What Happened SO FAR? A SHORT SUMMARY OF COINCIDENCES (Book Analysis)

The book becomes a bit complicated as we come close to the end. Let's go over the major details and clear everything one more time.

Camp Green Lake-Group D

Our main character Stanley is sent to Camp Green Lake for a crime he didn't commit. The judgement think he stole a famous player's sneakers, which was going to be sold as a charity work. The money is going to be given to the homeless children. Zero is one of them. He had the shoes before they fell on Stanley's head. 

Zero and Stanley meet at Camp Green Lake and their friendship stars with Zero's willing to learn how to read and write. They have a deal.

Zero's great-great-great-grandmother is a wise woman, who helped Stanley's great-great-grandfather and wanted him to carry her up a mountain to drink water from the lake. Otherwise he and his whole family would be cursed. He forgot and his luck never came back. All his descendants blame him whenever something bad happens. That's the relation between Stanley and Zero.

Stanley's first escape attempt fails. 

They dig holes at Camp Green Lake to find Kate Barlow's treasure. Kate Barlow was a teacher at that lake who made best spiced peaches and she escaped because she kissed a dark-skinned guy, who sold and treated diseases with onions. There was a mean guy called Trout Walker and he wanted to get married to Kate Barlow. He is great great grandfather of Warden. However KB hated him. After all she stole Stanley Yelnat I's everything. He was left in the middle of the drought. He said he owed his life to God's thumb.

God's Thumb

When Stanley and Zero escape they find Kate Barlow's peaches and eat them. Then they reach the mountain, which looks like God's thumb. They find onions there and survived. By the way the curse is demolished when Stanley carries Zero up to the mountain. He did what his great great grandfather couldn't do. As they come back to find the treasure, they got cought by Warden. Warden wants it insanely. She is extremely obsessed with the treasure. 

At the end, Stanley's lawyer comes and takes both kids to home. An investigation starts and there will be no digging after then.

This is a very short summary that you can also read before exams. I guess it will help. My aim is to clear the coincidences. I hope it will help you. :)

Kate Barlow kisses the dark-skinned onion seller Sam.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWpW-RSwVJo

I don't think the death of Sam was a major detail so I skipped that part in my summary. You can watch it from the link above. Really tragic. :'(




(395Words)

What happened to Mr. Pendanski? (Character Analysis)

What the hell is going on with you?

Mr. Pendanski is the responsible teacher of Group D. I want to analyse his character at three different parts of the book: In the very beginning, in the middle of the story and at the end. As Stanley first came to the camp, he helped him to meet the others and he showed Stanley what to do. After digging holes the whole day, in the free hours they have, he askes them what they are planning for the future. He reminds them that they are going to have a new life after the camp. That is kind of a therapy I think. X-Ray calls him "Mom". "You can call me mom, if you want to."[p. 36] he says to X-Ray, in a teasing way. In my opinion, that's because he is the only one that tries to protect them and he has the most closest Role to a mother. 

Villain Team

Somehow, he seems to chance in a while. He makes fun of Zero when they come to stop the fight between Stanley, Zero and the others. He makes fun of Zero, humiliates him by using opprobrious words. Mr. Pendanski becomes even more cruel than Mr. Sir or Warden. At the end of the book, we can him waiting for Stanley and Zero, who are surrounded by eleven-spotted-lizards, to die. It's hard to understand why, but whatever happens, it's certain that his character changes a lot. 

Surrounded by the lizards while everyone is waiting for them to die.

(234 Words)

IT REMINDS ME OF SOMETHING... (Personal Connection)

When I first read the description of Camp Green Lake, it sounded really familiar. I had to think about a minute and there! I was at a kind of Camp Grey Lake at the beginning of the year. Take a look at the picture! 

Tuz Gölü, which is located in the middle of Turkey, Anatolia, is similar to Camp Green Lake. I can hear you asking "How"? 

Tuz Gölü, which means Salt Lake when translated to English, makes you feel as if you are standing in the middle of the eternity, especially if you catch the sunset. Run as much as you can, you know there is no way out. Doesn't it sound like Camp Green Lake? 
""You want to run away?" Mr. Sir asked him. Stanley looked back at him, unsure what he meant. 
"If you want to run away, go ahead, start running. I'm not going to stop you." ... 
"I'm not going to run away," Stanley said. 
"Good thinking," said Mr. Sir. "Nobody runs away from here.""(p.16-17)

As we got dizzy because of taking so many photographs, we turned around and couldn't see the others. Even for that split-second that we thought we might have lost everyone, it felt awful. That's the reason why we started running to catch the others in a panicked way. If that can make us so scared, how would it feel like, if we were left with some strangers in the middle of a desert? You, the holes and drought... They are lost then anyone ever can be.
It occurred to me, how some people almost at the same age with me suffer while I am enjoying my life and complaining even about some unnecessary stuff.


(284 Words)

This could be the most likely cover
for the book.

I Guess I Have Heard About It, How Bad Can It Be? (First Impressions)

I didn't have the chance to take an objective look at the book, because I have already heard so much about it. The reason is that it has been read by tenth graders for years, at least since I started this school. As I remember, almost everyone around me had been complaining about the book. I guess I used to hang around with the pessimistic ones. Anyway, I took the book and put it into my school bag to read it at semester. There was the cover, kind of meaningless, but it made sense as I read the back cover. To tell the truth,  as I saw the translated words at the end of the first page, I thought that was the reason why we got it as a semester homework. No one knows...

"Holes" by Louis Sachar is about an innocent boy Stanley, who is sent to Camp Green Lake for a crime he did not commit because he is always in the wrong place at the wrong time. The mission is to dig a hole everyday and the expected improvement is to learn a lesson [p.111] and get a strong character, if you believe...

The first thing I liked is the language. It is so easy to read and find out the meaning of the unknown words, because you don't need a dictionary, the book already has it inside. Although it took just a couple of hours to finish the book, I have added some good words to my vocabulary.

This book made me feel exactly how a good book has to make anyone feel: You take a seat and a deep breath, the time and the pages pass by...

(282 Words)