Holes (book)

Holes is a Newberry Medal winning novel by Louis Sachar. The book was adapted as an acclaimed film in 2003 by Walt Disney Pictures, though the screenplay was still written by Sachar.

Plot

The backstory

The main plot of the book is closely tied to the backstory, which happened on the order of 100 years ago. The backstory is gradually revealed as the novel goes on. The first main thread of the backstory is Stanley's great great grandfather Elya Yelnats and his son (revealed while Stanley digs his first hole); the second is Kissin' Kate Barlow.

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Elya Yelnats was originally from Latvia where he fell in love with Myra Menke. However, he could not compete with Igor Barkov, who offered a pig to Myra's father. Elya visited his friend, Madame Zeroni. She told him to take one of her small pigs. Each day he should carry it up a mountain, let it drink from a stream, and sing a particular song to it. Elya should continue to do this until Myra'a birthday, and as he did so his pig would gradually get fatter until it weighed more than Igor's pig. Madame Zeroni, who was crippled, also requested that when Elya was done, he should do the same thing to her as to the pig—carry her up the mountain, let her drink from the stream, and sing the song. If he did not do this, he and his descendants would be cursed forever.

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Elya obeyed Madame Zeroni's instructions. However, he skipped taking the pig up the mountain the last day—Myra's birthday. Thus, Elya's pig weighed the same as Igor's instead of weighing more. The decision fell to Myra. Elya was sure she would choose him, but when she proved indecisive, he grew disgusted and left. He boarded a ship to America. It was not until after this he realized he forgot to fulfill Madame Zeroni's request.

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Elya got married in America; however, his life seemed to be plagued by all kinds of bad luck. He began to believe it was the curse. His wife named their son Stanley, because she noticed that was Yelnats backwards. This naming became a tradition, so that the Stanley in the main story line is actually Stanley Yelnats IV.

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Stanley Yelnats I became very wealthy on the stock market, seeming not to be affected by the curse. This did not last, as his entire fortune was stolen by the outlaw Kissin' Kate Barlow. He was left wandering in the desert for three weeks. In his delirium he said he survived because "I found refuge on God's thumb." Not even he knew what he meant by that.

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The second thread concerns Katherine Barlow, the schoolteacher at the town of Green Lake. She was famous for her spiced peaches. There was a Negro in the town, an onion peddler named Sam. Katherine gave Sam some of her peaches in exchange for his fixing the school's roof, which leaked. There were other problems with the schoolhouse, and Katherine kept giving Sam peaches in exchange for fixing various things. Eventually he ran out of things to fix.

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Katherine revealed that she had fallen in love with Sam, and they kissed. Unfortunately, they were seen. Since Sam was black and Katherine was white, the next day a mob formed. The mob destroyed the schoolhouse and wanted to have Sam hanged. Katherine vainly attempted to have the sheriff stop the mob, but he replied that Sam kissing Katherine had been illegal. Sam and Katherine attempted to escape in Sam's rowboat. However, they were pursued by a motor boat, which collided with Sam's boat and sunk it. Sam was shot and Katherine was rescued. Three days later Katherine killed the sheriff, and then kissed him. She became a notorious outlaw and was known as Kissin' Kate Barlow.

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For the next twenty years Kate Barlow made many robberies (including that of Stanley I). At the same time, Green Lake was struck with a drought. The lake dried up and the people abandoned the town. Some former residents of the town found Kate and tried to force her to reveal where she had hid her stolen goods. But a deadly "yellow-spotted lizard" leaped up and bit Kate, and she died. The drought, still not ended, continued on through the decades.

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The main plot

The main plot concerns Stanley Yelnats IV. His father was trying to find a way to recycle sneakers. One day Stanley Yelnats IV is walking home from school. When he came from underneath an overpass a pair of shoes hits him on the head. Because of his father's project, Stanley takes this as a sign and keeps the shoes. He is then arrested. The shoes belonged to the baseball player Clyde Livingston and he had donated them to a homeless shelter. Stanley is convicted of stealing the shoes and is sentenced to 18 months at Camp Green Lake, a correctional facility.

