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Stories and Storytellers Series
Some of Tim's Stories
Terry and Mike are cousins who are as close as cousins can be - more like brothers, really. Growing up in happy times, they think their idyllic lives are invincible. But shared tragedies send both of their lives in two very different directions. Told through a series of inter-connected short stories by Tim, a sympathetic bartender who recognizes himself in the characters he speaks of.
151 pages, Library Binding
First published April 26, 2007
76 people are currently reading
1606 people want to read
About the author
S.E. Hinton
45 books8,149 followersS.E. Hinton, was and still is, one of the most popular and best known writers of young adult fiction. Her books have been taught in some schools, and banned from others. Her novels changed the way people look at young adult literature.
Susan Eloise Hinton was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She has always enjoyed reading but wasn't satisfied with the literature that was being written for young adults, which influenced her to write novels like The Outsiders. That book, her first novel, was published in 1967 by Viking.
Susan Eloise Hinton was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She has always enjoyed reading but wasn't satisfied with the literature that was being written for young adults, which influenced her to write novels like The Outsiders. That book, her first novel, was published in 1967 by Viking.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 99 reviews
April 28, 2013
As always, please keep in mind that all reviews here are my sole personal opinion. I don’t deconstruct a book in an university essay way – I simply talk about how much or how little I enjoyed a book and if it “spoke” to me or sucked me in. What I think of a book may not be what you – or even all the critics in the world – thought of it.
Right, now I’ve got that out of the way. Read this in about an hour and a half. Yep, it’s that short. I spent more time reading the interview with S. E. Hinton in the second half of the book, than the I did the first, which are the actual stories.
This book made me think. And not in a deep philosophical way. It made me think in a cynical way. About the idea behind publishing this book. And not in a good way.
Fourteen very very short stories that are interconnected – they tell the story of two cousins, Terry & Mike, who are very close. The deaths of their fathers when they are children dictate the rest of their lives. Terry takes the wrong fork and is in prison. Mike takes the wrong fork too, but he spends his life feeling copious amounts of grief and guilt that he’s not in prison with Terry. The last tale ends abruptly, on a cliffhanger, and you have no idea what happens.
It wasn’t till I looked the book up online that I found out who the “Tim” in the title is. The idea is that these stories are written by Tim, who is actually Mike.
*blinks*
Uh, ok? Tim is never mentioned in the stories. Tim is never alluded to, his presence is never sensed. So…what the hell point is he? I have no idea. Why not have the character called “Tim”? Why not call it “Some of Mike’s Stories”? What on earth was the point of supposedly writing it as “Tim” and changing the character’s name to Mike?
The stories are…nice. Yeah. But Mike and Terry stay frustratingly out of reach of the reader. There is too little of them to connect to me. And the last story, the one that is so abruptly cut short. Does Mike live? Does Mike die? Does the climatic event teach him a life lesson? Does it make everything that went before ok? Is his life of guilt validated by what happens? Huh?
The reason I’m so cynical about this book is that it strikes me as something that was published simply because it’s S. E. Hinton. The whole book feels like exercises written in a college Creative Writing course. And then they were gathered together cos OMG SE HINTON IS BACK. And then throw in the huge interviews at the back to pad out the book. And the “Tim” thing? It smacks of conceit. And it doesn’t make sense. They’re writing exercises, to get to know a character in a longer book, or to demonstrate you have a grasp of writing fiction. They’re character pieces. Not worthy of a published book.
I feel cheated. I feel I was led to believe I was going to get a full book, a full story that would build on the magic of The Outsiders or Rumble Fish or Tex. Not a series of exercises that a writer may do to help build a new novel, a new world.
I believe this is being published in ebook form for the first time, as the paperback was released in 2009. If you’re a fan of The Outsiders, the only value this book has is the lengthy interview pieces at the end. Which were done in 2006, so they are already old news.
I don’t particularly want to rate this book. The interviews would get 2 stars maybe simply for the information – old as it is – in it. The stories themselves would maybe get 2 stars. The entire thing? Probably a -1.
And now you know why I prefaced this review with that intro.
Disappointed.
Right, now I’ve got that out of the way. Read this in about an hour and a half. Yep, it’s that short. I spent more time reading the interview with S. E. Hinton in the second half of the book, than the I did the first, which are the actual stories.
This book made me think. And not in a deep philosophical way. It made me think in a cynical way. About the idea behind publishing this book. And not in a good way.
Fourteen very very short stories that are interconnected – they tell the story of two cousins, Terry & Mike, who are very close. The deaths of their fathers when they are children dictate the rest of their lives. Terry takes the wrong fork and is in prison. Mike takes the wrong fork too, but he spends his life feeling copious amounts of grief and guilt that he’s not in prison with Terry. The last tale ends abruptly, on a cliffhanger, and you have no idea what happens.
It wasn’t till I looked the book up online that I found out who the “Tim” in the title is. The idea is that these stories are written by Tim, who is actually Mike.
