Holes

by LOUIS SACHAR | Teens |
ISBN: 3464310515 Global Overview for this book
Registered by pterry-96-wm of Hannover, Niedersachsen Germany on 12/11/2005
Buy from one of these Booksellers:
Amazon.com | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | Amazon DE | Amazon FR | Amazon IT | Bol.com
8 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by pterry-96-wm from Hannover, Niedersachsen Germany on Sunday, December 11, 2005
We read this book in our English lessons. I already knew it before, but only in German.
It really is one of my favourite books, I especially like the humour!

Stanley Yelnats is sent to "Camp Green Lake Juvenile Correctional Facility" for stealing a pair of shoes, although he is innocent.
There, in the middle of the desert in Texas, he and the other campers have to dig holes, because the motto of the camp is "if you take a bad boy and make him dig a hole in the hot sun every day, it will turn him into a good boy." But soon it becomes clear that the boys are not only there to build their characters, but to look for something.
This is the first chapter:
There is no lake at camp Green Lake. There once was a very large lake here, the largest lake in Texas. That was over a hundered years ago. now, it's just a dry, flat wasteland.
There used to be a town of Green Lake as well. The town shriveled and dried up along with the lake, and the people who lived there.
During the summer the daytime temperature hovers around ninety-five degrees [Fahrenheit] in the shade-if you can find any shade. There's not much shade at a big dry lake.
The only trees are two old oaks on the eastern edge of the "lake". A hammock is stretched between the tow trees, and along cabin stands behind that.
The campers are forbidden to lie in the hammock. It belongs to the Warden. The Warden owns the shade.
Out on the lake, rattlesnakes and scorpions find shade under rocks and in the holes dug by the campers.
Here's a good rule to remember about rattlesnakes and scorpions: if you don't bother them, they won't bother you.
Usually.
Being bitten by a scorpion or even a rattlesnke is not the worst that can happen to you. You won't die.
Usually.
Sometimes a camper will try to be bitten by a scorpion, or even a small rattlesnake. Then he will get to spend a day or two recovering in his tent, instead of having to dig a hole out on the lake.
Bot you don't want to be bitten by a yellow-spotted lizard. That's the worst thing that can happen to you. You will die a slow and painful death.
Always.
If you get bitten by a yellow-spotted lizard, you might as well go into the shade of the oaks and lie in the hammock.
There is nothing anyone can do to you anymore.

In my opinion the book is both very funny (we had a lot of fun in those English lessons :-)) and society-critical. It creates a bitter-ironic atmosphere that makes you thoughtful.

Because of that I will make this book into a bookring. I think it can be read also by readers youger than I am (15), because there are many vocabularies explained.
And this is what Amazon says:
""If you take a bad boy and make him dig a hole every day in the hot sun, it will turn him into a good boy." Such is the reigning philosophy at Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention facility where there is no lake, and there are no happy campers. In place of what used to be "the largest lake in Texas" is now a dry, flat, sunburned wasteland, pocked with countless identical holes dug by boys improving their character. Stanley Yelnats, of palindromic name and ill-fated pedigree, has landed at Camp Green Lake because it seemed a better option than jail. No matter that his conviction was all a case of mistaken identity, the Yelnats family has become accustomed to a long history of bad luck, thanks to their "no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather!" Despite his innocence, Stanley is quickly enmeshed in the Camp Green Lake routine: rising before dawn to dig a hole five feet deep and five feet in diameter; learning how to get along with the Lord of the Flies-styled pack of boys in Group D; and fearing the warden, who paints her fingernails with rattlesnake venom. But when Stanley realizes that the boys may not just be digging to build character--that in fact the warden is seeking something specific--the plot gets as thick as the irony.
It's a strange story, but strangely compelling and lovely too. Louis Sachar uses poker-faced understatement to create a bizarre but believable landscape--a place where Major Major Major Major of Catch-22 would feel right at home. But while there is humor and absurdity here, there is also a deep understanding of friendship and a searing compassion for society's underdogs. As Stanley unknowingly begins to fulfill his destiny--the dual plots coming together to reveal that fate has big plans in store--we can't help but cheer for the good guys, and all the Yelnats everywhere. (Ages 10 and older) --Brangien Davis "

The book's journey:
1.linguistkris
2.piinkfeline
3.lesezeichen
4.calisson
5.Sheepseeker
6.Taurina
7.
8.
9.
10.
?.tiger-kuh-katze (,who also lives here in Hannover)
and back to me!
Hanna
P.S.: Those sentences I marked in the book are not always what I thought was very important, but what our English teacher wanted us to mark! I really don't like writing into books at all!!!



Journal Entry 2 by linguistkris from Remscheid, Nordrhein-Westfalen Germany on Friday, December 23, 2005
War heute in der Post und wird mir so hoffentlich die Weihnachtsferien versüßen. Heißen Dank!!!

