Hole in My Life

The life shared in this book is compelling, entertaining, and inspirational. Jack Gantos tells of the unpredictable twists and turns of his life through his memoir Hole in My Life. His great details and honest thoughts bring the story to life and allow the reader to not only put on his shoes but run in them too. His blunt sense of humor and vivid details make his stories entertaining and fun to read. He brings moments to life through his true stories and through the characters he has created. In his memoir, Gantos shares a challenging part of his life that led him to actively pursue his writing passion. Jack Gantos introduces you to the people he encountered, the quests he went on, and the challenges he faced at the age of 20. He explains how he continuously searched for what he wanted throughout the years, how he got into trouble, and how the hole in his life ultimately changed is path. His story is open and honest, and it is fascinating to read about the crazy life he lived. He finds himself filling many different roles: a junior attending school in Florida, a construction worker in Puerto Rico, a high school senior living in a motel, a boy involved in questionable activities, a sailor travelling to New York, a prisoner, and a writer. These different roles are a result of different major decisions he made, and these decisions helped lead an interesting and thrilling life. Gantos shows how each moment brought him exciting ideas and aided him in his passion. He shows that every moment truly counts, and that you should never give up on what you want to pursue. The characters he introduces are well developed and authentic. Their voices and personalities can be heard and seen through the pages, and the interactions are vivid and real. From the major people in his life to people whose interactions were brief, each interaction played a vital part in his life, and Gantos’s storytelling makes it easy to imagine the friends and peers. The plot is interesting and easy to follow. His transitions between different thoughts and periods of time are seamless and enjoyable. At times it seemed as if the stories he was sharing were irrelevant, but each story created a better picture of who he is and what he was thinking while he was finding himself through all the chaos. The overall message of the story is relatable and inspiring. The story is captivating – it was hard to put the book down. It is easy identify the books Gantos has written as his due to his distinct style, but his memoir is not like his children’s books. You can hear him speak through the pages and he has no filter while sharing the stories of his life. It is an easy read, but the contents of the book are heavy and mature. I would not recommend this book for children or young teens, because of the drugs and profanity within the story. I enjoyed the book and would eagerly read Gantos’ life story again.

Jack Gantos is a well-known author of children’s books; although Hole in My life, which was published in 2003, may not be suitable for children who have not reached adolescence, this is definitely an autobiography worth reading. This book deserves five out of five stars because it is an easy and fun read and tells a very real story of himself as an aspiring writer. Gantos fills the book with details of his high school life and how it spirals out of control, he even states “you don’t just end up homeless, hungover, sleeping in your car … because you have control of your life”. This book teaches us to keep following our dreams, no matter what we encounter. Living his life as a ‘misfit’, this book is very relatable to high school and college students who may have had a hard time fitting in and were constantly moving from place to place during their childhood. In the book, Gantos seemed to be living the life of a normal teenager who gets into some bad habits, like drugs and alcohol. Though he never fully finished high school, Jack always knew he had a passion for writing and wanted to become a writer, he constantly kept journals for organizing his writing. He even wanted to go to college to improve his writing. Once he deemed the University of Florida as unfit for himself, he moves to St. Croix to be with his family again, who had moved to the island for work. Once he gets to St. Croix, he begins building wooden crates with his father but gets involved with drugs rather quickly. After being offered $10,000 to smuggle hashish from the island to New York, Gantos embarks on his three-week long sailboat adventure with an unfavorable partner. On his journey, Jack continues his writing and reading in hopes of being inspired and being able to perfect his writing skills. Things were quick to fall apart once he reached New York; the FBI ends up catching Gantos after a few weeks of being back in the United States and Jack is sent to prison. After being told he could serve up to six years, Gantos begins pouring his life into writing, writing about every detail of every day. Prison is where Gantos finally realizes his potential as a writer and embraces his passion for writing. Overall, Hole in My Life is truly an inspiration to anyone who has dreams but finds themselves struggling to achieve them. The book does a great job of showing how Jack grew as a writer. He overcomes struggles and turns a very bad situation into a chance to follow his dreams. Jack Gantos is very successful in being detailed in his experiences, which allows the reader to relate to him and feel empathy. Because we know Gantos ends up in jail from the beginning of the book, Hole in My Life leaves you on the edge of your seat and leaves you wanting more. The book flows very well and does a good job of attaching the reader to the book. The hardships he faced gave him the chance to organize and write down his thoughts and allowed writing to become a substitute of drugs. Not only does Hole in My Life act as a story of Gantos’s young adult life, but shares multiple positive life lessons. If he had not gone through these difficulties, Gantos may not be the award-winning author he is today. I definitely recommend this book because it is a great read for anyone who is feeling lost or struggling to achieve their dreams.

I have had this book in my library for a few years now. It is a very popular choice. Gantos describes how his choices in life lead him down a harmful path and yet he was able to make new choices and rediscover his writing talent. I will now have 5 books in my library so that students can read and discuss this book together. The teens in my room can realate to the struggles that Gantos went through in his life, even though most of them have not entered the world of drugs. The reading level in the book allows for many students to read it, especially the EAL students and the below level students in my high school intervention class.

Good

Happy daughter