A really nice book by a really succesful author

I finished the book and this is going to be my last entry. It will be about the style of Louis Sachar.

The book was quite good, I must say. I liked Louis Sachar’s writing style very much. Well, this is a children’s book, but it wasn't bad. The sentences were simple and easy to understand. Its simplicity made it sometimes also funny. Some may say it was boring, but I don’t think so. It’s maybe because I’m an English learner. Anyway, the book was easy to read. I do care about this when I read a book, because it makes you read the book or just leave it. There weren’t any unnecessary descriptions and extreme long and confusing sentences. Furthermore, I think the dialogues were written good. The kids in the camp speak in a way like bullies do and the Warden is “polite”. I mean, the characters were pictured well. I am also impressed by Louis Sachar’s creativity. For example, “Stanley Yelnats” is a palindrome. Or, everybody calls Hector as Zero because he is “nothing” but it’s also an abbreviation of his last name (Zeroni).

So, that’s all (at least for this book). Goodbye and thank you for reading my blog!

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What happened so far?

I have read nearly 40 chapters already but I haven’t finished yet. Before I read more, I think it would be good to remember what happened so far.

Firstly, Stanley comes to Camp Green Lake because of a crime he didn’t commit. Digging his first holes is really difficult for him. He gets the nickname “Caveman” after he messes with a boy called with this nickname. He finds a fish fossil as he digs his second hole, but he doesn’t get the day off (this is a rule, that if you find something interesting, you get the day off). X-Ray tells him to give him what he finds if he finds anything because, he says, he deserves to get a day off. After a few days he finds a gold tube and gives it to X-Ray. The Warden thinks it is interesting and tells the other boys to dig larger holes where she thinks the tube was found. But they can’t find anything of course. One day, Magnet steals Mr. Sir’s sunflower seeds and accidently spills all the seeds in Stanley’s hole. Mr. Sir brings Stanley to the Warden, who gets angry at Mr. Sir for bothering her with such nonsense and scratches his face with her nails after she applies her toxic nail polish. While Stanley is there, Zero digs for him and offers Stanley to dig a part of his hole every day and asks Stanley to teach him to read in return. Later on, as the Warden hears about this, she tells the boys to do that no more. This makes Zero become angry and escape from the camp. Stanley also escapes after a few days, finds Zero and after a long and tough travel, they arrive to the God’s thumb where the water runs upwards. This is also the place where Sam’s onions grew and where Elya Yelnats had to carry Madame Zeroni up. They drink from the water and eat the onions to survive. It is the onions which heals Zero, who was sick of Katherine Barlow’s rotten spiced peaches he had to drink instead of water, to survive.

Whew! That was a long entry, sorry for that. That’s all I’ve read so far but I think there are still plenty of things to find out, so I’m going to go and finish the book. Bye for now!

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Does the curse finally end?

I want to start this entry with summing up what has happened in the last few chapters. Firstly, we find out what kind of a town Green Lake was 110 years ago and how the beautiful teacher became the feared outlaw because of her love with the town’s onion seller. Back in the camp, the Warden makes Zero get angry by forbidding him to learn how to read, and he escapes from the camp. After four days, Stanley escapes, too, to find Zero and try to survive with him. His only hope is the “God’s Thumb”.

In my opinion, the rest of the story isn’t so difficult to forecast. We have already found out that Zero is Hector Zeroni, who is probably the great-grandson of Madame Zeroni. I guess, Elya’s great-great-grandson and Madame Zeroni’s great-grandson will climb together to “God’s Thumb”, as Elya Yelnats calls it, where the water runs uphill, the place, where Elya had to carry Madame Zeroni and where Sam’s onions grew. They will likely drink from the water and survive. Stanley will sing the lullaby to Zero, which will cause the curse to end. I don’t have an exact idea about what will happen to Camp Green Lake, but according to me, Stanley will find the treasure of Kissin' Kate Barlow, for which the Warden was looking and presumably, the camp will be closed for some reason.

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Here is the lullaby which Stanley's mother used to sing him (and Elya had to sing it to Madame Zeroni): 

An overweight boy becomes a tough guy with a hardened heart

Stanley Yelnats is an overweight boy, who comes from a poor family. He loves his family. Although he isn’t a bad kid, he doesn’t have any friends. He is a bit naive. Nobody, even his teachers, cares about him and he is often teased by his classmates. He is actually a nice and an honest boy, but since he is unlucky, or “in the wrong place at the wrong time” as he calls it, everything goes bad. Perhaps, it’s because of the curse of his pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather, but he and his family don’t believe in curses. However, I guess it is because of the curse and the plot is based on this curse.

After he starts his new life in Camp Green Lake, his physical traits and his character starts to change. He becomes a stronger guy and he gets used to dig holes under the hot sun. He gradually becomes one of the boys of the camp, he gets a nickname and he starts to turn into a disregardful boy. “His muscles and hands weren’t the only part of his body that had toughened over the past several weeks. His heart had hardened as well.” (p. 69) writes Louis Sachar.

I like Stanley, because I think he is helpful and nice. Despite his misfortune, he tries to be happy. And I suppose, he will prove that he isn't just a petty fool and he will make good friends. 

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Seems to be a nice book

“Holes”, written by Louis Sachar, is actually a children’s book but I like it so far. It seems mysterious. At the beginning of the book we meet an overweight boy, who is arrested because of a misunderstanding. He goes to the “Camp Green Lake”, which has no lake and is a very different camp, instead of going to prison. In this camp, the imprisoned boys have to dig a hole every day, in order to “build character”, which is a difficult task for the boys because of the hot weather and the dried surface of the “lake”. This is really hard for Stanley as well as the other boys. As Stanley digs his first hole, the writer tells the story of Stanley’s cursed dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather Elya Yelnats, who is blamed by Stanley and his family when they feel unlucky. 

What I liked about this book is, that everything seems to be connected to each other and I guess it has a nice, surprizing ending. The writing style of the writer is a little bit childish but it’s likeable. I think, his simple sentences make you want to read more and they are funny: “[...] they wont bother you. Usually. [...] You won’t die. Usually. [...] You will die a slow and painful death. Always.” (p. 7).The main question in my mind is actually “What is going to happen next?”. Will Stanley be “friends” with those guys? Why does Zero keep quiet all the time? I have to read the book to find out, so that’s all for now.

By the way, there is a movie of this book but it is different from the book in many ways and I liked the book more.

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