Journal Entry 3 by linguistkris from Remscheid, Nordrhein-Westfalen Germany on Friday, January 6, 2006
Schööön!

RELEASE NOTES:

Per Post auf den Weg nach Bonn zu piinkfeline!

Journal Entry 5 by piinkfeline from Gießen, Hessen Germany on Thursday, January 12, 2006
das Buch ist bei mir angekommen und geht morgen mit mir auf grosse Raise....

vielen Dank fuer's schicken

Journal Entry 6 by piinkfeline from Gießen, Hessen Germany on Monday, January 30, 2006
hm vielleicht sollte ich das auf Deutsch schreiben um mich nicht zu blamieren ;)
also mir hat's gefallen. Ich hab zwar irgendwie den lustigen Teil nicht ganz mitbekommen, aber ich befuerchte um Buecher "zu verstehen" muesste ich wohl wieder in die Schule gehen und sie dort in einer Klasse besprechen :(
dennoch ist es einfach und schnell zu lesen und fuer Wiedereinsteiger durchaus zu empfehlen.

Der Teil mit den Zwiebeln war gut ;)

Reist sobald ich hier die Post gefunden habe (die hoffentlich dann auch noch auf hat) weiter (ganz ohne Zwiebelgestank :)

Journal Entry 7 by lesezeichen from Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen Germany on Tuesday, February 7, 2006
Gut angekommen, vielen Dank fürs Schicken!

Journal Entry 8 by lesezeichen from Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen Germany on Saturday, February 11, 2006
A sweet book. I liked the way its "message" was delivered not with a moralizing undertone but with humour and through absurd situations. And I liked the way it was funny one moment and sad and thought-provoking the next. Yes I smiled a lot while reading the book and even laughed out loud once at the "My no-good-dirty-rotten-pig...." And then there are some really good bits of storytelling: for example the story of Katherine and Sam. Maybe the end was a bit too much on the happy side but all in all this is a book I really enjoyed!

Journal Entry 9 by calisson from Neckargemünd, Baden-Württemberg Germany on Wednesday, February 15, 2006
kam heute mit der Post, danke!

This is such a wonderful book, what a pleasure to read!
Already when I read Holes for the first time, this was quite a while ago and a German translation, I enjoyed it very much, however that was nothing compared to reading the original finally. Thanks a lot for this bookring!

Update 01.03.06:
awaiting sheepseeker's address

Journal Entry 10 by calisson at on Thursday, March 2, 2006

Released 18 yrs ago (3/2/2006 UTC) at

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:

ab die Post und Spaß damit!

Journal Entry 11 by Sheepseeker from Bonn, Nordrhein-Westfalen Germany on Saturday, March 11, 2006
Angekommen, vielen Dank für's Schicken, calisson! Ich bin ja sehr gespannt, nach den guten Journal-Entries...

Journal Entry 12 by Sheepseeker from Bonn, Nordrhein-Westfalen Germany on Sunday, March 12, 2006
Und schon gelesen!
Ein tolles Buch, wie ich finde. Selten fand ich ein Jugendbuch (wenn man es denn so nennen will) auch für einen Erwachsenen so spannend. Die Charaktere sind nicht schwarz/weiß gehalten, sehr schön vielschichtig. Dies Buch hätte ich damals im Unterricht auch gerne gelesen.

Vielen Dank für den Ring!

Journal Entry 13 by Taurina from Marburg, Hessen Germany on Saturday, March 18, 2006
The book arrived today. I already started reading and like it a lot. Thanks for the ring and for sending it to me :-)

Journal Entry 14 by Taurina from Marburg, Hessen Germany on Sunday, March 19, 2006
What a wonderful book! It´s like a modern fairytale. I enjoyed reading it and liked the way the storys of Stanley, his ancestors, Kissing Kate Barlow and Zero are connected, how you get to know more and more about the interrelations. Who is next? tiger-kuh-katze? Or shall I ask in the forum if anyone else wants to read it before?

Journal Entry 15 by tiger-kuh-katze from Oberthal, Saarland Germany on Saturday, April 15, 2006
einziger wermutstropfen: das es so allzu offensichtlich (extremely obvious) "für junge leser" geschrieben ist, sonst sehr gut!
danke an taurina - kam mittwoch an, irgendwie nicht vorm lesen zum journal gekommen -
ging heut beim frühstück nach hause - zu ptery-96-wm zurück...

Journal Entry 16 by pterry-96-wm from Hannover, Niedersachsen Germany on Thursday, April 20, 2006
I got the book on Saturday at an extremely delicious breakfast from tiger-kuh-katze. Thank you all for keeping the book in a very good condition! I'm glad that almost all of you liked the book very much. :-)
Hanna

Are you sure you want to delete this item? It cannot be undone.