triskellian

A return to book reviewing!

Holes by Louis Sachar

Holes tells the story of Stanley Yelnats, who is wrongly convicted of a crime and sent to a sort of prison camp for boys, where each inmate must dig a hole five feet deep and five feet across every day, in sweltering desert sun with very little water. Unexpectedly, it's a magic realism fable about friendship and responsibility and making your own luck. There's a curse, buried treasure and lucky coincidences, and many other little fairy tale elements woven neatly into the story.

The social interactions and power structures of the boys in Stanley's group are beautifully done, as is Stanley's transformation from weak victim to confident boy who can stand his ground against previous aggressors. His personal growth is never laboured and at the end of the book it is lightened with a comment in the authorial voice, gently berating the reader who expects a neat demonstration of how Stanley has grown as a person, before introducing a satisfying but not over-detailed final scene.

Holes is a fairy tale. Like more traditional fairy tales, the plot is sometimes implausible, and the characters (especially the bad guys) sometimes sketchy, but, as a fairy tale, it's involving and delightful. I loved it.

Thanks,