*blinks*
Uh, ok? Tim is never mentioned in the stories. Tim is never alluded to, his presence is never sensed. So…what the hell point is he? I have no idea. Why not have the character called “Tim”? Why not call it “Some of Mike’s Stories”? What on earth was the point of supposedly writing it as “Tim” and changing the character’s name to Mike?
The stories are…nice. Yeah. But Mike and Terry stay frustratingly out of reach of the reader. There is too little of them to connect to me. And the last story, the one that is so abruptly cut short. Does Mike live? Does Mike die? Does the climatic event teach him a life lesson? Does it make everything that went before ok? Is his life of guilt validated by what happens? Huh?
The reason I’m so cynical about this book is that it strikes me as something that was published simply because it’s S. E. Hinton. The whole book feels like exercises written in a college Creative Writing course. And then they were gathered together cos OMG SE HINTON IS BACK. And then throw in the huge interviews at the back to pad out the book. And the “Tim” thing? It smacks of conceit. And it doesn’t make sense. They’re writing exercises, to get to know a character in a longer book, or to demonstrate you have a grasp of writing fiction. They’re character pieces. Not worthy of a published book.
I feel cheated. I feel I was led to believe I was going to get a full book, a full story that would build on the magic of The Outsiders or Rumble Fish or Tex. Not a series of exercises that a writer may do to help build a new novel, a new world.
I believe this is being published in ebook form for the first time, as the paperback was released in 2009. If you’re a fan of The Outsiders, the only value this book has is the lengthy interview pieces at the end. Which were done in 2006, so they are already old news.
I don’t particularly want to rate this book. The interviews would get 2 stars maybe simply for the information – old as it is – in it. The stories themselves would maybe get 2 stars. The entire thing? Probably a -1.
And now you know why I prefaced this review with that intro.
Disappointed.
February 12, 2017
I've owned this for 8 years so it's about time I read it! I could kick myself for waiting so long! This book consists of short stories, which together form a larger story. The book is written as if written by a bartender named Tim. While taking a creative writing course, he begins writing autobiographical fiction using a character Mike to be his voice. Mike doesn't have the easiest life and has made many wrong choices along the way. Mike is very relatable, in my opinion, and I liked him alot. I would love if she continued the narrative!
The rest of the book is an interview with S.E. Hinton about writing, her books, the movies based on them and so much more. I know feel such a pull to re-read The Outsiders!!
The rest of the book is an interview with S.E. Hinton about writing, her books, the movies based on them and so much more. I know feel such a pull to re-read The Outsiders!!
July 27, 2011
Be patient with this one. "Some of Tim's Stories" is a short novel with lots of holes in it but it also has a lot of soul and the genuine importance of the story is in the spaces between the text. "Some of Tim's Stories" is a sad story about a man whose closest allies are the farthest from him and trauma is always nearby. The resolution, though, I think, is that there is peace within Mike in the ending.
October 21, 2025
4.5⭐️
These stories are written so beautifully, and the story is so captivating. Some of the themes in the book are a bit mature (strong language, sexual references, etc.), so I would say it's probably at least 16+ I really did enjoy this book though, and I managed to finish it and the extra 80 pages of interviews in only a few hours.
These stories are written so beautifully, and the story is so captivating. Some of the themes in the book are a bit mature (strong language, sexual references, etc.), so I would say it's probably at least 16+ I really did enjoy this book though, and I managed to finish it and the extra 80 pages of interviews in only a few hours.
March 4, 2018
Not bad! This often-maligned late effort by S.E. Hinton is worth reading for her fans, even if it's not a sequel to The Outsiders.
Some of Tim's Stories consists of 67 pages of short fiction and 83 pages of interviews.
The short fiction is interesting, especially as a writing exercise. Hinton created a fictional person- Tim- who then wrote a series of short stories loosely based on his own life. Each of the short stories is roughly 1,000 words long, and all the short stories hang together to complete an arc. Tim himself never appears on the page, and you only know he's there because his name is in the title. These short stories were interesting and well-written.
The interviews are illuminating. Hinton talks openly about all phases of her career. Basically, what happened was she put out four of her novels before her first child, completed Taming the Star Runner before the birth of her second child, and then ground to a halt. I get it. Once you hit two children, you don't have time for anything. Also, it seems like she got all the YA out of her system after the five classic novels.
When she got back into writing after her kids grew up a little, she went in a weird direction. I respect her for that, even if Big David, Little David is kind of lame. Reading the interviews made me want to try out her other late-career work: Puppy Sister and Hawkes Harbor.
In one interview, she did threaten to write an Outsiders sequel and throw it in a safe until after her death. So we can all look forward to another Go Set a Watchman fiasco.
Some of Tim's Stories consists of 67 pages of short fiction and 83 pages of interviews.
