On Literature and Teaching

  Holes and the need for complexity Louis Sachar ‘ Holes’ is a Young Adult novel that was an enormous success around the world (more than 6 million copies sold). Published in 1998, it has won multiple awards in various countries, it was translated in many different languages and was even adapted for the cinema. Is it a good book, pleasant to read, well-put together, efficiently narrated? Yes, without a doubt. The pace is good, it never slackens or loses coherence, and there’s a hint of complexity in the narrative structure as well, with unannounced flash-backs that are at first difficult to link to the main story. It reads very easily of course since it’s for younger readers, but at the same time there’s no real feeling of the author talking the reader down: it feels like he’s taking the reader seriously, and not treating them like a child. Yet, what I would like to focus on here is how much of a missed opportunity this novel also is. I liked it well enough, but I do thin...