About the Author:
Louis Sachar was born in East Meadow, New York on 20th March 1954. When he was nine years old he moved to California where he completed his schooling. He went to Antioch College in Ohio, he left after the first semester following the death of this father and returned to California to be near his mother. He worked as a salesman before returning to university and went to University of California at Berkeley and majored in Economics. To earn university credits he assisted in Hillside Elementary School as a teachers aide. His first novels were based on his experiences there. Sideways Stories From Wayside School was published whilst he was studying law at Hastings College. He is married with a daughter and enjoys playing Bridge.
The Review: Stanley is just an ordinary boy until he is found guilty of a crime he does not commit. The story tells of a family curse that has 'blighted' Stanley's family for several generations. This bad luck lands Stanley in a very odd correctional institute in the Texas desert. The warden a frightening character, has all the inmates digging holes in a dry lake bed. The story weaves interesting tall tales linking local folk lore and Stanley's family. The relationships among the juveniles in the camp are interesting to follow. Stanley finds a good friend, treasure and learns to like himself.
The book received some mixed views from the members. The group appeared to be split quite clearly down the centre. It was a novel that receieved no mediocre reviews, it was either loved or detested. One person particularly found it undemanding and boring having read the book in a very short space of time and stated strongly that they did not enjoy it, he could not remember reading a book in less time!. It is of course a novel for teenagers which was apparent at the time of choosing. One member actually decribed it as horrid and 'evil for no reason'. They described it as having a hopelessness about it, digging holes and survival in a bleak environment. There was a sense of desperation in a boot camp where in reality some children actually died.
However the contrasting view was that it was about survival. Suchar described how Stanley adapted his behaviour so that he would indeed survive. There were touching moments between the boys and examples of good depths of character with heartwarming and strong relationships between them and some wonderfully humourous moments. Suchar described team work with examples of leadership amongst the boys. The story develops the relationship between Zero and Stanley, becoming good friends and relying on each other.
A couple of members felt the book had a message to deliver about taking responsibility for yourselves. Where as Stanley and his family had blamed the family 'curse' for the family's misfortune, he began to realise that you are responsible for your own fortune. A stronger bond was forged between Zero and Stanley following their subsequent absconding. The story of the folk lore and their past is slowly revealed. Their paths unbeknownst to either of them had crossed in their previous lives and this resulted in Stanley being at boot camp. The friendship outweighed any feelings of blame or retribution that may have otherwise been apparent and their survival since running away depended on them working together and relying on one another. A bit of Disney ending though - hence the film!
Most members said that they would not have chosen it to read ordinarily but were glad that they had read it.
This book was generally felt a bit low level for the reading group, the host felt a need to counter that and offered some quite challenging titles for the next read.
The books offered were:
The Music of Primes:why an unsolved problem in mathematics matters: Marcus du Sautoy
Hypatia of Alexandria: Maria Dzielska
The Cult of Amateur:how today's internet is killing our culture and assaulting our economy: Andrew Keen
Bad Thoughts: a guide to clear thinking: Jamie Whyte
Tom and Cathrine both liked the look of Hypatia (clearly a 5th century feminist) and it was held to be admirably brief; it was agreed that the Cult of the Amateur looks like an important book. Most were put off by the sneaky appearance of an equation in the book on prime numbers (although it was agreed that Charles would probably enjoy the book). However, the ladies liked the appearance of Jamie Whyte (and his book looks interesting, informative and even useful) so Bad Thoughts was finally selected as the next book for the group to read.
Many thanks to Rolf for hosting this meeting.