The short fiction is interesting, especially as a writing exercise. Hinton created a fictional person- Tim- who then wrote a series of short stories loosely based on his own life. Each of the short stories is roughly 1,000 words long, and all the short stories hang together to complete an arc. Tim himself never appears on the page, and you only know he's there because his name is in the title. These short stories were interesting and well-written.
The interviews are illuminating. Hinton talks openly about all phases of her career. Basically, what happened was she put out four of her novels before her first child, completed Taming the Star Runner before the birth of her second child, and then ground to a halt. I get it. Once you hit two children, you don't have time for anything. Also, it seems like she got all the YA out of her system after the five classic novels.
When she got back into writing after her kids grew up a little, she went in a weird direction. I respect her for that, even if Big David, Little David is kind of lame. Reading the interviews made me want to try out her other late-career work: Puppy Sister and Hawkes Harbor.
In one interview, she did threaten to write an Outsiders sequel and throw it in a safe until after her death. So we can all look forward to another Go Set a Watchman fiasco.
July 28, 2012
I had found this Signed! at Mr K's used book store in Asheville, NC. No account for taste, they were selling it for 2$. I really enjoyed the shorts that were in this book! I also enjoyed the interview with the author included in the version of the book I have. She is a wonderful writer and to have started so young. I was very happy when she wrote another book a few years back and I hope she continues to release these masterpieces. Don't be turned off because they are geared towards a young reader. They are well written and can be enjoyed by anyone who likes to look to the past for a glimpse of the future. If you read 'The Outsiders' in school, you need to go a head and read the rest of her books! This collection is a little bit different than the rest. Very unusual outcomes in the story line. Happy Reading!
September 28, 2022
This book was an interesting concept for Hinton. Of course, she pulls it off effortlessly. She writes as the character Tim, who writes himself as the character Mike. Complex narration I've never seen done before.
Also the interview with S.E. Hinton at the end was a treasure. I've valued her writings since I was eleven years old. Her insight of her characters are so personal; they're always realistic. That's what I've always loved about her books- they tell real stories.
I've read every one of her books at this point, but like Hinton herself who re-reads the books she loves, I'll always come back to experience her stories again and again. :)
Also the interview with S.E. Hinton at the end was a treasure. I've valued her writings since I was eleven years old. Her insight of her characters are so personal; they're always realistic. That's what I've always loved about her books- they tell real stories.
I've read every one of her books at this point, but like Hinton herself who re-reads the books she loves, I'll always come back to experience her stories again and again. :)
June 4, 2025
Long live the queen
<3
<3
July 18, 2023
I enjoyed this short story collection! I thought it was unique and creative! I also enjoyed all the interviews with S.E. Hinton in the latter half of the collection.
S.E. Hinton is best known for “The Outsiders” which is in my top two favorite books of all time. While “The Outsiders” is told from the point of view of Ponyboy, who is naive, young, and overly optimistic about the world, “Some of Tim’s Stories” is told from the point of view of an adult in his 20’s who is mature, cynical, and more realistic about the world. This was an interesting change for S.E Hinton that I really enjoyed.
Some of the stories I enjoyed in this collection were, “Jailed”, “The Girl Who Loved Movies”, “What’s Your Poison” and “No White Light No Tunnel”. All the short stories in this collection explored different phases and memories of life, from having a fun night out on your 21st birthday with a friend or family member to realizing that people change and drift apart. I also enjoyed the overarching emotion of regret and guilt that was conveyed in various ways throughout these short stories—it was reminiscent of being older and looking back on your life and almost having that midlife crisis.
Overall, this is a great and mature short story collection which is a different direction from S.E. Hinton’s YA novels. If you’re a big fan of S.E. Hinton, you will definitely appreciate the interviews in this collection as well!
S.E. Hinton is best known for “The Outsiders” which is in my top two favorite books of all time. While “The Outsiders” is told from the point of view of Ponyboy, who is naive, young, and overly optimistic about the world, “Some of Tim’s Stories” is told from the point of view of an adult in his 20’s who is mature, cynical, and more realistic about the world. This was an interesting change for S.E Hinton that I really enjoyed.
Some of the stories I enjoyed in this collection were, “Jailed”, “The Girl Who Loved Movies”, “What’s Your Poison” and “No White Light No Tunnel”. All the short stories in this collection explored different phases and memories of life, from having a fun night out on your 21st birthday with a friend or family member to realizing that people change and drift apart. I also enjoyed the overarching emotion of regret and guilt that was conveyed in various ways throughout these short stories—it was reminiscent of being older and looking back on your life and almost having that midlife crisis.
