Holes by Louis Sachar

This was such a great read that I feel I could recommend it to anybody. Children, teenagers, adults, men or women. It’s a very quick read, but unlike some other short novels I read, it left quite a big impression on me. It’s probably because it can’t be categorised into anything I’ve read before and because it was so beautifully crafted. Its theme is unusual and it would be hard to convince someone to read it by simply telling them what it is about:

A clumsy and unlucky boy gets sent to a detention camp by mistake, where everyday, together with other “troubled” boys, he is made to dig a hole in the hard ground. Five feet deep, five feet across. Apparently this exercise is supposed to build their character and make them better boys, but there's something their warden is not telling them…

The truth is this is not just Stanley’s story at Camp Green Lake. It’s about Stanley’s ancestors, and about Stanley’s camp-mates. It’s about the weird connections that life lays ahead of us and how they affect our destiny one way or the other. It’s about lethal lizards and about onions. There’s also a hearth-breaking love story and a gypsy curse. And there’s friendship. Powerful and selfless friendship. That’s all I can say about it. More would spoil the plot, which is far more interesting than it sounds.

What I loved about it was the rewarding feeling that it gave me when all the threads came together in the end. All the different layers and the details in the story became one neat pattern of a jigsaw, which felt so satisfying. I love when the authors know exactly where they’re going and how they’re going to get there, even though it’s intimidating from an aspiring writer’s perspective.
I’m sure I will re-read it one day, which is saying a lot, since I don’t usually reread books.
Besides being a great piece of storytelling, it triggered many emotions. It was humorous, tragic and even heroic at some point. It was pure comfort reading. A book to keep for those reading slump sometimes people fall into. I can guarantee a speedy recovery!

Holes

Funny songs, funny movies, funny books…these usually don’t win prizes. Holes is a funny book that won prizes. But Holes is not funny in the way that Sideways Stories is funny; Holes is a quieter, sadder sort of funny.

Stanley Yelnats is sent to a camp for delinquent boys. He is said to have stolen a pair of celebrity shoes. All day long, Stanley digs holes as punishment.

But is that the real purpose of the digging of holes?

I loved this book. Everything comes together at the end in an unexpected way. Stanley grows from being a fat, scared kid into a fit, clever boy able to hold his own against all sorts of bad guys.

Holes by Louis Sachar

I've finally finished reading Holes. My daughter read it a while back, and then bugged me to read it for more than a month.

I had already seen the movie, several times, in fact, and was pleased with how closely the movie followed the book, with a few small changes that seemed necessary to make the movie flow. While I have no problem with letting the kids read the book, there's a couple scenes in the movie that my daughter, at least will find upsetting.

The conversational story-telling tone of the writing is very engaging for young readers, and the story keeps moving. The flashbacks to Stanley's earlier relatives can be a little confusing at times, according to certain younger readers, but I enjoyed the playing out of the one story with its parallels to the earlier story.

Definitely recommended for younger and older readers.

Holes by Louis Sachar

Holes by Louis Sachar


Pages: 233
Finished: Dec. 9, 2007
First Published: 1998
Rating: 5/5

First Sentence:

There is no lake at Camp Green Lake.

Comments: Stanley Yelnats is sent to Camp Green Lake after being convicted of a crime he did not commit. At Green Lake, the inmates must dig a 5ft (in every direction) hole each and every day. It is here at this unlikely place that Stanley meets his destiny. This was such a wonderful story! I can't believe I waited so long to read it. All the characters (especially Stanley and the other boys) were so interesting and I loved the flashbacks that brought Stanley's heritage together with his present and ultimately his destiny. An unusual tale with a heartwarming ending. Highly recommended.

Holes 1999

With great care the scene is set and the characters are introduced. From the outset you are aware that all is not quite as simple as it may appear. A story, on the surface written in short economic sentences. We learn enough about our characters but, as with much else in this book – it is the bare minimum. As two of these characters launch out into an apparent barren wilderness the reader is compelled to turn the page and ‘just finish the chapter’!
I enjoyed the style of writing, the story within a story plus the message of the book ‘look carefully, things are not always what they appear to be’.

A read that would appeal to boys and well deserving of the Newbery Medal award

Holes

I don't have much to add to others' posts. I just wanted to record that I read it and thoroughly enjoyed it. My only disappointment was that I'd seen the movie for the first time about three weeks before starting the book. The movie was great -- perfect for the troupe of nine-year-olds I took to the free showing at our local art movie theater. The movie was a wonderful adaptation of the novel. I noticed that Louis Sachar wrote the screenplay. He is to be credited for modifying the story just enough to make it work delightfully on screen.

Holes and Sploosh

When I asked my ten year old son what he remembered and liked most about this book, the first thing he said was "sploosh" (the name one of the characters in the book comes up with for some ancient jars of peach preserves). Then he described the poisonous "yellow-spotted lizards" and the kids at Camp Green Lake, all digging holes, all "exactly five feet deep and five feet around".

He read the book a few days before I did, and it certainly held his interest - and mine, too. It was an engaging story that kept me reading when I should have been doing all kinds of other things. I have to say this book was just more fun than any of the other Newbery winners I've read so far. Fun is not something you would expect from a story about a detention camp, but having looked at some of Louis Sachar's other children's books (my son read all of the "Sideways School" books earlier this year), it wasn't as much a surprise as I would otherwise have thought.

Holes did have some serious ideas in it - justice, bullying, and fate all play important roles in the story. And my son actually asked me about one of the historic parts "Was it really against the law to 'kiss a Negro?' " - which prompted a short discussion on the term Negro, as used in "the old days", along with racism and how it has changed. The use of history in the book was incredible - clever and surprising. And I loved this play on the title near the end of the book:

You will have to fill in the holes yourself.

I also loved Sachar's descriptions - the dry lake, the blazing sun, the rattlesnakes and scorpions and the yellow-spotted lizards. And his characters were so compelling - all of the kids with their nicknames - Armpit, Magnet, Zigzag, and especially Zero, and Mr. Sir and his sunflower seeds, and the ominous Warden with her rattlesnake venom fingernail polish. Offhand, I can't think of a scarier female 'bad guy' in a kid's story, and that includes both Cruella DeVille and Miss Minchon from A Little Princess.

So, two emphatic thumbs up for Holes, from both an adult and a kid. :-)

Holes by Sachar

I finished reading Holes by Sachar (1999) last week. I absolutely loved it. I think it's my favorite Newberry winner so far.

If you haven't read it, it's about a boy, Stanley, who is sent away to a correctional camp in Texas called Camp Green Lake. Only there is no lake, and it's certainly not green. It's in the middle of the desert and the boys who are sent there are forced to dig one hole each day. In between Stanley's story are the stories of Stanley's great grandfather, which takes place in Latvia, and the story of Kate Barlow, which takes place a hundred years ago in the city of Green Lake (when there really was a lake).

I loved how Sachar connected the past and the present, and how the things that Kate Barlow did helped Stanley get out of his predicament. This is my favorite Newberry Award winner so far. Great book. I highly recommend it if you've never read it.