SHERYL B. ANDREWS
Using the background and a sprinkling of the characters from her first book, The Outsiders, [in That Was Then, This Is Now S. E. Hinton] tensely builds up an atmosphere of violence, catalyzed constantly by the vicious cycle of justice which demanded that every score be personally settled by some means of retribution…. The scenes portrayed are sometimes ugly; the decisions forced on the characters are often motivated by basic survival needs, emotional as well as physical; and Bryon's final commitment to himself and to his future is harshly...
Source: Contemporary Literary Criticism, ©1984 Gale Cengage. All Rights Reserved. Full copyright.
(The entire page is 183 words.)
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