Overall, this is a great and mature short story collection which is a different direction from S.E. Hinton’s YA novels. If you’re a big fan of S.E. Hinton, you will definitely appreciate the interviews in this collection as well!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 10, 2024
Really like most of S. E. Hinton’s novels. Since this was included in the Kindle Unlimited library, I borrowed it, and really glad I did. This book is a set of short stories about cousins who are as close as twins, and their different (but very similar) paths into adulthood. The stories are short, but very powerful. To me, the only complaint is that there weren’t enough of them. I kept reading them, and when they were done, I felt shorted. I just wanted more stories. After the stories were finished, there were interviews with the author about her various books. I wasn’t really interest in the interviews, because I wanted more stories. What happened with Michael and Terry?
Highly recommend this set of vignettes for any fan of S. E. Hinton, it’s a must read. 4**** for there not being enough of the vignettes, or for not putting it into a full novel.
Highly recommend this set of vignettes for any fan of S. E. Hinton, it’s a must read. 4**** for there not being enough of the vignettes, or for not putting it into a full novel.
August 31, 2014
So disappointed in this one by an author who use to be a favorite! I read The Outsiders so many times that I actually went through about four copies of the paperback! Same thing with her book Tex. This one just fell so incredibly short and flat to me.
I don't see the emotion or the connection with the characters in this one- and it felt like the characters were just shadows of people going through random spots of time! I don't know of that was as a result of the disjointed fact that these were really just a bunch of disjointed short stories loosely held together by common characters or if the author has just lost her touch. Heck maybe I have just grown up and move on past Hinton's story telling techniques. Either way- it just was not something I enjoyed.
I don't see the emotion or the connection with the characters in this one- and it felt like the characters were just shadows of people going through random spots of time! I don't know of that was as a result of the disjointed fact that these were really just a bunch of disjointed short stories loosely held together by common characters or if the author has just lost her touch. Heck maybe I have just grown up and move on past Hinton's story telling techniques. Either way- it just was not something I enjoyed.
June 18, 2022
S.E. Hinton's Some of Tim's Stories is a collection of very short stories that are about two cousins, who were raised like brothers, and how one incident - one tragedy - affected their lives very differently.
Hinton "took a roundabout way of writing in first person, using a narrator who writes his stories in third person".
Being a Hinton fan ever since I read The Outsiders, when I first saw this, the cover pulled me in, and I instantly looked forward to it, expecting it to be a great, heartbreaking story about two boys who were like brothers.
Unfortunately, though, to my disappointment, it wasn't like I expected.
Full review at My Blog
Hinton "took a roundabout way of writing in first person, using a narrator who writes his stories in third person".
Being a Hinton fan ever since I read The Outsiders, when I first saw this, the cover pulled me in, and I instantly looked forward to it, expecting it to be a great, heartbreaking story about two boys who were like brothers.
Unfortunately, though, to my disappointment, it wasn't like I expected.
Full review at My Blog
June 25, 2020
Big, big letdown. I saw this book that I had never heard of on a shelf at my library and when I saw it was an S.E. Hinton book, I had to read it. I love her work. I guess this is supposed to be a collection of short stories but it had the feel of chapters in an incomplete novel instead. The ending just left you hanging, like it just dropped off of a cliff and left me thinking what? That's it? And this Tim guy. I would've had no idea who he even was if it hadn't been for the S.E. Hinton interviews in the back of the book. Tim is never even mentioned in the stories. I think this could've been a great novel had she drawn it out more but as it stands, it's only a 2 star for me.
February 7, 2018
Some of Tim's Stories left me with more questions than answers and an overall confused feeling. I didn't even know who the heck Tim was until I read the interviews in the back? I felt like I needed to immediately reread the book because I had missed something important, only to read in the interviews that "Tim" never even appears in the story and is just the narrator.
2/5 stars.
2/5 stars.
March 6, 2011
This book is very good. Hate the language, but S.E has a way of writing, that just fascinates me. In all her books, there is always a deeper meaning to everything and she is SO talented :D
October 17, 2017
DNF. Not my cup of tea.
April 11, 2025
This could have been a five-star novel—an exceptional five-star novel, even. That’s why I’m so ridiculously disappointed in the execution. Hinton had the bones of something incredible here. But instead of building it out, she left it as bare bones, published it, and called it done.
There’s real beauty in short stories, and I genuinely believe the stories in this collection are expertly written. But as readers, we need more. Hinton has said in interviews that she doesn’t write for other people—and that’s great, artistic integrity and all—but this felt like she had a treasure chest full of gold and only gave us a few coins. She could have made this a full-length novel, even in the unique, fragmented style she used here. But she didn’t. And honestly, I think that was a huge mistake.
The word I keep trying not to use is “lazy,” because I really don’t believe this was a product of laziness. It feels more like a swing and a miss in an attempt to be a little too original. I also didn’t understand the artistic choice to tell the story from Tim’s perspective rather than just focusing on Mike and Terry. For the entire collection, I thought Terry was the bartender! It puts a lot of pressure on the reader to figure out what’s going on without enough context or clarity. I finished the collection completely confused and only got clarity because I also read Hinton’s interviews about it.
