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A review by mariahistryingtoread
Holes by Louis Sachar
4.0
I lived by the Holes movie when I was a kid. Every time it was on Disney Channel I was there without a second thought.
Despite owning a copy and being a voracious reader as a child I never read the book. In hindsight, I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or not.
When people used to talk about good movie adaptations Holes used to come up all the time. It's less so now since at the time of writing this review Holes the movie is 17 years old. But, I grew up hearing it constantly from Holes book fans. Now I can say for myself that Holes is the gold standard.
All of this is a long winded way of saying that I'm very biased. Holes the movie is so fresh in my mind even all these years later that I was literally imagining the corresponding scenes as I listened to the audiobook. This speaks to its strength as a novel that it was able to basically be played straight through with minimal shifting to make it work for the big screen. There are definitely some books to movies that would actually benefit from less adaptation accuracy.
But, I can't tell if I would have loved this book so much as a kid without seeing the movie first.
Stanley is a pleasant enough protagonist. He's not good at anything so he's not a Gary Stu, however, he feels Gary Stu-ish in that he's a pretty blank slate for a kid to project onto. To be fair part of this seems to be by design as Stanley is changed by what occurs at Camp Green Lake. It still did not make him particularly likeable though.
The novel is told in a pretty dry third person. It's very matter of fact. Details are provided only when necessary. If you're looking for flowery prose look elsewhere. This trickles down to the characters too. Even Zero who is Stanley's best friend doesn't have much to him outside of what is relevant to his storyline with Stanley. All the kids are more or less given one trait to define them. Some of the camaraderie present in the movie would have been much appreciated.
The strength is in the events underlying the main one. Stanley's curse and the tragedy at Camp Green Lake over a hundred years ago intertwining for the climax is what makes this book. Reading about all the little pieces coming together is so satisfying. The way that all of these disparate elements connect, somehow all leading to Stanley is hands down the best part of the book.
Anyways, I recommend it. It's fun. It's got a good underlying message that isn't forced down your throat. And it's also a quick read leaving little time to be really bothered by the weaker aspects. I'd say whichever way you choose to go - movie or book - Holes is a great story and you won't go wrong experiencing it in some format.
Despite owning a copy and being a voracious reader as a child I never read the book. In hindsight, I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or not.
When people used to talk about good movie adaptations Holes used to come up all the time. It's less so now since at the time of writing this review Holes the movie is 17 years old. But, I grew up hearing it constantly from Holes book fans. Now I can say for myself that Holes is the gold standard.
All of this is a long winded way of saying that I'm very biased. Holes the movie is so fresh in my mind even all these years later that I was literally imagining the corresponding scenes as I listened to the audiobook. This speaks to its strength as a novel that it was able to basically be played straight through with minimal shifting to make it work for the big screen. There are definitely some books to movies that would actually benefit from less adaptation accuracy.
But, I can't tell if I would have loved this book so much as a kid without seeing the movie first.
Stanley is a pleasant enough protagonist. He's not good at anything so he's not a Gary Stu, however, he feels Gary Stu-ish in that he's a pretty blank slate for a kid to project onto. To be fair part of this seems to be by design as Stanley is changed by what occurs at Camp Green Lake. It still did not make him particularly likeable though.
The novel is told in a pretty dry third person. It's very matter of fact. Details are provided only when necessary. If you're looking for flowery prose look elsewhere. This trickles down to the characters too. Even Zero who is Stanley's best friend doesn't have much to him outside of what is relevant to his storyline with Stanley. All the kids are more or less given one trait to define them. Some of the camaraderie present in the movie would have been much appreciated.
The strength is in the events underlying the main one. Stanley's curse and the tragedy at Camp Green Lake over a hundred years ago intertwining for the climax is what makes this book. Reading about all the little pieces coming together is so satisfying. The way that all of these disparate elements connect, somehow all leading to Stanley is hands down the best part of the book.
Anyways, I recommend it. It's fun. It's got a good underlying message that isn't forced down your throat. And it's also a quick read leaving little time to be really bothered by the weaker aspects. I'd say whichever way you choose to go - movie or book - Holes is a great story and you won't go wrong experiencing it in some format.