Hole in My Life

Gantos, Jack. ( 2002). Hole in My Life. Douglas & McIntyre, Canada. ISBN: 9781435233607

Jack Gantos writes his memoir of the darkest time in his life, young adult. Jack takes the reader through a journey that lead him from a life of a college bound, independent high school student, to the life behind bars. Jack eventually spent fifteen months behind bars in a federal prison on drug trafficking charges after helping sailing drugs from the Virgin Islands to New York City. “The best memoir that we have read in the last few years is Jack Ganto’s Hole in My Life which was a runner-up for the 2002 Printz Award. As shown by the smoothness and the power of the writing, Gantos has written this story probably a dozen times, if not on paper, at least in his head.” (Nilsen).

The reader may at some points find Jack either a Naïve young man, or a person so hooked on drugs that his inhibition allows to be fooled by drug smugglers. Gantos takes others on their offers to smoke marijuana, and with no other thought but finding income to pay for college, he agreed to help smuggle drugs to New York City for $10,000.

Through his memoir, it appears as though Gantos cannot catch a break with the law, even though through his perspective he is constantly telling the truth. When he finds out that the FBI is looking for him, he quickly returns to New York to turn himself in, only to find out he is the last of all involved to do so. The Federal Government wants names of others who are involved, except Gantos never asked questions and truly could not identify others involved. According to the prosecutors,  “The accused has not cooperating in the ongoing investigation of others involved with this international operation. It is our belief that he is withholding information, and our office is in favor of incarceration.” (p. 142).

While in prison, Gantos uses his intelligence to make the most of his stay. He gains a job in the clinic, and seems to befriend the inmates as well as some of the officers, even to the point where they would mail his college application from outside of the prison in order to save the large “Federal Prison” stamp from the envelope. He constantly was reading while in prison, even using the books as paper in which to write his own stories, which later he would use in order to help him succeed in his college courses.

The idea of drugs, sex, lies, and independence are evident throughout this memoir, and is intended for much more mature young adults. Gantos even has described it as “the book was as much a cautionary tale for adults as for kids. He wants adults to get the message that we should not give up on kids who are in trouble. With the right help, and a lot of luck, they may survive and go on to become the kind of adult who can make the world a better place” (Nilsen). Gantos takes his readers on an adventure of youth to maturity, to wanting to write to becoming a writer.

Nilsen, A. & Donelson, K.(2009). Literature for Today’s Young Adults. Boston, MA.