Title: That Was Then, This is Now
Author: S.E. Hinton
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Rachel Keyt writes the following about That Was Then, This is Now :
This book is set in the 1960's, in Oklahoma, and is about two boys, Mark and Bryon, who have been best friends since the can last remember. Mark lives with Bryon and his mother, because his parents killed each other when he was little. They've been very close, almost like brothers. As they grow up, Bryon tries to think about his future and what he wants to do with his life. Mark still doesn't have a care in the world and couldn't care less about his future.
Mark and Bryon do some pretty bad things throughout the book. They hustle pool illegally at their friend Charlie's bar/pool hall. They end up getting Charlie killed, all because some guys didn't like the hustling. Charlie was trying to save them, but he got shot.
They also do drugs, steal, beat up random strangers, and skip school. Mark also hot-wires cars, and he has probation for it. He also gets in trouble for hot-wiring the principal's car. He goes to meet with his probation officer every week, and to get to the officer's office, he hot-wires the principal's car and drives it.
Mark and Bryon have another friend, M&M. Everyone calls him that name because he's always eating M&M candy. He is a hippie, and is a very intellectual child. He reads Newsweek and gets A's in every class except Gym. His father is upset that M&M doesn't have a good grade in Gym, considering gym is an easy class. His father also doesn't like M&M's long hair. Eventually, M&M gets tired of constantly being bothered by his father, so he runs away to a hippie-commune house.
M&M's sister Cathy, knows Mark and Bryon, and her and Bryon have a fairly long relationship. At one point in the book, Bryon imagines himself marrying Cathy. But Bryon breaks up with Cathy after finding out her brother M&M was doing LSD, a powerful hallucination drug.
Bryon also finds out over time that Mark has been selling drugs to earn money to support himself, Bryon, and Bryon's mother, who has been ill in the hospital. Bryon gets angry and calls the police. Mark ends up in State Prison. Bryon, however, gets great grades and gets a job, trying to set up a good future for himself.
I thought the ending was disappointing, and could have been made better. The author could have also written a sequel to That was then, This is now. The book itself was OK. It is more for kids 10 and over, considering it contains several bad words and references to drugs and gang fighting, etc.
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