Holes question

The point is - you're not meant to ask these sorts of questions about this book! It's not meant to challenge the idea of being able to survive in a desert, the whole point is to be enjoyable and fit all the right criteria for a good story.

(Sorry about my little rant there)

No not really because every thing that happens in a book is written as what the author wanted it to be. Obviously the author didn't kill Stanley and Zero when they were out there he made them survive on old food and like magically finding water. Stanley had to survive because he found the box with his name on it. That is what makes him important to the story so he had to survive but I don't think it was realistic in general because I don't think everyone could magically find water and stuff.

Mason wrote: "I would like to know how the onions got there, and that is how they survived. So no, I don't think it is realistic."

Aren't the onions from the onion patch that Sam had all those years before? Sam would row across the lake (aka the desert after the lake dried up)to get them. The boat they found was his boat. It had Kates spiced peaches in it from when she gave them to him. He was killed on his boat in the middle of the lake.

For goodness sake, it's fiction. So many books aren't realistic; Harry Potter series, Thursday Next series, lots of Stephen King's novels to name but a few. You're supposed to enjoy a story for what it is, not analyse the credibility of the plot.

Mason wrote: "I would like to know how the onions got there, and that is how they survived. So no, I don't think it is realistic."

The author knew readers might have this question, so he had written something in advance.

Remember "God's thumb"? Stanley's great-grand-father (the first Stanley) had survived for 17 days in the desert after he was robbed by K.B. (Chapter 21).

Stanley and Zero were on God's thumb as well.

I don't think most elements of the book were realistic, but then again, its fiction

not realistic at all if you ask me. yes they could eat the picked peaches but they could not last that long.

I think it was realistic because onions can grow very fast in different conditions.

I personally think it is actually possible. The detail on the survival made sense, especially how it described their struggles, and didn't just say everything was perfect. They had realistic struggles, and found little sparks of hope along the way

I think I can do it.

In some ways the book was realistic. When Stanley was charged with stealing those shoes it was realistic. The onions could have been planted years before and the water that was up there could have helped them grow along with the heat and sunshine. Things like this are put in the book to leave you wanting more. I will agree that some parts weren't realistic.

Actually, I think it is possible. I remember watching a show called I Shouldn't Be Alive. In one of the episodes, there was a family that got stuck in the desert, and they barely had any water. Long story short, they survived for what I believe (or somewhat remember to be) was somewhere around 48 hours.
So, why couldn't Stanley and Zero/Hector survive? Anything is possible, especially in a fiction's novel.
However, I don't know if the peaches/slosh would be rotten by then. I would assume so...

I do/don't think it's realistic.
They survived because they found a boat with Sam's old onions in it. 1st, how were the onions able to stay preserved for that long?! And in plain glass jars?! 2nd, in deserts, they wind shifts the sand from place to place. Why isn't the boat completely buried under sand?! 3rd, Zero was able to stay alive on the onions, but because he was eating them for so long, and they were FAR past the expiration date, he got sick.

I'm pretty sure I had another reason, but because I typed that, I can't remember. :P

Well I don't think it was realistic because wouldn't zero die because we ate the slosh that was at least 50 years old. By the time they would have gone to big thumb in real life they would have died of dehydration and wouldn't even have the energy to climb it. One lat thing how did the onions even get on the mountain in the first place.

Not really. The yellow spotted lizards were so fake in the movie. I liked the book a lot better. It was a really good story though!

Fiction. Not meant to be 100% believable or fact based.

I think that they probably wouldn't have survived, because you wouldn't have been able to find your way back. The desert would have been amazingly difficult to find your way back to camp.

I'm not sure it was supposed to be realistic. The book is full of amazing coincidences which is part of its charm. I would say it belongs to the genre of magic realism where things magically tie together and connect and they make sense but only if you leave "real" logic behind. The onions are important throughout the plot -- they are a symbol of life (spring onions?) and regeneration. The pickled onions connect past and present. It's a lovely novel but I would say it's not "realistic". Still, everything ties brialliantly together.

I think its realistic, because most of the things that happen to them are very plausable.

I think its realistic because Stanley and zero found shade to keep cool from the hot sun. They also found sploosh which was enough liquid to keep them going where they eventually found "God's Thumb".

it was realistic for me. we have plenty of deserts in my country and there were even worse situations from which -there are people i know- survived.and it was perfectly pictured in my head.so pretty realistic.

it was Sam's onion field.

P.S: i don't think you can enjoy any novel with this attitude...

Mason wrote: "I would like to know how the onions got there, and that is how they survived. So no, I don't think it is realistic." It was Sams onion field

The yellow spotted lizards are soo fake but i still liked it. Its kinda realistic.

I'm not sure. I've never been to an actual desert.

Weren't the onions from Sam, or whatever the guy's name was who sold onions to Kate Barlow?

Not realistic in this world, but considering that Stanly just broke a curse, it's plausible. The "Gods" or whatever you believe is behind curses were looking out for them.

I'm sure they would have made it for a day or two, like they did. If it weren't for the otherworldly, supernatural entity surrounding them, they would have likely died.
The onions came from the end of the curse. They were Sam's onions, or at least grew where Sam used to grow his onions.

I had trouble picturing it in my head. I'm not sure that it really was realistic.great book though!

I don't think it is realistic, if it hadn't been for the onions. It was when Green Lake was still a lake; Sam sold his onions there, you can see the boat he named after his donkey, Mary Lou.

Source(s):
I used to live about 5km from a desert and I actually read the history parts.