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A review by lavvynder
Hole in My Life by Jack Gantos
4.0
Coming of Age/Memoire
Gantos tells the story of how a few poor choices left him in prison not long after graduating high school. Beginning with leaving his family and surviving on his own for his later teen years he begins to drink, and then he starts to smoke marijuana. He wants to go to college but he was lacking the money and after his friend lost $200 of his hard earned money he returned to his family. While working for his father building shipping crates he is presented with an opportunity to smuggle a large amount of hash to New York. After he and his shipmate Hamilton arrive in New York and sell most of the Marijuana they get caught. Jack runs from the FBI and the police but eventually turns himself in. No one believes his story, that he was just a guy who made a bad choice. He ends up serving in prison and experiences the horror of what crime can really do to people, and he wants nothing but to get out. After failing to make probation after serving several months he is given two years until his next court appeal. Instead of waiting around for the time to pass he applies for a college in New York and he is accepted. An appeal is sent and he makes probation before Christmas and just in time to start the semester in January.
I really liked the story. I was surprised at how the court treated his case (especially for someone so young). I was immediately relieved when Gantos was permitted to work as the x-ray technician, and essentially escaped the reality of gen pop. But as he made his mistakes that led him to his prison sentence, I could not help but feel sorry for him. The decisions he made were a result of his passion for more learning; although, this does not justify his crime. I think that this story can be a lesson to help the world understand that some young adults only end up in trouble because they find no other way to make it. I would definitely have this book in my high school classroom.
Gantos tells the story of how a few poor choices left him in prison not long after graduating high school. Beginning with leaving his family and surviving on his own for his later teen years he begins to drink, and then he starts to smoke marijuana. He wants to go to college but he was lacking the money and after his friend lost $200 of his hard earned money he returned to his family. While working for his father building shipping crates he is presented with an opportunity to smuggle a large amount of hash to New York. After he and his shipmate Hamilton arrive in New York and sell most of the Marijuana they get caught. Jack runs from the FBI and the police but eventually turns himself in. No one believes his story, that he was just a guy who made a bad choice. He ends up serving in prison and experiences the horror of what crime can really do to people, and he wants nothing but to get out. After failing to make probation after serving several months he is given two years until his next court appeal. Instead of waiting around for the time to pass he applies for a college in New York and he is accepted. An appeal is sent and he makes probation before Christmas and just in time to start the semester in January.
I really liked the story. I was surprised at how the court treated his case (especially for someone so young). I was immediately relieved when Gantos was permitted to work as the x-ray technician, and essentially escaped the reality of gen pop. But as he made his mistakes that led him to his prison sentence, I could not help but feel sorry for him. The decisions he made were a result of his passion for more learning; although, this does not justify his crime. I think that this story can be a lesson to help the world understand that some young adults only end up in trouble because they find no other way to make it. I would definitely have this book in my high school classroom.