That Was Then, This Is Now is a novel by S. E. Hinton. It was later made into a film starring Emilio Estevez.
Plot
Bryon and Mark have been inseparable best friends from childhood. They are really more like brothers—in fact, Mark has lived with Bryon and his mother since he was nine when his parents killed each other in a drunken fight. Now at sixteen, they both sense that they are growing apart. Bryon has taken an interest in one of his friend's (M&M) older sister, Cathy, and has been spending more time with them, and as a result, Mark has found more trouble out on the streets. Bryon is disturbed by the fights and the violence around them when it gets to be too much, yet Mark takes it all as part of life of a kid on the street. The novel is 159 pages long.
Connections to The Outsiders
The book, like Rumble Fish, takes place in the same universe as Hinton's first book, The Outsiders. However, unlike Rumble Fish, which only hinted at a connection between the two books, Ponyboy Curtis, the main character of The Outsiders, appears in That Was Then, This Is Now as a sometime rival of Bryon, and even takes part in the events surrounding the dance. The characters of Tim and Curly Shepard from The Outsiders also appear, as does their sister Angela, who is original to That Was Then, This Is Now. Randy, who was in The Outsiders, also appears as a hippie in this book, which is appropriate to those who have read or seen The Outsiders, as Randy is an affluent kid who feels guilty about the class division and becomes repulsed by it, which was the background and beliefs of many hippies.
External links
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