A review by kait2lyn
Hole in My Life by Jack Gantos

2.0

Hole in My Life is a memoir of Jack Gantos, written about his teenage years, and his experience becoming involved in a large-scale shipment of drugs and their subsequent distribution, which led to his arrest. Jack is bright, and has dreams of becoming a writer. That being said, he doesn't seem to fit in with his peers and does't excel in school the way that he has the potential to. He's kind of a loner and a troublemaker, even though he doesn't seem to have any real reason for being that way. For much of the book, Jack is alone, even though he has a family who love and support him. I wasn't really impressed with this book, because I didn't have any sympathy for Jack or the situation he got himself into. It has a lot of the tropes that show up again and again in young adult literature with male protagonists--he's smart, but doesn't apply himself in school; he feels misunderstood, even though there are people who want to understand him; and he finds solace in words. The sailing trip portion was exciting, but I didn't feel bad for Jack landing himself in jail. Had he used the intelligence he was given, and not separated himself so much from society, things would have gone differently.