The Bacons had purchased a new house with a swimming pool, had two new cars, and were raising two preschool kids, all on an income selling mail-order prosthetic limbs out of their garagewhich looked like a morgue of plastic parts. . Terms of Use, By clicking Send Essay, you agree to our . Never preachy, this book instead gives readers a chance to observe Gantos,to draw their own conclusions about his behavior, and, most important, to benefit from his experience. When I look at my face in the photo I see nothing but the pocked mask I was hiding behind. The mistakes the make in the past, helped them fight to what they have become today. Both of these individuals made some drastic mistakes in their lives, but that didnt stop them becoming what they knew they could become. I am grateful for whoever recommended this book to me and will be passing it along to people that I think could benefit from his message. 'These folks zigged when the rest of the world zagged. Gantos, an aspiring writer, runs from writing from every which way and runs right into jail for sailing a boat with two thousand pounds of hash to New York. If you read that sentence you may be turned off but I assure you that this award winning young adult author's "life of crime" was isolated to one time. Every item listed has a ton of 5-star reviews . Living abroad for part of his childhood, Gantos learned how to navigate the world his own way. During my junior year my parents had moved the family from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to San Juan, Puerto Rico. - - ;) . He grew up with the talent and desire for reading . And I look forward to reading his fiction work now. After I sloshed blindly through that mess on all fours, I splattered the bathroom, my bedroom, the bathroom again, my bedroom again, until I passed out in the bathroom with my arms draped around the toilet and my head on the cool rim of the bowl. influenced with living in Fort Lauderdale, San Juan, and . The money was good. The PoliceOutlandos D'Amour 2003 A&M Records LimitedReleased on: 1978-11-02Producer: The Polic. This is a tale of courage and redemption, proving that a bad start in life does not have to lead to a bad life story. The New York Times Book ReviewGantos really is Everyman, but an Everyman who has landed himself into a deeper pit than most. Connections Between E.B Whites Books Stuart Little and Charlottes Web Summary Of The Short Story The Bet Written By Anton Only Daughter By Sandra Cisneros: What Holds Us Back. Jack Gantos is just twenty years old when he gets into trouble with the law. But I was easily able to remind myself: "You never had to consider it." $25.00. Why do you think Gantos was enamored of the life described by Kerouac?What connections do you see between Gantos and Kerouac?n "I have learned this: it is not what one does that is wrong, but what one becomes as a consequence of it." Inner emptiness is caused by self-abandonment -- by not loving yourself. I kept drinking more and more until I discovered I could drink lots of beer. Gantos finds St. Croix fraught with racial tension, with white and black residents at odds over economic inequality. As we examined them, the patients would be telling the guards, "I didn't even know the guy" or (my greatest fear) "I never heard 'em, never saw 'em.". . Throw into the mix our culture's largely ambivalent view of recreational drug use and you have a lost, poor, bright, depressed, self-medicating, big-dreaming teenager making the choices that seem smartest to him at his quite young, immature, unworldly age of 19. In Hole in My Life, this prizewinning author of over thirty books for young people confronts the period of struggle and confinement that marked the end of his own youth. After I had melted my third pair of Klein sidecutters and scorched a number of body parts while working on live wires, I admitted that electrical work was not in my future and I made the decision to get my high school diploma. Those writerly skills are in full evidence here, in this thoughtful and provocative memoir as valuable to those who have never heard of Gantos as to those who have read all of his books. Hyde Park Review of BooksThe ultimate cautionary tale. SmithsonianThis true tale of the worst year in the author's life will be a big surprise for his many fans. But not for long. Synonyms for HOLE: aperture, opening, crevice, orifice, slit, perforation, fissure, crack; Antonyms of HOLE: seal, patch, filling, plug, fill, filler, barrier . Both father and son are forced to work making shipping crates. Gantos used books to comfort himself in times of trouble,to distract him from his problems. In turn, he stalks dead writers instead of developing his own writing craft, tracing the footsteps of various . The book received positive reviews from Kirkus Reviews[5] and Publishers Weekly.[6]. Questions such as these are central to the study of how individuals develop from youth to adulthood. I was always surprised at how many people from such a small town had been in prison. Stepping off the boat, Jack began to feel uneasy about the trip, and simply wanted . I had my own TV. "Hole in my Life" pulls the reader out of stereotypical views of criminals. This Study Guide consists of approximately 32 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Hole in My Life. Jack Gantos is a man who does not easily give up on his goals. Like most kids, I was aware that the world was filled with dangerous people, yet I wasn't certain I could always spot them coming. Chapter-by-chapter summaries and multiple sections of expert analysis, The ultimate resource for assignments, engaging lessons, and lively book discussions. Downey was on parole and at the time, he was under the influence of heroin. In The Intern, Ben Whittaker (Robert De Niro) is having troubles filling his days now that he's retired so he applies for a senior internship program at an up and coming e-commerce fashion company. Hole in My Life Topics for Discussion. I was