What do readers say about Holes by Louis Sachar?

Readers Said: half mystery, half comic cohesive and organized friendships and overcoming obstacles suspenseful and interesting determination, perseverance and innocence friendship and family multiple plot lines contemporary realistic fiction funny and adventure young adulthood and acceptance

Holes - Louis Sachar

Synopsis:

20 Years in Print

Winner of the National Book Award

TIME Magazine's 100 Best YA Books of All Time

"Dazzling" -Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Heartrending" -The Horn Book, starred review

"Brilliant" -School Library Journal, starred review

"Engrossing" -Kirkus Reviews

"A joyful, eerie tour de force" -The Boston Sunday Globe

"Wildly inventive" -The New York Times Book Review

Stanley Yelnats's family has a history of bad luck, so he isn't too surprised when a miscarriage of justice sends him to a boys' juvenile detention center, Camp Green Lake. But there is no lake-it has been dry for over a hundred years-and it's hardly a camp: as punishment, the boys must each dig a hole a day, five feet deep, five feet across, in the hard earth of the dried-up lake bed. The warden claims that this pointless labor builds character, but that's a lie. Stanley must try to dig up the truth.

In this wonderfully inventive, compelling novel that is both serious and funny, Louis Sachar weaves a narrative puzzle that tangles and untangles, until it becomes clear that the hand of fate has been at work in the lives of the characters-and their forebears-for generations. It is a darkly humorous tale of crime, punishment, and redemption.

Excerpt:

Stanley was sitting about ten rows back, handcuffed to his armrest. His backpack lay on the seat next to him. It contained his toothbrush, toothpaste, and a box of stationery his mother had given him....