Book Review – Rumble Fish by S.E. Hinton

Our oldest son, Max, was assigned The Outsiders to read for his high school English class. Soon after, that prompted us to buy the movie and watch it as a family. Since he enjoyed the book, the following Christmas, I bought the book Rumble Fish for him. As I was laying in bed, I saw the book sitting on the bookshelf next to all of the other books we have bought for the kids over the years. I remember reading The Outsiders when I was in high school, but I don’t remember reading Rumble Fish. Decided it was a good time to read it. Like The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton writes another powerful YA coming of age story from the perspective of kids growing up in a small south western town in gangs.

Selma’s Book Review

Book Title

Rumble Fish

Author

S.E. Hinton

Type of Book

YA

Background

S.E (Susan Eloise) Hinton wrote her first book, The Outsiders when she was in high school. She based it on the division of her classmates into two social groups. This book was published when she was a freshman in college and it became an immediate hit. She wrote her books from the kids’ perspective and it made it very relatable to the YA audiences. This book along with Rumble Fish were both made into movies.

Summary of the story

Rusty-James is the toughest kid in junior high. His older brother, Motorcycle Boy, used to be a well-known gang leader. Rusty-James longs to be like Motorcycle Boy while Motorcycle Boy is trying to back out of the whole gang thing. While living with his alcoholic father, Rusty-James gets into a lot of fights and trouble while trying to follow in his brother’s footsteps. Little does he know that this path may not lead to as a great of place as it seemed to with his brother.

Reactions to the book

Hinton writes another powerful YA book. For being a quick read, the story itself was a little hard for me to understand. There were things in the story that I had to put together as I was reading it, so a little more connecting detail may have helped me to enjoy the story more. There was a lot of violent activity with Rusty-James wanting to be the tough guy. This may be an issue for a more sensitive reader. I did like how Hinton took a different look at teenagers growing up in a more on the street type setting. I did enjoy the book.

If you interested in learning more about the author, you can check out her website S.E. Hinton

If you are looking for a copy of the book, here is a link to it on Amazon.com Rumble Fish

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