A review by thewallflower00
Holes by Louis Sachar

5.0

You know one thing you never see in YA -- kids in prison. Well, he's not really in juvey, but an "camp for troubled teens". Which is not so much a camp as slave labor -- also not often seen in YA. How he gets sent to this obviously corrupt and unaccredited alternative to jail, I don't know. That's the biggest implausibility, but if you get past that, it's a compelling story. And that's because the author is doing things you don't see in YA -- living among criminals, manipulation by adults, ambiguity on who to trust, sins of the father -- along with humor like stinky shoes and onion eating. Heavy stuff for a kid's book.

But I know kids can take that stuff, so I like it. It's not just one story, it's a couple stories, but they all come together. All the set pieces, motifs, characters meet each other in a dynamic way -- part Western, part prison story, part funny YA book -- so you're getting a meal with flavorful and different side dishes. Each is different but they all complement each other in ways you didn't expect.