The Warriors

By: Sol Yurick

Narrated by: Joel Richards

The basis for the cult-classic film The Warriors chronicles one New York City gang's nocturnal journey through the seedy, dangerous subways and city streets of the 1960s. Every gang in the city meets on a sweltering July 4 night in a Bronx park for a peace rally. The crowd of miscreants turns violent after a prominent gang leader is killed and chaos prevails over the attempt at order. The Warriors follows the Dominators trying to make their way back to their home territory without being killed. The police are prowling the city in search of anyone involved in the mayhem.

An exhilarating novel that examines New York City teenagers left behind by society, who form identity and personal strength through their affiliation with their "family", The Warriors weaves together social commentary with ancient legends for a classic coming-of-age tale.

©1965 Sol Yurick; Afterword copyright 2003 by Sol Yurick (P)2019 Tantor

Not as good as the film

Not as good as I thought it would be. Found It boring at times. not so much exciting action as the film adaptation

I have seen the movie more times than I can count.

Although I have been obsessed with the movie for nearly two decades now I still found the book to be very good. The language in the book is hard to identify with of course because it’s based off of gangs from the 50’s, but the different storylines and outcomes compared to the movie makes you keep on reading to find out this version of the story. Any true Warriors fan should read this book and appreciate where it all began.
The afterwords from Sol Yurick was a great insight into the world of adaptations and the vast difference between an author’s vision of a story and a director’s.

Way different than the film

It's radically different than the movie, very interesting. Yurick seems to only want to depict the gangs as honestly as he can. They aren't heroes, they are protagonists. On its face, because the characters aren't judged for what they do (the story is told from their perspectives) readers may take this as condoning their actions. That strikes me as odd and at the very least would possibly show a lack of critical thinking. I think there's absolutely intention on Yurick's part as a writer for us to grapple with the writing. And there's a lot to personally condemn about how these kid gangs live they're lives. Big difference from the film is that the gangs are all largely made up of teens. They kill brutally and on multiple occasion take part in brutal gang rapes. The film version takes away most complications or character defects and changes every aspect of the book aside from the basic plot premise. It's a fun, stupid film (especially by comparison) , but I can definitely see why Sol Yurick didn't appreciate it. He saw the film as violence for its own sake, and it can definitely be said that there's more to think about and grapple with with how the violence is depicted in the novel.
The prose of the book is excellent and sparse, as is the audio performance here.

I would recommend this to fans of the film at least to see the differences, plus it's a quick listen/read.

I enjoyed it as much as the movie

I knew it would not be like exactly like the movie, but I enjoyed it just as much. I came into it considering it a unique story, enjoyed parts that matched the movie, and then realized how much more interesting the parts that didn't match were.

Gritty and disturbing

If you think this is the movie then don’t bother. This book is a social commentary on the violence of youth culture of the time. It’s disturbing and highlights urban squalor; along with the brutal nature of how some people’s lives are. This book is great for what it is.