure.  The title comes from a dream he relates, where he's standing in a field of tall rye-grass (I want to say that the dream was triggered by the song 'Comin' Through the Rye') and there are children playing in the field.  Only there's a cliff at the edge of the field, and his role is to catch the kids before they run off it.  It's that 'calling' that probably keeps him from being a total delinquent, although he does drop out of school at one point.

[XxDark AngelxX]

Hmm. It sounds very interesting. Who is the author?

[Oniya]

J.D. Salinger.

[XxDark AngelxX]

Awesome. I'll check it out whenever I get a chance.

[Love And Submission]

I hate that book in school. Because it wasn't relevant in the early 2000s.  They were a gang that was about as tough as the gang fonzie belogned to on Happy Days. I grew up after the Crack Epidemic of the late 80s with Boy Z N The Hood and  Goodfellas on basic cable.

The outsiders didn't really grab my attention.

I'm sorry but Pony Boy ain't exactly Whitey Bulger or Larry Hoover. I'm guessing for it's time it was more progessive and it's subject matter was shocking but fourteen year old Halloween 1978 watching me was not impressted.

[XxDark AngelxX]

Yeah, I guess it doesn't catch the attention of everyone. It depends on your taste of books I guess. Everyone does have their opinions but only a few can actually justify it. I do believe that the book did catch attention of females the most (at least from what I've seen).

[Jag]

I love the book. We had to read it in 7th grade in my school, but I had already read it by that time. Personally, I prefer the book 'The Giver' as my favorite that we had to read in school though.

[Inkidu]

It's been a while, but let me see what I can still remember about it.  It sticks in my mind because it was the first time most of us had seen the word 'fuck' in an assigned text - half of the class was snickering and the other half was in shock.  The main character uses it a lot, but I don't think the story would have as much impact if it was sanitized.

Holden Caulfield is a guy who hates 'phonies'.  This includes most of the 'establishment' (teachers, parents, cops, etc.)  There are a few that he respects, but for the most part, he's your standard Angry Young Man.  He also sort of sees himself as a 'protector' figure.  The title comes from a dream he relates, where he's standing in a field of tall rye-grass (I want to say that the dream was triggered by the song 'Comin' Through the Rye') and there are children playing in the field.  Only there's a cliff at the edge of the field, and his role is to catch the kids before they run off it.  It's that 'calling' that probably keeps him from being a total delinquent, although he does drop out of school at one point.

Holden Caufield is a proto-hipster. :)

Seriously, go back and re-read it. It's all there. I had to re-read it for my Young Adult Literature course in college and all the markers are there, even the esoteric head-wear.

[Mathim]

Really now? What was your opinion on it?

If that was directed at me, it was one of the few books assigned during that grade that I DIDN'T hate. I must not have really gotten the meaning because it was hard to believe people could actually live like the greasers did but it was moving reading about what happened to Johnny and Dally. I didn't have friends I felt that strongly about (lot of betrayal and abandonment issues growing up) so I couldn't identify with them, but I couldn't identify with the Soc's either.

I feel gypped - in ninth grade, our class read 'Catcher in the Rye' instead.

We fucking read BOTH Outsiders and Catcher in 9th grade at my high school and I goddamn hated Catcher. Seriously, that South Park episode clearly sums up the plot and quality of it.

[Inkidu]

Honestly, I think Catcher was satirizing a lot of that anti-conventionalism, kind of like 1984 satirizes the whole government paranoia trend. There's a scene where he's talking to an older friend and the friend drops some Eastern philosophy and Caufield wants to get, says he does, but he doesn't. So that's why I call him a proto-hipster.

[XxDark AngelxX]

I love the book. We had to read it in 7th grade in my school, but I had already read it by that time. Personally, I prefer the book 'The Giver' as my favorite that we had to read in school though.

I've never read that book. I've heard a lot about it but never really read it.

[XxDark AngelxX]

If that was directed at me, it was one of the few books assigned during that grade that I DIDN'T hate. I must not have really gotten the meaning because it was hard to believe people could actually live like the greasers did but it was moving reading about what happened to Johnny and Dally. I didn't have friends I felt that strongly about (lot of betrayal and abandonment issues growing up) so I couldn't identify with them, but I couldn't identify with the Soc's either.

We fucking read BOTH Outsiders and Catcher in 9th grade at my high school and I goddamn hated Catcher. Seriously, that South Park episode clearly sums up the plot and quality of it.

Ah, okay. I related quite a bit to the book...well, I don't really have much friends but I know how it felt like to be pushed around and all...then again I'm sure many people can relate to that.

[cptBacon]

Honestly, I think Catcher was satirizing a lot of that anti-conventionalism, kind of like 1984 satirizes the whole government paranoia trend. There's a scene where he's talking to an older friend and the friend drops some Eastern philosophy and Caufield wants to get, says he does, but he doesn't. So that's why I call him a proto-hipster.

That's an interesting take on Catcher. It's been over a decade since I've read it, but I honestly don't remember thinking it was satirical. I got more of a tormented internal struggle vibe from the book. He's constantly criticizing the phoniness of others, but he's at least as guilty as any other character in being phony. He was a scared kid trying to fit in, and I didn't read that as an allegory on anti-conventionalism. Either way, I think think the proto-hipster moniker still fits.

[LadyLucy]

Oh my gosh... That book... I love it! I think I have read it every year since it was first assigned in like the 7th or 8th grade. I swear I cry every time I read it...