That Was Then, This Is Now

Expecting somewhat of a sequel to The Outsiders, TWTTIN did not provide. I did enjoy the story though.

I read this book a while back when I was around 10 or so, and I absolutely loved it. Just finished reading it again for the first time since then (I'm 21 now), and it didn't leave quite the same impression. It was still enjoyable since the characters were interesting and the plot moved along at a

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steady pace, but the overall atmosphere of the book was very grim. The main character, Bryon, repeatedly states the problems of caring for other people, and by the end of the story it seems like he still maintains this same melancholy attitude. The ending was very sad with no promise that things will ever be better. Still though, overall the book was very good, and some people may appreciate the realistic, untypical non-happy ending. Generally I do, but for this book it just didn't seem fitting.

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This about a boy who sees two young children trying to act cool without a care in the world. Then his memory goes back to him and his friend Mark acting the same way trying to get attention from girls. But then he thinks to his present age and realizes he is not sure of what his life has become and

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what his purpose was. He realized he needed to grow up.

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This book is about two young boys who are trouble makers. An older boy sees them and remembers how he was at their age, always getting into trouble. As he is looking at them and remembering his own childhood, he wonders what happened all these past years to his life. What has he become? What has he

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done with his life?

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That Was Then, This Is Now
by: Kyle Ringhoffer

That Was Then, This Is Now, by S.E. Hinton was a great book. I chose to read this book because my favorite book of all time, The Outsiders, was also written by S.E. Hinton and because of that I assumed that this would be a good book as well.
That Was

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Then, This Is Now is based in the same universe as The Outsiders, and this is shown through a cameo appearance by “Pony Boy Curtis”, the main character of The Outsiders. The plot revolves around Bryon, a sixteen year old boy growing up and his fading relationship with his brother Mark. This relationship starts to drastically change as they grow up and Bryon starts to fall in love with a girl named Cathy. Cathy is the older sister of M&M, a young hippie that the boys are friends with. Several events happen in the story that cause Bryon and Mark to tread down two different paths, such as the boys being jumped after hustling older men at a game of pool, but then being saved by a friend who is killed by the men. This separates the boys as Bryon is deeply affected feeling guilt for being the fault of his friend’s death, while Mark feels no remorse and continues on with his life. Other dilemmas point out the moral differences between the two and eventually the story ends with Bryon turning Mark in for dealing drugs, causing their relationship as brothers to end.
There were several things that I enjoyed about the book, one being the excellent use of character development. Hinton takes two similar characters and throughout the book show how they develop into completely different people. She does this by showing their differences by using their reactions to different moral dilemmas. I also enjoyed how Hinton didn’t use a typical “happy” ending in which everything works out, but instead changes things for the worse when the reader would think they would get better, and ends the book on a much different note than what was expected.
My favorite character in the book would have to be Mark because the author slowly gave parts of his background, but not everything at once, and since the story was not being told from his point of view, it gave him a mystery that had me trying to figure him out throughout the book. Although there were some things that I did not like about the book. I felt the author could have elaborated more on Bryon and Mark’s past, as it hints about things like gang violence but doesn’t really go into what happened and leaves a lot for the reader to assume about the two.
In conclusion, I thought that That Was Then, This Now was a great book, with an interesting plot and characters that I wanted to know more about. Especially after reading both this book and The Outsiders, I plan to read of the books by S.E. Hinton because so far I have enjoyed her style of writing books.

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That Was Then This is Now is about two best friends who would do almost anything for each other, but things are starting yo change very quickly between them. They start to drift apart and not hang out as much as they used to. They start to fight alot more then they used to. Then one night someone

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is sick of the other one getting away with everything and they take things too far.

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The thing I liked about this book is that it was a story of the hard times of two individuals named Byron and Mark. They both were greasers and they encountered drugs and violence. They were poor so they had no money at times and they would always have to come up with money some how.

The book That was Then This is Now is about two teenage boys who are best friends but through out time they distance themselves and at the end they go there own way. Mark and Bryon live a life where gang fights were over and what happens after? They take there separate ways at first Bryon goes with

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a girl he meet and Mark did not like her much so mark spent less time with bryon and his girlfriend and more time with other friends doing beer and drugs.

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I really liked this book it is a book that sometimes can relate to some teenagers now-a-days and i think that it is very interesting reading this book because most teenagers go through the faze of changing and sometimes losing good friends.

