#CBR9 Review #20: Holes by Louis Sachar
I remember first reading Holes when I was in the 5th
grade; it was always taken out of the library and I had to put myself on the
waiting list to check it out. And I absolutely loved it back then. A while
after this, the movie adaptation came out, and since then I’ve watched it about
a million times (give or take). So I thought, hey, why not revisit it now,
after just finishing a different novel, which was so long and detailed? A nice
little palate cleanser. And honestly, it’s almost word-for-word exactly the
same as the movie, with just a few slight changes. Have you seen or read it? I
was shocked to find out that the cousin I work with had no idea what this story
was even about! But maybe I was just the right age at the right time when the
book/movie came out. Because really, it is more of a book for children or
youth, but that doesn’t mean it’s not still valuable.
Holes is about a teenager named Stanley
Yelnats IV who is being sent to a reform camp for young boys convicted of
crimes; Stanley has been charged with a theft that he didn’t actually commit,
he just happened to end up in possession of the stolen items through
circumstance. His family always seems to have bad luck, which they chalk up to
being due to a family curse placed on them generations before. In any case,
Stanley must go to this camp in the middle of a Texas desert, where young boys
are told they will build character and learn a lesson through digging a hole in
the hot sun every day: five feet diameter, by five feet deep. But that’s just
the story on the surface, because of course adventure ensues when a bunch of
boys get together, and when Stanley considers that perhaps they aren’t just
digging to build character, but to find something lost in time.
We see Stanley grow to form a bond with
these misfit, lonely boys, and how people put together in hardship can form
strong bonds no matter their differences. We see how the past can affect the
future, and how there may be an interconnectedness to everything. Because apart
from the present-day story presented, there are two main subplots involving
Stanley’s ancestors and the curse that is put upon them, as well as a tragic
origin story of a historic outlaw in the area known as Kissin’ Kate Barlow.
Seriously, that flashback part in the movie with Patricia Arquette and Dulé
Hill always messed me up: “I can fix that,” says Sam the onion man, but can he
fiX THIS HOLE IN MY HEART?
Overall, the story of Holes unfolds pretty
quickly with just enough detail to paint a visual picture, but nothing too
extraneous. The writing is extremely straightforward and blunt at times, and
while I understand that it’s a children’s story, it definitely made me zip
through bits just because the pacing is so fast. But there is a lot to be said
about the themes, if only given a little space to breathe and take time to
really consider them, which the pace maybe doesn’t allow without forcing yourself
to kind of slow down at times. Two major themes are the importance of
friendship and keeping promises, which were the main things I noticed reading
this as a child, but there are also deeper implications within the story as
well; racism, sexism, criminal justice, poverty and how this can affect every
aspect of your life, children getting lost in the system, not knowing the
traumas other people have experienced in their lives, and even something
seemingly simple but incredibly concerning in regards to people in positions of
care that really don’t care at all.
I really do love this story, and perhaps it’s
my nostalgia and already present enjoyment of it that made me love zipping
through it again now. The only thing I would really want to know more about is
what happened to some of the other boys of the camp after the end of the story:
what happened to them? Did they just end up back in the system or back into a
cycle of crime because of how hard it is to return to a normal life after being
branded as a criminal? Apparently there is a sequel novel that features a few
of the boys from Stanley’s tent after the events of Holes, which honestly I might be inclined to check out, just
because of my curiosity. But in the meantime, maybe it’s time for me to watch
this movie again. I mean… Sigourney Weaver’s sassy “Excuse Me?” is pretty
iconic.
[Be sure to visit the Cannonball Read main site!]
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