Holes by Louis Sachar

Source of book: Audiobook from the library

I remember back when this book came out in 1998 because it caused a bit of an uproar, and became the target of book banners. Whatever the haters may have thought, the book won a Newbery and was made into a movie, so I think it did all right for itself. 

 

I also remember that within the Fundamentalist Evangelical Homeschool subculture, there was some controversy. Obviously, there were the book banning sorts, but I recall that World Magazine actually thought the book had its merits. In other words, the thoughtful sorts liked it, while the reactionary sorts hated it. 

 

I didn’t read it back then, though. Heck, I was in my early 20s, and wasn’t reading much in the way of kid books - I ended up catching up later with my own kids. I had this one on the list, but moved it up when my brother mentioned that he and his kids enjoyed it. That was a solid recommendation. 

 

We grabbed the audiobook for our most recent camping trip - the Dark Sky Festival at Sequoia National Park - which mostly worked out. The only issue we had was that the disks had been a bit beat up, and we had to fill in a few blanks in the last chapter where it skipped. Oh, and I thought the overall volume level for this one was too low, making it a bit difficult to hear Kerry Beyer’s otherwise excellent narration difficult to hear during quiet parts. 

 

Having listened to the book, I can say that it was different than I was expecting. Not in a bad way, to be sure, but it went a different direction. I can also see why Fundies would hate it: it treats juvenile offenders as humans, not subhuman criminal animals. And this includes those who are guilty of theft and other crimes. Horrors, of course - can’t have sympathy for “bad” people, no matter what that Jesus Christ dude said. Particularly if some of those “bad” people are black. Also predictable was that the Fundies would hate it’s portrayal of adult authority as unreliable and even sinister. (This was, in my opinion, the main problem Fundies had and have with Harry Potter - the “witchcraft” claim is the easy cover for their visceral reaction to the idea that [their kind of] authorities cannot be trusted.) 

 

One of the unexpected things about this book was that I expected it to be more or less realistic. It is very much not, and is not intended to be. Sure, there is a bit of the real world, but this is a book about generational curses, buried treasure, magic onions, fictional deadly lizards, and crazy Texas correctional camps that are run by abusers. Ooops, my bad. The last one is actually the most realistic part of the book. 

 

Young Stanley Yelnats is sent to Camp Green Lake after he is wrongfully accused of stealing celebrity sneakers from a fundraiser. As with many juveniles from impoverished backgrounds, he is railroaded through (before his parents are able to afford a lawyer who determines what actually happened.) 

 

The camp turns out to be in the middle of nowhere, where it hasn’t rained in over 100 years, and the boys are required to dig giant holes in the middle of the dry lake bed. (5 feet in diameter and 5 feet deep, one hole per day.) 

 

Before too long, though, Stanley realizes that things are not what they seem. The warden (a woman with some, um, interesting personality traits) seems to be searching for some sort of a treasure, using the free labor of her charges. 

 

Oh, but there is more! As we find out, Stanley’s family has a curse, which was placed on his “pig stealing great great grandfather” back in Lithuania after he welched out on a promise to carry a gypsy woman up a mountain. The bad luck has followed his family ever since - including that time his great grandfather was robbed of all his fortune by the notorious outlaw Kissing Kate. 

 

And, speaking of Kissing Kate, what was her story? As we find out in another parallel thread, it involves a forbidden interracial relationship, a lynching, and another curse. And it all started back when there actually was a lake at Camp Green Lake. 

 

So yeah, lots of connected, somewhat implausible threads. Think of it as a modern fairy tale. Complete with the deadly (and completely fictional) Yellow-spotted Lizards whose bite means sure death. And, those magic onions. 

 

We did find it to be an enjoyable book. It is pretty funny, but also serious in many ways, dealing as it does with racism and injustice, homelessness, and the role of luck and circumstance in outcomes. Many of the most thought-provoking moments are unexpected. For example, when Stanley agrees to help Hector Zeroni (aka “Zero”) learn to read, and Zero insists on making an exchange of labor, it ends up in a mess because of the historical/racial associations and the way they affect the other boys. Sachar doesn’t give an easy out here either. Everyone is, at some level, right. It does look bad, it seems unfair at some level. And yet Zero is right that he doesn’t want or need charity, and thus Stanley is right to accept the reciprocity rather than be a “white savior.” Rather than resolve this, Sachar instead pivots in a totally different direction with the plot, and Stanley and Zero are able to forge a lasting friendship on a different basis. 

 

I’d definitely give this book a try - it isn’t entirely like anything else, and draws you in like a good fantasy should.