#114 in Classics
The Outsiders
- 192
- Pages
- about 3.5 h
- Reading time
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Our view
A short, direct novel about two gangs divided by class, told by the teenage Ponyboy in plain, unguarded language. Its strength is how clearly it gets its ideas about loyalty, family and growing up across; the narrator tends to spell out the lesson after each event. Younger readers get the most from that, while adults may find the prose simple and the morals stated too openly.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Outsiders is a coming-of-age novel by S. E. Hinton published in 1967 by Viking Press. The novel is set in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the 1960s—although this is never explicitly stated in the book—and details the conflict between two rival gangs of White Americans divided by their socioeconomic status: the working-class "greasers" and the upper-middle-class "socs". The story is told in first-person perspective by teenage protagonist Ponyboy Curtis.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.9 across 1,624 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 92% of the weight and the score stays at 7.9 — the Classics average of 7.7 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.7 | 131 | 8% |
| Hardcover | 7.9 | 1.5K | 92% |
Frequently asked
What age is The Outsiders for?
The Outsiders sits on the Young adult shelf in the sources we use, which by convention means roughly ages 13 and up. This is a guide from the book’s category, not a publisher’s age rating. It has 192 pages — shorter than 98% of the ranked books in Classics.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Classics — with scores between 6.8 and 8.6, closest to this book.
