Louis Sachar has explained that his prize-winning novel Holes was inspired by a place: he started writing with the image of Camp Green Lake in mind, envisaging the arid landscape, the relentless scorching heat, and the frightening creatures – especially the venomous yellow-spotted lizards. The characters and plot followed gradually.
The central figure, Stanley Yelnats, is an unlikely hero: an overweight boy who is subjected to bullying. His family has a history of ill-fortune, because of a curse placed on his ‘no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather’.
Caren's Photo Trip by CC-BY-ND
Turtles at Caddo, the only natural lake in Texas [Image:Caren's Photo Trip by CC-BY-ND]
After being wrongly convicted of theft, Stanley is sent to Camp Green Lake Correctional Facility to be rehabilitated. Each day the boys are compelled to carry out the same monotonous and seemingly pointless task. They have to dig holes, measuring five feet wide by five feet deep.
Stanley’s experiences at the Camp are juxtaposed with those of people from the past: his ancestor Elya Yelnats, and the notorious outlaw Kissin’ Kate Barlow.
Sachar’s simple and succinct writing style sweeps the reader along, and Holes is a book that can appeal to both adults and children. A film adaptation was released in 2004, with Sigourney Weaver as the sinister Warden and Jon Voight playing an odious guard, Mr Sir.
The author has said that his main aim in his books is to make them enjoyable. The moral element has to be secondary to the pleasure provided. Certainly, despite the suffering it describes, ‘Holes’ manages to be a humorous novel and, ultimately, it proves to be truly uplifting.
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