Louis Sachar is an author that Solanki Booksellers’ owner
Anil Solanki introduced me to, when I visited them during my Pune bookstore signing for TheWorst Daughter Ever. Sincere request peeps: PLEASE, PLEASE visit Solanki
Booksellers whenever you’re in Pune… you won’t regret it.
The book that Solanki uncle recommended to me was HOLES –
eponymous with what happens in the actual story.
Holes is a simple book about a juvenile delinquent kid who
gets sent to a ‘summer camp’ for kids with nowhere else to go, in the middle of
nowhere, Texas. The kids are sorted into groups and our hero Stanley becomes
part of a group of similarly disadvantaged kids with weird names – Zero, X-Ray,
Armpit, Squid, Magnet and Zigzag.
Their only job at this camp is to dig holes.
That is it.
The whole book is about the kids digging holes.
I started it on the night of my return from Pune, after a
grueling six-hour road trip that left me zombie out with exhaustion. I started
the book at 11:20 pm.
I finished Holes at 1 am.
And, from start to finish this book was a short, hilarious,
utterly delightful read.
Exploring The Reluctant Hero’s Journey
In writing jargon, Sachar’s Stanley undertakes the hero’s
journey archetype in order to achieve character growth. In simple terms,
Stanley is just a boy…facing a ton of difficulties in order to get the gold.
Okay, there is no actual gold in Holes but to read about a
pudgy fourteen-year-old kid dig holes and become a stronger person is
storytelling gold. And here is why.
When the book begins and Stanley is taken to the camp in the
middle of nowhere, he is an overweight boy with no friends, a socially and
economically disadvantaged family and the cutest last name – Yelnats (it’s
important to know Stanley’s last name!).
Can you peeps guess the punnyness in Stanley Yelnats’ name?
Stanley is overweight, friendless and a junior criminal who
ends up bunking with a bunch of other nameless kids with codenames like Zero,
Magnet, X-Ray and so on.
It’s heartbreaking that each of these names stand for the
deficiencies, disabilities and flaws these kids have. For instance, X-Ray is
called so because he is actually blind.
Sachar’s writing throws up a stark and terrible mirror to
the casual way kids hurt and bully each other. But it does so without offense,
which is again so smart and noteworthy.
Stanley’s journey to growth is both internal and external –
he becomes the reluctant leader of this motley group of misfits by virtue of
being tallest and weightiest. But, as the book progresses and they keep digging
holes, Stanley grows into a fine, thoughtful, and built young man.
The other journey is far more fraught and fun, though.
It’s about digging for buried treasure and I really can’t
reveal more without giving away a juicy and exciting and insanely hilarious
plot.
A Friend In Need Is A Friend In Deed
Stanley befriends an illiterate and orphaned kid named Zero
(again named so because he knows nothing!) and teaches him to read in exchange
for Zero digging holes for him. This unusual partnership takes off and takes
the book in unexpected directions.
When I first started Holes I was gripped by Sachar’s
staccato writing, the immediateness of the setting. And the fact that Stanley
was a very unlikely hero!
But, as the story progressed, it was so awesome to see
Stanley’s and Zero’s friendship flourish. There is something magical about
boyhood friends – the making of them and the forging of them.
When the friendship begins, Stanley’s the reluctant teacher
to a monosyllabic Zero. All he wants is to not dig holes and Zero is the
quickest way to make that possible. There is no more thought than that of
survival.
But, as the friendship deepens, as they get into more and
more escapades together, Stanley and Zero become unlikely allies. And then, the
best of friends, who choose each other when the night is darkest and they are
lost in the literal wilderness.
The best relationships are forged through conflict and
actual life and death situations and Holes offers plenty of both for our
heroes.
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work, Makes Bank…And For Some Wonderful Writing
Holes is a super satisfying read much like the Amazon bestselling Something Old, Something New –
the anthology of second chance romance novellas I’ve co-written with a bunch of
my friends. Because it is all about redemption and friendship and
happy-ever-afters.
But Sachar puts the boys through some holy hell before they
get there.
It’s funny and acerbic and extremely touching in a lot of
places, and the story within a story device (there is a not-so-subtle parable
story relating to Native Americans and gypsy curses) is used marvelously in
Holes.
Holes and Sachar talk about racism, caste discrimination,
prejudice in the judiciary system and the sheer ‘otherness’ that all teens
experience along with placing them in an extremely uncomfortable growth
situation – that of digging themselves out of a hole they have dug themselves
into.
I mean, how brilliant is that?
But teamwork – buddy work – is the only way to really escape
holes as even Shawshank Redemption teaches us. In this case, Stanley and Zero
get everything they wished for and more by the end of the book and in some
style.
But, what really made Holes stand out for me was the way
Louis Sachar tied in some extremely heavy themes and then unpeeled them in
silken and teary layers like the onions a very key character eats to stay
alive!
All in all, Holes is a must-read book for book lovers
everywhere and I have a new favorite author, thanks to my awesome and fruitful
trip to Pune.
Peeps, do give Holes a read and let me know how you found it
in the comments below.
Xx
No comments:
Post a Comment