overmatched. BOOK TALK | HOLE IN MY LIFE BY JACK GANTOS - YouTube. Today, Robert Downey Jr. is one of the worlds most known actors. My dad fixed me up with the electrical subcontractor on his construction project, and right away I found myself wiring hotel rooms. As the trio near the end of the drug haul, Gantos chooses between using his share of the profits to attend to his dream of joining a creative writing program or accepting Riks offer for another smuggling job. Crazy Interview Questions. What do students think the story will be about?Does the photo of Gantos facing the title page give any clue as to his identity? Your number could come up anywhere, anytimein the dark of night while you slept in a dormitory with a hundred other men, or in full daylight on the exercise field while you strolled in the sun. This was ideal. After five years of dealing with substance abuse and rehab, Robert was ready to change his life for the better. The story moves back and forth in time, starting with Gantos describing his mug shot, and the circumstances of his incarceration. How does this quote from Oscar Wilde (found on the epigraph page) reflect the major theme of this book?How does Gantos change as a result of what he has done wrong? Gantos youth is measured by the many excuses he comes up with to avoid hard work. The two survive a stop to find the hash hidden by Rik, and Gantos endears himself to the crew of a Japanese fishing trawler. It takes forever to find a way out. The biography serves as much as a lesson to readers in how Gantos turns his own life around as it does the story of how Gantos developed his writing style. But it wasn't perfect. In Hole in My Life, this prizewinning author of over thirty books for young people confronts the period of struggle and confinement that marked the end of his own youth. It's the greatest, and not reading it is more foolish than Jack Gantos trying to smuggle drugs into the U.S. at nineteen. In Section 1, Chapter 1, Jack Gantos admits the prisoner photograph on the front cover of the book is him, taken when he was how old? Unfortunately for Jack, hes was caught by the FBI and sent to prison. . And I know how crazy that must sound to people who do real jobs.\" Copeland did however cite the August 18 show at Shea Stadium as the peak of \"Policemania\": \"Playing Shea Stadium was big because, even though I'm a septic tank (rhyming slang for 'Yank'), The Police is an English band and I'm a Londoner an American Londoner so it felt like conquering America.\"The November 2 and 3 shows in Atlanta were filmed and recorded for a live album and DVD.\"Hole in my Life\" is the fourth track from the debut studio album by The Police titled \"Outlandos d'Amour\" recorded at Surrey Sound Studios in Leatherhead, Surrey in the south of England between January \u0026 June 1978 and released on November 2, 1978. Some may find fault with the reasoning he employs, or even question the reliablity of the narrator, but the sweep of the narrative leads the reader to a good place in the end. "All these old people come down here with prosthetics that look like something whittled out of a baseball bat. . Jack Gantos's memoir, despite being promoted as the story of one big mistake is really an exploration of how a string of small mistakes can land you somewhere you never wanted to go. I walk down the same street. I was nineteen, still stuck in high school, and I wasn't living at home. For his part in the conspiracy, Gantos was sentenced to serve up to six years in prison. The story 'Bet' was written by Chekhov in 1888, six years before his death. This was a life quite unlike those of many other children. When he was a young boy his father always tried to show him who was a criminal and characteristics they had. He probably didn't want the level of violence and sex among both prisoners and guards to be documented. I read this quickly and with moderate interest as to what would happen to young Jack in his journeys, both literal (as he ferried drugs) and figurative. I met Jack Gantos back in the early to mid '90's when he was an instructor in Emerson College's MFA program. Personal identity is shaped by one's culture, by groups,and by institutional influences. Joey Pigza is a boy with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), featured in five . The family next movesto St. Croix, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, but allows Gantos himself to stay behind to finish high school. Seriously can't believe how innocent Jack Gantos was and it led to this story. Cardboard; content, author notes. This book isn't as well-known as it should be. I made a lot of mistakes, and went to jail, but I wasn't on the road to ruin like everybody said. Except me. Jack Gantos's life. Jack Gantos, Hole in My Life. Click on Remote Playlists. The highly acclaimed author, Jack Gantos, is also known for many other books including the Jack Henry and Joey Pigza series, the Rotten Ralph picture books and early reading books, and two Norvelt novels called, Dead End in Norvelt (winner of a Newberry . After reading it I would say it belongs in a high school library because of the drug references, prison violence, and prison rape. In "Hole in My Life," Gantos is offered ten thousand dollars cash to sail two thousand pounds of hash to New York. My mom and my older sister were all for it; my younger brothers were ready to live like surfer boys. Gantos discovers the prosecuting attorney has evidence from the Virgin Islandsto New Jersey to New York, all directly implicating Gantos. This project turns into a proposal: Rik offers Gantos a job smuggling the drugs to New York. Gantos has his 10K in hand when a bunch of feds bust into his hotel and take his partner into custody. It shows that humans are willing to change to stop a preventable mistake we deal with in todays age. Emotionally, emptiness is a feeling of inner desolation: a complete absence of joy, hope, or satisfaction. 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