Book Cover Photo Source, Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Hole-in-My-Life/Jack-Gantos/e/9780374399887/?itm=6&usri=A+hole+in+my+life, accessed November 5, 2009.Bibliography
Gantos, Jack. 2002. HOLE IN MY LIFE. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
ISBN 9780374399887
Critical Analysis:
In this autobiography by Jack Gantos, we find out how he came to be a writer. Writing was something that the young Jack had always wanted to do, but didn't have the grades in high school to persue. He grew up in in Florida, but is living in St. Croix with his family at the age of 20 when the opportunity of a lifetime falls into his lap (or so he thinks). An aquaintence offers him $10,000 in cash to help sail a boat full of 2000 pounds of hash from St. Croix to New York. The young Gantos thinks that this is the only way to get off of the island he hates and finally make it to college, so he agrees to the deal. In the end, Gantos and his partner are caught and he is sentenced to six years in a federal penitentiary in Ashland, Kentucky. Although he only serves two years for his crime, this is enough time for him to finally slow down enough to begin to write. Although in prison he is not allowed to keep a journal, he gets around this obstacle by chronicling his thoughts in the space between the lines of The Brothers Karamazov. This book is evidence of the creative potential that exists in everyone's life. Although Gantos' prison experience helped shape him as an author and a human being, it did not define his character. His actions following prison were all aimed at distancing himself from the life of a criminal. Although he had choices, in prison he quit using drugs, began writing, and used this time to fighure out what he truely wanted to do in life and begin to accomplish it. Working in the prison hospital proved to provide protection from his fellow inmates while allowing him to witness the prison culture firsthand. Due to the subject matter, Hole in My Life is best suited for older teens and adults. It is an honest, fascinating, and life-affirming chronicle of the personal journey of one of young adult literature's favorite authors.
Michael L. Printz Honor Book
Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
Review Excerpts:
PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY: "Gantos uses the same bold honesty found in his fiction to offer a riveting autobiographical account of his teen years [when he agreed to help smuggle hashish from Florida to New York and wound up in jail]," PW said. "It will leave readers emotionally exhausted and a little wiser."
ALAN REVIEW: "This surprising book recounts the popular YA author's late-teen life, his subsequent arrest and imprisonment. It is frank, harsh, and beautifully truthful at times — especially about life in prison. Above all, this is the story of a young writer trying to find inspiration for his work. Ultimately, he finds the greatest inspiration within himself."
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