Hole In My Life by Jack Santos

“Ironically… being locked up in prison is where I fully realized I had to change my life for the better… It is where I went from thinking about becoming a writer, to writing.”— Jack Gantos, Hole in My Life

I was scrolling around for more memoirs to read and decided to ask ChatGPT for a list of books where someone faced a turning point in their life, a fork in the road and they realized they could not go back to their old way of living. These are my favorite kind of memoirs and ChatGPT gave me a very good list. That’s how I discovered Hole In My Life (2002) by Jack Gantos, a writer I will be reading more of. 

Today Jack Gantos is a successful children’s book author. So successful that in 2011 Gantos’ novel Dead End in Norvel was awarded the 2011 Newbery Medal. In the world of children’s literature it doesn’t get better than that.

But in the early 1970’s Jack Gantos, age 20, was in prison for smuggling hashish. Gantos would spend a year and a half in jail. Hole In My Life is his memoir of what led up to his decision to smuggle drugs, his time in prison and how he began to rebuild his life and take his desire to be a writer seriously.

Gantos has a straightforward writing style. He’s very honest and the book, about 224 pages, flew by for me. Teenagers who are at risk and feeling lost could benefit from Hole In My Life. The book is explicit in parts. so that has to be considered if it is assigned in high school. But I am far from my high school days and I learned alot. I recommend Hole In My Life.

kathyvullis1's avatar

Posted by:

kathyvullis1

4 responses to “Hole In My Life by Jack Santos”

  1. janegs1 Avatar
    janegs1

    Sounds super interesting. I do like memoirs, and I like to reading about the writing journey, so maybe onto my TBR.

    Like

    Reply
    1. kathyvullis1 Avatar
      kathyvullis1

      I enjoyed it and I think its a good book for young people too about how easy it can be to get yourself into a world of trouble and how to pull yourself out.

      Like

      Reply
  2. Susan Avatar
    Susan

    Well it’s great that he could turn his life around. These kinds of memoirs are pretty enticing … about people hitting rock bottom and then emerging anew from the ashes. I have not heard of Santos but think it’s great he’s done well with children’s lit. I’m trying to think of a couple memoirs I’ve read like this. Maybe The Liars’ Club by Mary Karr … that’s an old one from 1995. I think it’s pretty hard and gritty but I can’t remember it all too well.

    Like

    Reply
    1. kathyvullis1 Avatar
      kathyvullis1

      I had never heard of Gantos either. When I was in my 20’s I read Blue Highways by William Least Heat Moon and he too was at a crossroads in his life although nothing as dramatic as Gantos but it was Blue Highways that gave me a love for this type of memoir.

      Like

      Reply

Leave a reply to kathyvullis1 Cancel reply