Hole in My Life

Rating:
Summary: People Can Change
Review: Hole in my Life is author Jack Gantos' autoboigraphy, and is a gripping novel that i think is very excellent. Jack's family moves to Puerto Rico during his senior year of high school, but after spending some time there, he decides to return to Florida and graduate. His constant binge drinking forces the family he was staying with to kick him out, so he spends the remainder of his senior year in a hotel. He is a reaslly good writer, but never tries to write all his thoughts down. After he graduates, he decides to wait on college and chooses to join his family in st. Croix, where they were now moved to. There he makes the worst decision of his life.

He agrees to, with two other men, smuggle 2,000 pounds of hash from St. Croix to New York City in a small yacht. Everything goes fine until they are busted when they begin selling it around the city. Jack is sentenced to six years in prison. While in prison, he writes his thoughts in between the spaces of a book, and around the margins. He fully realizes his need to become a writer and shoughts his thoughts with others. Hole in my Life is an awesome book for mature readers who can handle it, because there are a few graphic secenes and a lot of profane language. I think this book would keep anybody from buying or selling drugs, and it really shows that people can change, no matter how bad they have become.

Rating:
Summary: Great autobiography
Review: Jack "Joey Pigza" Gantos writes an autobiography centering on how he became a writer. However, this well written chronicle is not a dissertation on "How to Cook Roast Pig" writer's style. Instead this is a powerfully honest report of why Mr. Gantos chose a life of crime to escape his homeland and how he survived his twentieth year of being caught and incarcerated for smuggling drugs. This harrowing period led Mr. Gantos to concentrate on writing.

This talented author provides his audience with a triumphant biography that his myriad of fans will enjoy. Additionally, anyone who relishes a true life account filled with downfall and deliverance will enjoy Mr. Gantos' message that writing not only saved, but filled the "HOLE IN MY LIFE".

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: People Can Change
Review: This is one great book. It is about Jack Gantos and the summer of 1972, the worst year of his life. It begins with Jack leaving his family in Puerto Rico during his senior year to finish high school back in Florida. He is eventually kicked out of the place that he was staying in and lives the remainder of his senior year of high school in a motel. Soon after, he rejoins his family on the island of St. Croix, where he really gets started on drugs and makes the worst decision of his life.

He agrees to smuggle 2000 pounds of hash from St. Croix to New York City on a small yacht with two other men. Everything goes fine until they begin to sell it and they are busted. Jack is sentenced to six years in prison and he calls it the best thing that ever happened to him. While in prison, he writes his thoughts in between the spaces of a book, and realizes his need to become a writer and share his wonderful thoughts with the world. This is a gripping novel that could make anyone avoid the use or selling of drugs. It shows that anybody, no matter how bad they have become, can change, as Jack has. I recomend this book for any high school age or above reader. You need to be very mature to handle this book, as there is some graphic scenes and profane language.