i remember learning about holes when the movie came out with shia labeouf. i didn't see the movie or read the book. i was in high school when the book came out and in college when the movie came out, so i didn't think much of it. i wasn't above shia labeouf, i used to love watching even stevens, it just wasn't in my realm of interest at the time. i also was a bit sexist, a story about boys digging holes at some prison-like camp did not sound interesting to me. however, fast forward years later when i discovered that louis sachar wrote the book! i loved sachar's wayside school books, they were my absolute favorite growing up! i especially loved that one chapter in the sequel that you had to read backwards! how cool! based on my love of sachar, i finally decided to give holes a chance.
i decided to make it a winter break read with brother bear. it started out well but when i left to vegas for new years, he didn't keep up with his reading and when i came back, he had lost interested. i, in fact, didn't finish then. i also dropped by copy (it cost me 50 cents) in a puddle when moving so that didn't help with my finishing of it. then i sat in a line for about 8 hours to see shia labeouf do this art installation (i sadly did not get in) but that motivated me to give holes a read so i could watch the movie on netflix.
so i buckled down and read it in a day and it was amazing. i was a bit disappointed in myself for being so judge-y before. i am now trying to get my brother to finish it. my mom is reading it with him. it is a great children's novel and deserved the newbery medal (i have also started this mini mission to read all of the newbery award winners). it is a wonderful book demonstrating the importance of creating your own destiny, how sometimes you have to lend fate a hand to obtain your destiny.
without giving too much away (because you should really read it), holes is the story of a young boy stanley yelnats (a palindrome). bearing the curse of his "no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather", stanley was sent to a camp, camp green lake, for "stealing"shoes. he didn't steal them but they fell from the sky and hit him on the head, an example of that curse in action. at the camp which is a correctional facility for boys, stanley spent his days digging holes and trying to avoid yellow-spotted lizards. stanley befriended another boy, zero, who he taught how to read. zero and stanley then go on a random adventure which helped both boys fulfill their destiny. seriously, the ending was great, everything came full circle.
what i enjoyed most about holes is that it also included the backstories of stanley's great-great-grandfather and town of green lake. the historian in me enjoyed reading these backstories and seeing how they all came together in the end. i have always loved books that allowed me to see how point a and b resulted in c.
stanley's great-great-grandfather's backstory takes the reader to latvia, where the reader discovers the cause of the curse. stanley's great-great=grandfather was in love with a girl. he asked his friend, a gypsy, madame zeroni for help. she helped him but he doesn't hold up his end of the bargain and he and his generations become cursed.
stanley's family is also tied to the backstory of green lake because his great-grandfather was robbed by the bandit, kissin' kate barlow. camp green lake stands where the town of green lake used to exist. green lake was not always a desert, it too was cursed. kate barlow was not always a bandit, in fact, she was the schoolteacher of the town. she became a bandit, after she fell in love with sam, an african-american onion seller. since interracial relationships were not accepted at that time, the town turned against kate and sam. i don't want to spoil the story for those who haven't read it but kate became a bandit and the city dried up. i also want to add kudos to sachar to promoting interracial relationships in this book!
these backstories are sad, but as i mentioned before it all comes together in the end and leaves you going wow! it reminds you of how crazy life can be and how it the end if your heart is in the right place and you try your best, it will all work out for you.
i want to add that holes was listed in a buzzfeed post about books you should read based on your favorite childhood novel. their suggestion was junot diaz's the brief and wondrous life of oscar wao, which i absolutely loved. yes, as buzzfeed says
Both Holes and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao read as modern mythology, featuring two curse-afflicted protagonists who can’t catch a break. They’re tales of misfits and survival, and the cruelty that Oscar faces as an overweight Dominican-American teen obsessed with sci-fi is just as harsh and alienating as that of Stanley Yelnats’ prison camp.
however, i feel a better fit for this book would have been joanthan safran foer's everything is illuminated. both stories have family myths especially that pertaining to a grandfather's legacy. both include a story with a gypsy (okay that is kinda of a loose connection.) but i did i see parallels between stanley and zero's relatinship and alex and jonathan's relationship. oscar was too much of longer, while stanley learned the importance of friendship. (though i have to admit, i don't remember too much from the brief wondrous life of oscar wao, so buzzfeed is probably right, i just have to add in my 2 cents. i mean oscar wao is a wonderful book and should be read, i was just reminded of everything is illuminated as i read.
but back to holes, read the book!!!
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