description: "I find myself moving like a knife, carving my way around people, cutting myself out of their picture and leaving nothing of myself behind but a hole." A gaping hole of misery is what popular young adult author Jack Gantos remembers when he thinks back to 1972, "the bleakest year of my life." Just 20 years old, Gantos was in a medium security prison for his participation in a get-rich-quick drug scam. Scared silly by the violence he saw around him daily, Gantos's only lifeline was a battered copy of The Brothers Karamazov, which he painstakingly turned into an impromptu journal by scratching his own thoughts into the tiny spaces between the lines. There, he recorded both his fears and his dream of someday writing a book of his own. Before prison, Gantos had penned a scattered myriad of journals, but had never been able to pull them together into a cohesive narrative. It was during his time behind bars that he found himself growing into a focused, diligent writer who eschewed drugs for the bigger high of watching his words fill the hole once and for all.  Gantos, best known for his award-winning Joey Pigza titles, mines darker material here that is as deeply compelling as his lighter fare. Using short, meaty sentences, Gantos manages to write in a way that dismisses the dubious "romance" of prison, drugs, and "life on the edge" without ever sounding didactic or heavy-handed. Older teens will appreciate his candor and sheer willingness to give them the straight story. Vigorously recommended. (Ages 13 and older) --Jennifer Hubert
language: English
title: Hole In My Life
titlecomplete: Hole In My Life
characters: Jack Gantos
genres: Audiobook, Crime, Young Adult, School, Coming Of Age, Adult, Teen, High School, Biography Memoir, Fiction
ratings_count: 7742
places: The United States of America
awards: awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: Sibert Medal, awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: Massachusetts Book Award
category: Children's/Young Adult Literature, awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: Michael L. Printz Award, awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Rhode Island Teen Book Award, awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: Lincoln Award
publisher: Listening Library