Reviews with content warning for Hate crime - Holes

Fun and entertaining. The use of the backstories to round out the plot and make sense of certain things in the present was very interesting and well done.

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tays_books's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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feline17ff's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

So I read Holes and the Tumblr post was right!
From a technical perspective it's so cool and perfect! Every single thing comes back somehow or other, slevery little detail which you think is just for description or a joke.
YES, ESPECIALLY THE JOKES!
The reader keeps getting rewarded for each line of text they read previously and remember.
It's an amazing and beautiful book that makes you cry. It's about love, both romantic and platonic.
It's really smart, if you didn't get it already.
It's like a Chosen One book but not but yes.
The Chosen Ones come together to work together and break the curse on a land they don't even know that was cursed because of bad people a hundred years ago.
It's about destiny and love and doing the right thing and helping others and about children being harshly punished for things that they dd or didn't do, that were in or out fo their control, that they happened to just be in the wrong place at the wrong time or in the wrong situation
It's about stupid America's stupid racism and stupid war on homeless people and poor people and stupid broken systems and stupid government punishment and and stupid lack of accountability and stupid misogyny too.
It's a happy ending and not just a bittersweet ending, a happy ending which seems less and less possible as the story goes but it is a happy ending and I am grateful.

Another thing.
From a writing perspective.
It uses short sentences and is fast-paced and a short book, which might be the definition of a middle grade book.
As an amateur writer, it's cool to see this in action. Each line packs a punch and the shortness makes sure it hits.

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lynxpardinus's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful tense

4.5

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kate_has_book_thoughts's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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pejms's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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sweetchocolatez's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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lailysian's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

this is a book i loved when i was little so i reread it and honestly i think it’s a really important book for children to read. i found out it’s banned in America for being too ‘dark’ for children but i think the way the book explains prejudice and a little bit of history is very blunt but good for children to understand. nothing is sugar coated and although it does lack some nuance and there are some flaws in a few descriptions/ bits of commentary (that are mainly out of date ideas because it was written in the nineties), considering it’s for nine year olds, i think this is a great book and kids could really learn lots from being taught this book and getting to have important conversations about it like i did at school, so four stars 🦎

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