Holes by Louis Sachar

Content Tags: YA, Mystery, Comedy, Fatphobia, Prison Industrial Complex, Child Abuse

Description from Storygraph:
This winner of the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award features Stanley Yelnats, a kid who is under a curse. A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather and has since followed generations of Yelnats.

Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys' detention center, Camp Green Lake, where the warden makes the boys "build character" by spending all day, every day, digging holes five feet wide and five feet deep. It doesn't take long for Stanley to realize there's more than character improvement going on at Camp Green Lake: the warden is looking for something. Stanley tries to dig up the truth in this inventive and darkly humorous tale of crime, punishment, and redemption.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This book is one of the few book to movie adaptations that I feel does the book full justice and representation. I saw the movie first then read the book (a while back, not now) and loved both so much. Especially considering that this book was written many years ago (and by a white man), there is great representation and topics are handled with a surprising level of care and consideration.

The story is presented in such an interesting way and all the pieces play together so well. It is a fun re-read even when I know what's going to happen. It's still so enjoyable to witness the development once again.


Book Reflection Wrap-up:
What did you like best about this book?
The simplistic intricacy of it. I don't know if that description makes sense, but the story isn't super basic, yet the way it's written is very simple and clear. I like that there are twists and reveals while nothing feels confusing or overworked.

If you were making a movie of this book, who would you cast?
For Stanley, definitely Shia LeBeouf and for Hector, definitely Khleo Thomas. Such genius choices. Really, though, while we're talking about the movie, I loved that the decision was made to not put Shia LeBeouf in a fat suit or to try and have him gain weight so that he "matched" the Stanley of the book. They were mindful that A) that would be so problematic (fat suits are bad and it's so dangerous to have a child in particular gain/lose weight in that way) and B) it would not ruin the story to remove the weight element. 

Finished 12/24/2023

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