Hole in My Life

Reader reviewed by Liddle

I think this book is really good. I would of also took the oppurtunity to sail a boat from Florida to NYC with 2,000 pounds of hash on it! And not to mention the $10,000. Too bad that he got caught. Hash doesnt kill people.....

Reader reviewed by Sean

I believe that Hole In My Life was a good book. I liked this book because of what it talks about. In the beginning I didnt know if I was going to enjoy it but then it gets interesting to the point were you dont want to put it down. When he got offered to sail the ship and said yes I was very surprised. When sailing the ship to New York there wasnt a lot going on, but when they got to their destination then thats when all the problems starting happening. Jack had no idea what was going on until he heard his one of his partners had got caught. After that he left New York and went to Florida and called his father. When he was done talking to him he knew he was going to be caught. So he went back to New York and found out he was going to be locked up. This is defiantly one of the best books I read, and I think many people should read this.

Reader reviewed by Kelsey R.

The book Hole In My Life by Jack Santos, was a pretty good book. It tells how one mistake can really ruin your life, but it's up to you to change your future. The main character and the author, Jack, really expresses his feeling about how he is in prison for years. He tells his readers that he never thought he would end up there and how he is determined to change his life for the better. Overall, this was a good book and I would recommend it to others because it can help you if you are debating wether to do or not to do something wrong and the consequenses of your actions.

Reader reviewed by bookworm9

Fans of Jack Gantos's humorous children's books may be surprised by this hard-hitting autobiographical account of the author as a young man. After drifting through his final year of high school living on his own in Florida, Jack is sucked into drug trafficking through a combination of circumstances, coincidence, and his own poor decisions. The aspiring writer spends what seems like an eternity with a crazy Englishman on a rusty boat that neither of them really know how to operate before pulling into NY with their drugs. After the selling takes place and Jack is just beginning to consider which college he wants to go to, the FBI intervenes and he is sentenced to a federal prison. He lucks out by becoming the prison's x-ray technician, thus having a private cell and not having to be a part of the daily violence (sexual and otherwise) that he knows is going on within the prison.

This is a gritty tale that is definitely meant for older (14 or 15+) readers. It is, however, an excellent read. Gantos relates his story with enough detachment that it is never maudilin or self-pitying, and he doesn't excuse his actions. This would serve as a good cautionary tale for teens who feel they have their own holes in their lives, or just as a good (if disturbing) read.