And that leads me to the interviews… man. There’s more interview content in this book than actual storytelling. You can’t market a book like this—as if it’s a cohesive narrative—and then deliver a bulk of bonus material aimed more at superfans. It rubs me the wrong way. Sure, the interviews are fine. You get some fun facts to share with fellow S.E. Hinton fans, and it’s interesting to get a glimpse into her process and reflections on her earlier works and their adaptations. But 1) they get repetitive, and 2) again, the book isn’t marketed as a behind-the-scenes collection—it’s marketed as a work of fiction.
I’d say, “Do better, Hinton,” but after this, she seems to have vanished from the writing world. I couldn’t find anything about why she left when I tried. And that makes this feel like a really sad, anticlimactic end to what was otherwise a stellar career.
Read primarily because: I love S.E Hinton
(ATY #8)
There’s real beauty in short stories, and I genuinely believe the stories in this collection are expertly written. But as readers, we need more. Hinton has said in interviews that she doesn’t write for other people—and that’s great, artistic integrity and all—but this felt like she had a treasure chest full of gold and only gave us a few coins. She could have made this a full-length novel, even in the unique, fragmented style she used here. But she didn’t. And honestly, I think that was a huge mistake.
The word I keep trying not to use is “lazy,” because I really don’t believe this was a product of laziness. It feels more like a swing and a miss in an attempt to be a little too original. I also didn’t understand the artistic choice to tell the story from Tim’s perspective rather than just focusing on Mike and Terry. For the entire collection, I thought Terry was the bartender! It puts a lot of pressure on the reader to figure out what’s going on without enough context or clarity. I finished the collection completely confused and only got clarity because I also read Hinton’s interviews about it.
And that leads me to the interviews… man. There’s more interview content in this book than actual storytelling. You can’t market a book like this—as if it’s a cohesive narrative—and then deliver a bulk of bonus material aimed more at superfans. It rubs me the wrong way. Sure, the interviews are fine. You get some fun facts to share with fellow S.E. Hinton fans, and it’s interesting to get a glimpse into her process and reflections on her earlier works and their adaptations. But 1) they get repetitive, and 2) again, the book isn’t marketed as a behind-the-scenes collection—it’s marketed as a work of fiction.
I’d say, “Do better, Hinton,” but after this, she seems to have vanished from the writing world. I couldn’t find anything about why she left when I tried. And that makes this feel like a really sad, anticlimactic end to what was otherwise a stellar career.
Read primarily because: I love S.E Hinton
(ATY #8)
September 2, 2016
In Some of Tim's Stories, the narrative premise of this very short collection of sequential stories is not immediately apparent, but gradually makes itself known as you follow the main character, Mike, through the third-person perspective.
While Tim himself never makes an appearance and is never mentioned or referred to, his presence is felt through Mike, his on-paper doppelganger. The reader realizes that Tim is the author of these tales, and Mike is his character. In effect, S. E. Hinton writes through a personified filter - the fictional Tim - in order to write about Mike.
It is a Russian doll effect of sorts - a real writer writing as a fictional writer writing about a fictional character who is influenced by the fictional writer's experiences who is influenced by the real writer. As the meme goes, "How Meta."
This technique raises several sets questions for me on two major fronts; the first being what are the effects that this has on the writer's processes - does the real writer experience a mental/emotional distancing or merging result in approach/tone/head space as they speak through the fictional writer/buffer/filter? The second set of questions center around how the fictional writer then influences the fictional stories.
The extensive interviews of S. E. Hinton by Teresa Miller that take place in the second half of the book help to shed some light on the first set of questions. Hinton says {answers are edited to address my question):
Q: Why was it important for you to filter these stories through Tim?
It was a different narration process, and I enjoy being different sometimes...
Q: Did you ever find yourself slipping out of character and writing as S. E. Hinton?
Not with Tim's stories. I was so involved being that narrator that I found myself being Tim when I should have been S. E. Hinton.
To address the second set of questions (how does Tim's voice affect the narration?), see:
Q: How is Tim's writing style different from yours?
When I first started writing from Tim's point of view, I was amazed I couldn't do dialogue, because dialogue is my strong point. But dialogue was the hardest part of fiction writing for Tim. In the earlier stories there's not much. But as he got more relaxed with his writing, he got more comfortable using dialogue, too.
Q: But he still isn't a sophisticated storyteller. What is his strength as a writer?
I think the emotional intensity that he brings to his stories. His stories had to start with an emotion.
Overall I think that it was an experiment worth undergoing, especially from a writerly point of view, however I'm not sure if there is a lot of value for the reader to know about this process. It was a point of interest to muse near the end, when Mike starts talking about taking creative writing classes, whether this set of stories was autobiographical for Mike and perhaps if Mike = Tim and Tim = Mike, but without knowing anything about Tim, I didn't have the ability to contrast and compare the 'real' life of Tim and how he chose to artistically represent himself through Mike. In any event, it was a bit of food for thought.
