Fourteen-year-old Stanley's family believes they are under a curse that has plagued them for five generations. They have all been incredibly unlucky because an ancestor once sinned by failing to keep a promise. Therefore, it is no surprise that Stanley is now accused of a theft he did not commit and sent to a juvenile correctional labor camp.
In the middle of a scorching desert, the boys are doomed to dig holes for an indefinite period. They are searching for something here, but none of the prisoners know exactly what. The children have little rest and a shortage of water, but plenty of fear and humiliation. There is mortal danger, hostile authorities, and a certain hierarchy among the prisoners. In short, the environment is ripe for an escape, and it does indeed happen... False accusation-prison-escape-survival in the desert—the plot is tense and, moreover, very cinematic. The main narrative thread is interspersed with events that took place in the same location in the century before last, when the desert was not yet a desert, but a blessed lake region. Stanley's ancestors are also present in this storyline.
Although the book is engaging, such an important question as fate versus free will, which runs as a leitmotif throughout the story, could have been developed better. As could the issue of false accusation. However, the theme highlighted by the publisher in the synopsis certainly deserves attention: the proportionality of crime and punishment. That is, if you take a criminal, place them in unbearable conditions, force them to perform meaningless work, and humiliate and suppress everything human in them, will they then be corrected and released as a full-fledged member of society? In adolescent literature, this problem is not often offered for reflection, yet the penal system is a very weak link in human history; it needs to be changed, and to do that, we need to draw attention to it. And the attention of teenagers, too—perhaps something better than Gulags will come into their bright minds.
The novella ends very well (with a somewhat implausible happy ending), and there are no truly harsh moments during the narrative—the book can be read from the age of 10, even by highly sensitive children; it is neither scary nor cruel. There is also a film, which is titled "Klad" in Russian and "Holes" in the original, just like the book.
Leave a comment