The Warriors

By Sol Yurick

It's a hot 4th of July night in New York City. In the darkness of the Bronx, thousands of boys have gathered from all across the city. Among them are the warriors of the Coney Island Dominators. Ismael Rivera, leader of the Delancey Thrones, has called an assembly of New York's disparate youth gangs. Why should they keep taking it from the Man when they could be the ones giving it to everyone else?

But when the assembly descends into violence, the Dominators are suddenly a very long way home from home. The Warriors follows the Dominators as they rape and murder their way back to Coney Island through the terrifying New York night. First published in 1965, Sol Yurick's bleak and shocking novel is a brutal tale of young men left to raise themselves, and an urgent warning about the animal savagery that emerges from the torn fabric of human society.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Serpent's Tail
• Release date: Jan 31, 2020
• ISBN: 9781782837381

Sol Yurick

Sol Yurick was born in 1925 in New York. The son of Jewish immigrants, Yurick grew up in a politically active working-class household. He enlisted in the Army during the Second World War, then studied literature before taking a job in New York City's welfare department, where he became familiar with the children of welfare families, many of whom belonged to youth gangs. This experience formed the basis for The Warriors, his first and best-known novel. He was a lifelong social activist and lived his whole life in New York; he died in Brooklyn in 2013.

Reviews for The Warriors

[Teresa Costa · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A brilliant dive into another world that makes you wonder how much of its surreal narrative compares to reality - only to find at the end how deeply the author actually researched it all. The final "chapter", with Sol Yurick's description of how the book and film came to be, is also essential to a better understanding of the story.

[encephalical · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Darker than the movie. Yurick's afterward is also worthwhile.

[booklove2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

NYC will be having a meeting of warring gangs but things don't go as well as planned. This is the basis for one of my favorite movies, only because the film takes itself so seriously while being hilarious. Though I'm not sure they were going for that. The movie is probably 95% different from the book which I can appreciate. I like that they are two separate beasts. But also, why even name the movie after the book if there is not much similar between the two? It seems the movie might have just taken those wacky gangs from the book, or maybe just their clothes (one of the gangs in the book wears ice cream shorts? ) I love the idea of the Others enjoying their day on the Coney Island boardwalk while the Warriors are in a veritable battle zone. Such a memorable image there alone and an interesting way of seeing how gangs might think differently than the Others. Which is an interesting perspective of gang life in general. I also love that the gangs start to wonder why they aren't working together right before everything hits the fan. The book is much more brutal than the movie. The movie wanted to make the main characters, the warriors, much more sympathetic than Yurick cared to write them. Yurick's gang is Lord of the Flies in NYC while the film's gangs could be Disney's interpretation. The book itself switches perspectives occasionally, while mostly staying with Hinton. I feel like there is a ton here in this short book. It's a bit tough for me to unpack. Quite the number of odd scenarios, reminding me a bit of 'Oreo' by Fran Ross. Some of it is a bit Kafkaesque. (Is my life in itself Kafkaesque if every book I read seems inspired by Kafka? It's uncanny.) I do like my edition with Yurick explaining the writing process and discussing actually walking down subway train tunnels to see how long the Warriors journey might take. I can appreciate both the book and the film for different reasons.

[bridgey_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Warriors - Sol Yurick *****Like many people I saw the film about a New York street gang making their way back home across enemy territory while causing havoc. If you liked the film then there is a fair chance that you will love the book. Although a large number of the details were changed for the film (such as the ages, names, brutality) the plot is basically the same. The problem with the film that becomes apparent is that a lot of the intensity becomes lost in translation. Don’t get me wrong, the film is brilliant, but the book is something else.Very often books like this include violence only for the shock factor or to have a talking point. The Warriors is very different and although graphic at times, it really adds to the storyline, hammering to the reader the type of world these people inhabit. Sol Yurick isn’t afraid to really show the dark underbelly of society, and what makes it even more frightening is that you tend to forget that these aren’t adults that are running amok, but teenagers. These are the same people that will settle down to read a comic, or complain about being frightened of the dark only moments after viciously raping or murdering a stranger.The storyline is simple; a meeting of all the gangs in New York is called. An incident occurs which sees all hell break lose, with each gang trying to avoid both the law and enemies. Obviously they have to cross through hostile areas, but do they try and sneak across quietly, or should they make a statement and some additional points for their own reputation? It is hard to believe that life was/is like this for some people, that a civilised society could have such an existence and yet you find that you even begin to sympathise with the characters, rooting for them to succeed, recognising that they aren’t just villains, but victims as well.A relatively short book (just over 200 pages) but so much is crammed into each page that it feels like an epic long after the last page is finished. Give it a try and see for yourself.

[bzedan_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

So different from the movie and just as fantastic. Yorick says it well himself, that the movie is "trashy but beautifully filmed." But the book—the book is violent and true, there is no beautiful ending and there are a lot more swears.This book really should be something more people read. Though the tie to Anabasis is a little heavy at times, the warriors depicted and the gang in focus, the Dominators, are fascinating.