The stories themselves were moving while being austere; the word count for each entry is under 1000 and as a result many things are implied instead of elaborated in great detail. I actually liked this, as it forced a kind of focus to each tale and character while also allowing the reader to colour in the lines with their imaginations and experiences. The end result were a series of impactful sketches that built on each other and finished leaving the reader satisfied.
The content and subject matter of the stories centers around Mike and his cousin. Both boys lose an uncle and a father after a car accident takes their lives, and both struggle with self-identity and the perils of growing up without a male role model as a result. I liked that Hinton explored Mike past adolescence and that this covered his early adult years as well. The stories also explore the themes of family, brotherhood, guilt, addiction, acceptance, legacy and self-improvement via determination and trial and error. All in all, the stories are about life.
I have always appreciated S. E. Hinton's unflinching and honest portrayals of topics and worldviews that others either refuse to acknowledge or talk about (Socs vs Greasers, anyone?). Sometimes life is hard. Hinton gets that, and she explores it with integrity.
I should also mention that there are some illustrations throughout the book that add some visual interest. They are still life vignettes of a sort, and add to the sense that these stories are sketches.
In addition to the stories, there is also a three part interview series that makes up more than half of the book. Hinton discusses The Outsiders, her following works, her life at University, her experiences with Hollywood, Matt Dillon and Francis Ford Coppola, family life and the things that matter to her. There are some insights into her processes for writing as well as what she finds inspiring. It's worth a read for Hinton fans without a doubt, as well as anyone interested in writing or film.
There are many strong parts, and these are only some of my favourite lines/segments:
1)
"Just a little longer?" they'd whine when their moms made them get out. Their teeth would be chattering, their lips blue, and all they could think of was getting back in.
Mike could remember whining like that. He picked up his cigarettes from the picnic table, tapped another one out.
"He says it's not as bad as you think. His cellmate is fine. They have a window."
Sometimes Mike thought Aunt Jelly must have had a stroke or something, since Terry... left.
She seemed so stunned. Strange. She was not a stupid woman.
Mike knew damn well there was no window.
...
"It's not your fault," Aunt Jelly said suddenly, fiercely. She put her hand on his arm. "Terry knew what he was doing. He knew the risks."
"Yes," Mike said. After all, it was the truth.
"And it's not your fault you're not in there with him."
"Just a little while longer?" the little kids whined.
They could not tell it was cold.
2)
"You got twenty-four hours to get your stuff out of my house."
Those were the exact same words he'd heard six years before, when he thought he had left that house forever.
Mike hoped the step-father remembered saying that.
"Fuck you," he started to add, but then realized Mom had said it for him.
3) When she looked at them, she looked under grime and saw people. She had those kind of eyes.
I would recommend this book for short story lovers, writers, Hinton fans and those who enjoy themes and subjects including relationships between brothers/cousins, guilt, the school of hard knocks, learning to forgive yourself, learning about yourself, coping with alcoholism, navigating the world without role models, the loss of a father, ineffective parenting/parents who 'mean well,' familial legacies and building a life for yourself. From a writing point of view, experimental writing, experimental narration, writing from a male POV.
While Tim himself never makes an appearance and is never mentioned or referred to, his presence is felt through Mike, his on-paper doppelganger. The reader realizes that Tim is the author of these tales, and Mike is his character. In effect, S. E. Hinton writes through a personified filter - the fictional Tim - in order to write about Mike.
It is a Russian doll effect of sorts - a real writer writing as a fictional writer writing about a fictional character who is influenced by the fictional writer's experiences who is influenced by the real writer. As the meme goes, "How Meta."
This technique raises several sets questions for me on two major fronts; the first being what are the effects that this has on the writer's processes - does the real writer experience a mental/emotional distancing or merging result in approach/tone/head space as they speak through the fictional writer/buffer/filter? The second set of questions center around how the fictional writer then influences the fictional stories.
The extensive interviews of S. E. Hinton by Teresa Miller that take place in the second half of the book help to shed some light on the first set of questions. Hinton says {answers are edited to address my question):
Q: Why was it important for you to filter these stories through Tim?
It was a different narration process, and I enjoy being different sometimes...
Q: Did you ever find yourself slipping out of character and writing as S. E. Hinton?
Not with Tim's stories. I was so involved being that narrator that I found myself being Tim when I should have been S. E. Hinton.
To address the second set of questions (how does Tim's voice affect the narration?), see:
Q: How is Tim's writing style different from yours?
When I first started writing from Tim's point of view, I was amazed I couldn't do dialogue, because dialogue is my strong point. But dialogue was the hardest part of fiction writing for Tim. In the earlier stories there's not much. But as he got more relaxed with his writing, he got more comfortable using dialogue, too.
Q: But he still isn't a sophisticated storyteller. What is his strength as a writer?
I think the emotional intensity that he brings to his stories. His stories had to start with an emotion.
