The Outsider

Rating:
Summary: Not brilliant but not bad!
Review: I bought "The O.C." book "The Outsider" after watching the series for a while.I'm glad I bought it because I never really understood why Ryan Atwood lived in the Cohen's house. The book explains all of this and it's good that you are able to see what is going on in the characters minds. I really got to know the characters much better. BUT, it is very badly written with a lot of repitition and not great descriptions. Read this book if you want to discover the background of the characters but DO NOT read this if you want to read a well written novel!(",)

Rating:
Summary: 50/50
Review: It was a pretty crappy novelization if you ask me. First of all, it was based on a whole load of episodes but ended up coming at about, what, 200 pages? and the price is pretty steep for a short book. I think the author needs to write out the characters better. It seems like they only read scripts and didn't really know the characters. Watch the show, don't bother buying the books.

Rating:
Summary: hooked on it
Review: omg! at first I thought I was gonna not like the book but it is soooo good! It's basiclly about a guy from Chino who doesn't really have a good family or lifestyle. On day he and his brother steal a car and he goes to juvie. He meets this rich lawyer, who says if he needs anything hes there for him. Well it turns out he does when his mom abandons him. He goes to live with the lawyer and his family in the O.C.. They have a huge mansion, he lives in a trailer. They attended a rich private school, he goes to a low ranked public school. They have visas out the ying yang he has - if hes lucky- a couple dollars. They have the world in the palm of their hands, he has nothing. Now he must learn to live with this family and get along with these rich people. Life in the O.C. is not how he planned it to be. It is a definate good summer read, I read it in one day! I recomend it.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Teen Drama Novelization
Review: Sixteen-year-old Ryan Atwood has never been blessed enough to have a great upbringing. He lives in a rough-part of Chino, California, where fists, instead of voices, do the talking. Where his Mother gets drunk every night, and allows her alcoholic boyfriend to hit her whenever he wants. His life changes, however, when he is arrested for car theft and sent to live with a rich family in Orange County (The O.C.). There, he is the ultimate outsider. Seth Cooper, Ryan's somewhat adopted O.C. brother, does everything wrong, and while he's from The O.C., he's not an insider. Then there's the girl-next-door, Marissa Cooper is the ultimate insider. Born and bred in The O.C., she has everything she's ever wanted, and is super-model beautiful. Welcome to The O.C.

As someone who has never watched the show THE O.C., I was interested to see what all the hype was about. Hence, I picked up the first novelization, which covers the first seven episodes of the show, entitled PILOT, THE MODEL HOME, THE GAMBLE, THE DEBUT, THE OUTSIDER, THE GIRLFRIEND, and THE ESCAPE. What I found was an interesting teen drama, that will easily capture the minds and hearts of readers young and old. The novelization delves into the lives of the rich, and shows that even those with money have problems. Fans of the show will relish in this fast-moving novelization, while non-watchers will also enjoy this quick-paced novel filled with relationship drama galore. NOTE: For those looking for pictures of the cast members, there are eight pages of glossy-colored photos tucked into the middle of the book.

Erika Sorocco
Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper

Rating:
Summary: Background Info provides new outlook
Review: This book is basically a tie-in of the first few episodes of the hit show, The O.C., having been a big fan of the show, I picked up the book for the heck of it to read it. And it actually turned out to be pretty good, you find out a lot of background information and it gives you kind of a new outlook on all the characters. And since there's only so much TV can get across, the book helps to convey what's going on in the character's minds.

My only gripe with the book is that the author gets a little repetitive. In the first chapter he mentions Ryan and Theresa having been best friends since they were kids twice in the span of 2 pages, and there are other occasions where he does get repetitive, but other than that it was a good read and I recommend it to fans of the show, or maybe even anyone who hasn't seen the show!