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At Camp Green Lake, he is instructed that each day he must dig a hole five feet deep and five feet wide. Also, if he finds anything interesting, he can get the rest of the day off.

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The person in charge at the camp is a woman known as the Warden. Another official is Mr. Sir. There are a number of counselors; Stanley's is Mr. Pendanski. Stanley is with the D tent, along with several other boys. Each of the boys has a nickname. The boys are Rex ("X-Ray"), Theodore ("Armpit"), Alan ("Squid"), Ricky ("Zigzag"), José ("Magnet"), and Hector ("Zero"). Stanley himself soon acquires the nickname "Caveman".

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On his second day of digging, Stanley finds a fish fossil. He shows it to Mr. Pendanski, but he says that it not the kind of thing the Warden is interested in, and Stanley does not get the day off. Later, X-Ray comes and convinces Stanley that he give anything he finds to X-Ray.

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A couple of weeks later, Stanley finds something else, a tube with the initials KB. He gives it to X-Ray. Since X-Ray is almost done with his hole, he waits until the beginning of the next day to turn it in. The Warden takes charge and has the diggers work together to dig around X-Ray's hole. Stanley realizes they must be looking for something, and furthermore they are digging in a different place than where the tube had actually been found. Thus, they find nothing and after many days they resume their normal pattern. It is some time after this that Stanley realizes the initials KB stand for Kate Barlow.

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Zero, an abandoned child from a poor family, cannot read. He and Stanley come to an agreement: Zero will dig part of Stanley's hole and Stanley will teach Zero how to read. They become friends, and Zero reveals that his real name is "Hector Zeroni". (Though Stanley does not know it, Zero is descended from Madame Zeroni.) One day Stanley notices an unusual rock formation far to the west. It looks like a thumb, and Stanley assumes this is what his great grandfather meant by "God's thumb".

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Eventually, the Warden discovers Stanley and Zero's arrangement. She is furious that Zero is helping Stanley with his hole. There is a confrontation and Zero runs away from the camp. Stanley realizes he will soon die in the desert without help. A few days later, Stanley leaves in search of Zero. He finds him, but Zero does not want to return to the camp. Instead, they decide to climb to the top of the God's thumb peak. Zero is taken ill, however, and Stanley must carry him up. They find a natural water hole and many onions. They survive on these for about a week and a half. During this time, Zero reveals that it is his fault Stanley got sent to Camp Green Lake. It was Zero who stole Clyde Livingston's shoes, not knowing what they were. When the commotion over their loss started, Zero abandoned the shoes, putting them on a parked car. Zero later tried to steal another pair and was caught.

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Stanley gets a strange idea. He and Zero return to Camp Green Lake. They dig in the real spot where Stanley found the tube. They finally unearth a suitcase. The Warden, Mr. Sir, and Mr. Pendanski find them. They cannot do anything because yellow-spotted lizards suddenly crawl all over Stanley and Zero, and one bite will kill you. Eventually a woman who says she is Stanley's lawyer arrives at the camp. She had come earlier but Stanley was not there. New evidence had been found proving Stanley's innocence. Stanley and Zero escape from the hole. The Warden then claims that the suitcase Stanley and Zero found is hers and that Stanley stole it. She is speechless when Zero points out that the suitcase bears the name "Stanley Yelnats". Stanley's lawyer takes Stanley and Zero away. As they leave, a rainstorm arrives and water falls in the lake for the first time in over a century: the drought is over. Camp Green Lake is sold to the Girl Scouts.

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Stanley's lawyer explains that Stanley's father at last succeeded in a breakthrough, finding a cure for foot odor. Stanley's father hired her and mentioned Stanley's situation, leading to further investigation of it. The reader is told the foot odor cure was found the day after Stanley carried Zero up the mountain. The implication is that Stanley broke the curse by meeting Madame Zeroni's original demand.

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The suitcase that had been found contains the belongings of Stanley Yelnats I. Stanley and Zero each become somewhat wealthy. Zero then hires his own team of private investigators who find his mother and reunite her with Zero.

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