Year of Learning: Holes

In my last post I was saying that I really was not into the Forrest Gump book. This time around it's a very different story. 

Holes, written by Louis Sachar, was such a good book that I took me a day and a half to read. The only reason that it took me even that long was because I was reading while I was at work. I read during my breaks. This wonderful story follows Stanley Yelnats during the most unlucky period of his life. He if arrested for stealing a pair of famous shoes that fell out of the sky. It follows his journey to Camp Greenlake where he tells the story of the curse his family was put onto them and how he comes to break that curse. 

Last year when I was coming up with this list I was having some trouble thinking of title to read and watch. My friend Luke told me to read Holes. I loved the movie growing up, and still do. I would always stop and watch the movie when it came on tv. It's always so fun to watch every time it came on. So, I thought it was perfect. Luke told me that most everyone online seemed to think that this is one of the best film adaptations of a book they have ever seen. They say that it was like reading he book when they were watching the film. Hearing this I was excited. 

It has been a number of years since I have seen Holes. That was a good thing because I couldn't really critic the book and movie as I was reading. However, the more I read the more I saw the movie playing in my head. The only thing that I had to keep reminding myself was the fact that Stanley was heavier set in the book. 

Then as I was watching the movie I was really shocked. There was some things in the book that I swore where not in the movie. However, I was wrong. Just about everything that was in the book was also in the film. There are some very minor differences in the story telling but it's not even enough to be angry about. 

Like the book is all from Stanley's point of view so he didn't know about the lawyer coming till he was found in the hole at the end of the book. We saw the lawyer while Stanley was missing in the movie. We also got a little bit of input from the other members of Tent D while Stanley and Zero were gone. 

However, I think that the reason this book and movie were so close together was because Louis Sachar also wrote the screenplay for the film. So, anyone who ever watches the movie can't be mad at the writer because he wrote the book so all the changes he made where his choice. 

I have to say that I really hope that the rest of the book I read this year are going to be as good as this adaptation was. I really was very happy with how this turned out.