That was Then, This is Now is a quick and easy read for any age. This novel is about a young boy and best friend who are inseparable. They live the life of greasers and come in contact with gangs, drugs, hippies, and the law. As main character, Bryon, starts seeing Cathy, his best friend soon

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starts to slip away. As the title says, they soon start to see that as you grow up time changes and everything is not going to be the same. This novel is a lower level read, but has valid points to become aware of as the years go by. Hinton is able to describe the characters in a way to relate to them, and to feel what they are feeling. I would suggest this book for middle school aged kids or lower level high school kids. As for anyone else who reads, they will still get a good lesson about understanding of life and friendship.

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This tale about best friends who are vertually as close as brothers is a sweet tale about just growing up and changing. I loved this book. I really enjoyed the story of bryon and mark.

A great "coming of age" story for teenagers. Drugs and fighting are common in the novel as are teenagers living in the 60's. Lots of twists and turns. Recommended for middle school on up.

Not one of Hinton's best, but good all the same.

This almost seemed like a sequel to The Outsiders -Hinton's first book- because it has a lot of the same characters. I was really suprised to see Ponyboy make a small appearence in this book.

The story was decent, but not nearly as good as The

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Outsiders. The characters were good. All around decent book.

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This was a great book. It had very real problems and good character development. It would have been much better if it had not ended in him wishing he was young again.
This was a really good book. I have read it five times. I didn't really like the ending though. It was really sad. I didn't like

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that he was thought that he had possibly made the wrong decision at the end.

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a great book that ends like no other with a sad ending witch makes it better than all the other books.

I've read [SE Hinton's book "The Outsiders" several times, and have always enjoyed it. So when I saw a copy of "That Was Then, This is Now" at the thrift store, I decided to give it a try.

I was extremely disappointed. It is disjointed and dark, and somehow lacks the feeling that this could have

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happened, did happen. It felt contrived and forced.

Readable, not very enjoyable.

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I had to read this for school one year. Loved it then. Just got done re-reading it. Still love it. The book is set 'back in the day'. When cokes were only fifteen cents. But, it's not boring. Mark and Bryon were definitely my favorite characters. It's a great read that's short and fast paced. Also

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has a good ending to it.

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While not nearly as emotionally compelling as The Outsiders, still quite good. In the time between, Hinton learned how to write less clunky prose, and MUCH more realistic dialogue. The primary story was good, but what I liked most was learning what had happened to Ponyboy. Recommended.

A book to be read by the parents of adolescents, and by the kids, perhaps they should read it first. It seemed that it puts the reader into the mind of the sixteen year old very, very well. This is how they would like the world to be explained to them, especially the boys.

The only reason this book didn't get any lower was because Hinton herself said that wanting to throw the book at the end was the point.

The fact that Mark reveals he killed his parents and it goes by just like that, without another word, bothered me to no end. What the hell? And Mark was like, I

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don't like how you're changing but you're still my brother all the way until the last, like, 5 pages, then after Bryon turns him in, he's like, I want to kill you? What the hell? I was just left unfilled at the end.

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This is a companion novel/sequel to The Outsiders, and it's about all the things that change 16 year old Bryon's relationship with his childhood best friend and foster brother, Mark. It's surprisingly slight - only 126 pages - and the inside blurb oh-so-helpfully told me about the outcome of an

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event which doesn't happen until halfway through the book. (Spoilers, grr. )

It is also surprisingly bleak. I don't necessarily need totally happy endings, but if the main character isn't okay, then I want there to be some hope that one day they will be - even if that's going to be a difficult journey.
But one of the last lines in the book is: I am too mixed up to really care. And to think, I used to be sure of things.
I found Bryon's apathy concerning, especially considering what he's been through. And he doesn't seem to have anyone to talk to about what is going on in his head.

An interesting, if depressing, glimpse into being a teenager in the 1970s in a tough neighbourhood.

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One of the lessons I took from this book was "no good deed goes unpunished". Then there's the moral crisis at the end. I wouldn't turn anyone in for dealing marijuana (it's safer than alcohol and no more intoxicating), but I would for other drugs, especially meth (in large part due to its explosive

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hazards — I've witnessed a few apartment building fires because of meth). I'm opposed to our state of prohibition on the whole, but I'd rather not see something like heroine become legal (having been dependent upon morphine for a time, due to medical reasons, I have enough of an understanding of just how damning such drugs are). Perhaps you're of a different mind? The book will force you to think about where you stand on such issues.

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The S.E. Hinton weekend comes to a close. If I had had "The Outsiders" here I would have read that too!!! Good stuff!!

I think this is a great book for the Grade 10 Applied Level. The students are generally very engaged by the subject matter. The text is very rich in terms of symbolism and characterization which makes it great as a jumping off point for further class discussion and exploration.