Overall I think that it was an experiment worth undergoing, especially from a writerly point of view, however I'm not sure if there is a lot of value for the reader to know about this process. It was a point of interest to muse near the end, when Mike starts talking about taking creative writing classes, whether this set of stories was autobiographical for Mike and perhaps if Mike = Tim and Tim = Mike, but without knowing anything about Tim, I didn't have the ability to contrast and compare the 'real' life of Tim and how he chose to artistically represent himself through Mike. In any event, it was a bit of food for thought.
The stories themselves were moving while being austere; the word count for each entry is under 1000 and as a result many things are implied instead of elaborated in great detail. I actually liked this, as it forced a kind of focus to each tale and character while also allowing the reader to colour in the lines with their imaginations and experiences. The end result were a series of impactful sketches that built on each other and finished leaving the reader satisfied.
The content and subject matter of the stories centers around Mike and his cousin. Both boys lose an uncle and a father after a car accident takes their lives, and both struggle with self-identity and the perils of growing up without a male role model as a result. I liked that Hinton explored Mike past adolescence and that this covered his early adult years as well. The stories also explore the themes of family, brotherhood, guilt, addiction, acceptance, legacy and self-improvement via determination and trial and error. All in all, the stories are about life.
I have always appreciated S. E. Hinton's unflinching and honest portrayals of topics and worldviews that others either refuse to acknowledge or talk about (Socs vs Greasers, anyone?). Sometimes life is hard. Hinton gets that, and she explores it with integrity.
I should also mention that there are some illustrations throughout the book that add some visual interest. They are still life vignettes of a sort, and add to the sense that these stories are sketches.
In addition to the stories, there is also a three part interview series that makes up more than half of the book. Hinton discusses The Outsiders, her following works, her life at University, her experiences with Hollywood, Matt Dillon and Francis Ford Coppola, family life and the things that matter to her. There are some insights into her processes for writing as well as what she finds inspiring. It's worth a read for Hinton fans without a doubt, as well as anyone interested in writing or film.
There are many strong parts, and these are only some of my favourite lines/segments:
1)
"Just a little longer?" they'd whine when their moms made them get out. Their teeth would be chattering, their lips blue, and all they could think of was getting back in.
Mike could remember whining like that. He picked up his cigarettes from the picnic table, tapped another one out.
"He says it's not as bad as you think. His cellmate is fine. They have a window."
Sometimes Mike thought Aunt Jelly must have had a stroke or something, since Terry... left.
She seemed so stunned. Strange. She was not a stupid woman.
Mike knew damn well there was no window.
...
"It's not your fault," Aunt Jelly said suddenly, fiercely. She put her hand on his arm. "Terry knew what he was doing. He knew the risks."
"Yes," Mike said. After all, it was the truth.
"And it's not your fault you're not in there with him."
"Just a little while longer?" the little kids whined.
They could not tell it was cold.
2)
"You got twenty-four hours to get your stuff out of my house."
Those were the exact same words he'd heard six years before, when he thought he had left that house forever.
Mike hoped the step-father remembered saying that.
"Fuck you," he started to add, but then realized Mom had said it for him.
3) When she looked at them, she looked under grime and saw people. She had those kind of eyes.
I would recommend this book for short story lovers, writers, Hinton fans and those who enjoy themes and subjects including relationships between brothers/cousins, guilt, the school of hard knocks, learning to forgive yourself, learning about yourself, coping with alcoholism, navigating the world without role models, the loss of a father, ineffective parenting/parents who 'mean well,' familial legacies and building a life for yourself. From a writing point of view, experimental writing, experimental narration, writing from a male POV.
July 25, 2025
Ok before I get to the complaining I want to say I did really enjoy this book and i thought it was incredibly written, in fact that is one of the reasons I was so frustrated. I truly believe that this should have been a full novel. I think Hinton could have still wrote it in the fragmented way the she wrote the story’s just more fleshed out. It was good but admittedly I got pretty confused a lot, and overall I just wish it was longer.
My other complaint is I truly don’t understand why it wasn’t just writing from Mark’s pov. I didn’t even know who Tim was when I finished the story’s I was so confused I was like “did I miss him?” But no he was just never there, even in the interviews Hinton referred to Tim and Mark as the same and I just don’t see what difference it made.
The interviews were cool but I am kinda bitter towards them because they made up over half the book, and honestly got kind of boring after a while.
Overall I did still enjoy the book I mean it is still written by Hinton after all.
My other complaint is I truly don’t understand why it wasn’t just writing from Mark’s pov. I didn’t even know who Tim was when I finished the story’s I was so confused I was like “did I miss him?” But no he was just never there, even in the interviews Hinton referred to Tim and Mark as the same and I just don’t see what difference it made.
The interviews were cool but I am kinda bitter towards them because they made up over half the book, and honestly got kind of boring after a while.
Overall I did still enjoy the book I mean it is still written by Hinton after all.
