That Was Then, This Is Now

During the summer, I read a book entitled That Was Then, This Is Now by S.E Hinton. After I read this novel, it ended up leaving me thinking. This story is about two friends named Brian and Mark who felt like they were brothers. In the 1970's, they lived together in Tulsa, Oklahoma because Mark’s parents killed each other in a fight. When they were kids, there was a great bond between then even though Mark got in trouble a lot and Brian was more sensible. When both of them were sixteen, Brian started dating a girl named Cathy. Mark and Cathy did not like each other because they both wanted Brian to themselves. This caused tension between the two brothers.

Cathy’s brother, M&M, was friends with Brian. M&M was a hippie and had good grades at school. M&M runs away from home because he felt like his Dad could not accept him for being a hippie. Cathy and Brian searched for M&M for weeks. After weeks for seaching for M&M, Mark told Brian where M&M. When Cathy and Brian found M&M, he had lost his mind because of the drug, LSD. They took him to the hospital and M&M was never the same. His grades dropped, he was always paranoid, and he was not a hippie any more. Brian found out that Mark was selling bad stuff like LSD. Although he never actually sold the stuff to M&M, this still upset Brian. Also, Mark knew where M&M was and he did not tell anyone or help him for weeks. Though Mark said that he would not sell drugs anymore, This still upset Brian a lot. In anger, Brian turned Mark, his own brother to the cops. His brother ended up going to jail. Soon after, Brian broke up with Cathy.

It seems like Brian punished Cathy for Mark and he punished Mark for Cathy. He called the cops on Mark because he blamed him for what happened to Cathy’s brother and he broke up with Cathy because he blamed Cathy for what he did to Mark.

I had a lot of questions at the end of the novel. Why Brian did not give another chance to Mark. Due to his actions, Mark is in jail now. Mark had promised that he would not sell drugs anymore. Brian did regret turning in Mark but by then it was too late. Also why did he have to punish Cathy? None of this was her fault. It is hard to understand Brian's decisions.

That Was Then, This Is Now is about how relationships change. Our actions can not be undone and we can not go back to what was. It makes me think about my life and how I need to watch my actions because whatever I do or say, I can never take it back. This book left me thinking and I would recommend this book for someone to read.