Do you like books which have a mysterious storyline and the characters are doing something that they don’t completely understand, shrouded with mystery and doubt?
Then Holes by Louis Sachar is a perfect match for you! Holes is about a boy named Stanley Yelnats who is cursed with bad luck because his “no good dirty rotten pig stealin’ great-great-grandfather” did not honour an agreement he made with a gypsy lady. He is in a juvenile detention centre known as Camp Green Lake where all of the detainees have to dig one hole every day in the desert which is 5 feet deep and wide for an unknown reason. Stanley makes friends with the other detainees, who tell him to be wary of the warden. The warden is making the boys dig holes under the guise of making them useful to society, however is searching for an ancient treasure belonging to an outlaw. The warden wants this treasure for herself.
The book belongs to the mystery genre. This makes the reader engaged in the story because of the fact that they don’t know what is going to happen next. Much of the book’s mystery is shown through pathetic fallacy as no rain has fallen on Green Lake for a hundred years and the lake is a barren expanse of land. Then a violent backstory is revealed involving the murder of a kind black man named Sam, which shows a possible reason why no rain has fallen. This peculiar weather shrouds the entire plot in a mist of intrigue, and the reason for this lack of rain is not revealed until the very end of the novel. Many characters contribute to the book’s sense of mystery, shown most of all by Stanley’s fellow detainee, Zero. Zero doesn’t like answering questions, and at one significant point in the plot hits one of the trainers with a shovel before running off into the desert. Overall, the addition of the mysterious veil over the story really makes it an interesting read that makes it hard to put the book down.
However, the book also raises some ethical questions such as if the conditions at prisons are humane and that if the labours the inmates are being made to do are for any of their own good or for the good of a large co-operation or in the case of the book, the warden. The book exposes these prison dilemmas and also brings into light a factor that sometimes people don’t consider which is that some of the people who are incarcerated are innocent like Stanley Yelnats in the book. The book also shows that extent of punishment for petty crimes that are too harsh for crimes like stealing an old pair of shoes. In all, the book raises grave questions about problems in the criminal justice system that the readers need to understand.
To conclude, Holes is a very enjoyable and fascinating read that was a very good piece of fiction writing. However, I feel that the best aspect of Holes is Sachar’s way of interweaving 3 different stories into 1 comprehensible storyline. Holes also uses relatively basic vocabulary so it is easy for people of most reading levels to understand it. Overall, what makes Holes worth the read is it’s amazing use of plot, mystery and a bit of comedy that work together to make a very enjoyable book.