February 24, 2024
Short but quite good. The short stories end at page 67. The rest of the book is filled with interviews of the S.E. Hinton. I only read it to see how she had evolved as a writer since her younger days. I was not disappointed. She was always good at descriptions and character development, but this older Hinton has mastered the art of saying more with less. Many important events in these stories are implied rather than spelled out, similar to the way a master painter uses negative space in order to force observers to focus on what is between objects and to observe through shapes. I think the negative reviewers missed the whole point of what she was trying to do. There is just as much depth in these short stories as there was in any of her first four novels. It’s just written differently, more poetically. So why am I giving it four stars instead of five? Because as much as I enjoyed it, it didn’t grab me and I don’t see myself reading it again.
June 26, 2021
There are fourteen short stories in this book revolving around cousins Mike and Terry. We move through their lives with them...parties, girls, jobs, booze, fishing, swimming, school, bad choices with repercussions.
The boys feel as if they are twins, but they are cousins. Their dads are brothers who married sisters making the boys almost brothers. They love and care for each other but deal with what life hands them in very different ways.
This book was very short....after the stories the remainder of the book is made up of interviews with Hinton. As with all of Hinton's books, the stories take place in Oklahoma, the characters are fleshed-out and real, the situations all too human. Strong stories and very sad and heart-warming at the same time.
Loved it.
The boys feel as if they are twins, but they are cousins. Their dads are brothers who married sisters making the boys almost brothers. They love and care for each other but deal with what life hands them in very different ways.
This book was very short....after the stories the remainder of the book is made up of interviews with Hinton. As with all of Hinton's books, the stories take place in Oklahoma, the characters are fleshed-out and real, the situations all too human. Strong stories and very sad and heart-warming at the same time.
Loved it.
abandoned
April 28, 2023I read about the first two and a half stories in here and was let down. I hoped these stories would be connected to Tim from The Outsiders, but Tim is actually Mike in the collection? At least, that's what the book jacket says. I enjoy metafiction occasionally, but this is a weird style that I couldn't vibe with. If a character is telling the story and also a part of the story why rename them in the story? Also, I didn't read far enough to he certain but the stories do not feel linear or make a logical sense in a nonlinear way either. This is the first time Hinton's work hasn't suited me.
January 27, 2021
3.5 stars for the short stories aspect of this book. Tim was an unmentioned character throughout all of the stories, but he was never mentioned... I feel like S.E. Hinton left some gaps around these stories that left me very confused. I rounded up to four stars for the interview portion of this book, which took up the majority of book. I loved getting to read S.E. Hinton’s take on every aspect of her writing career. She will forever be a favorite YA author of mine!
July 9, 2021
I feel like there’s a big picture in there somewhere and S.E Hinton is telling me “I could show you, but I would rather you use your imagination to painstakingly fill in the gaps” while doing a taunting dance.
Makes enough sense on its own. Reminiscent of Hinton’s older works in plot elements, but has a very different tone. Reads like Hinton was REALLY sorry for Mark and Bryon’s relationship in That Was Then, This Is Now.
4/10
Makes enough sense on its own. Reminiscent of Hinton’s older works in plot elements, but has a very different tone. Reads like Hinton was REALLY sorry for Mark and Bryon’s relationship in That Was Then, This Is Now.
4/10
February 28, 2024
This is an interesting set of stories, but I feel like this would have worked better if Hinton had taken the time to flesh this out more and connect it all into a full-length novel. The writing within the stories themselves is very good, but I still feel like I was served tidbits when I could've had a full-course meal. The interviews with Hinton that make up the second half of this book give some nice insight into her life and her writing.
May 14, 2024
This was one of the first short story collections I ever read, and fair warning, it isn't much like any of S. E. Hinton's other works. But there's something about it that I keep coming back to, and "The Girl Who Loved Movies" is forever one of my favorites. There's something about the emotion SEH manages to contain in so few words and the lives she reveals in fragments. It won't be for everyone, but I've always loved it.
September 7, 2021
This bored me to tears. I know others have really loved this book but I found the characters very flat and uninteresting. This reads more like a summary of a much longer and more detailed book so it never felt like I got to the heart of the story or really got what the point was.
December 11, 2021
the stories were ok. it was nice like 50 pgs. rlly short. but I was rlly confused about everything. and it left at a cliffhanger. but after that the interview with SE Hinton was rlly cute to read. her inspirations and stuff was cute. but ya idk but this one was def not a fav.
April 16, 2022
stories end at 44%.
the rest is a collection of interviews with hinton, which include amazing real-life stories, ex: hinton breeding + selling cocker spaniel puppies in 9th grade to buy a typewriter (important bc "the outsiders" was written when she was 15)... !!
the rest is a collection of interviews with hinton, which include amazing real-life stories, ex: hinton breeding + selling cocker spaniel puppies in 9th grade to buy a typewriter (important bc "the outsiders" was written when she was 15)... !!
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