Life [Hardcover]

Jack Gunthridge (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 4, 2008

They have an unspeakable secret, an irreversible regret, an unreachable dream, and an unforgettable love. When he was a senior in high school, Jack was asked to write an autobiography. The purpose of the assignment was to examine his past to see how he came to where he is in his life today, and then he would have an idea of where he wanted to go with his life once he graduated from high school. What he discovered was that he did not define his life. His life was defined by his relationship with Christine. They have been friends, neighbors, and sometimes lovers. They have been there for each other during the worst times of their lives. They have made mistakes, but they have tried to learn from them. Their lives are one. Now if they could only get their relationship right. Life is a story about a boy who defines himself through a woman as he is trying to become a man.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Telling the story from two voices is a great idea. Now you need a story for them to tell. Playing house, breaking her arm, having milk spill from her nose just isn't fascinating enough to stand on its own. --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Amazon.com Review

A very appealing account of what it means to be young, smart, and Jewish. Despite the flippancy, I feel real emotions here, a seriousness of purpose, and some real adolescent confusion that still needs to be worked out. I would certainly buy this book as a present for a teenager. --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 260 pages
• Publisher: Jack Gunthridge Publishing (October 4, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0615254837
• ISBN-13: 978-0615254838
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,003,388 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jack Gunthridge was born August 8, 1978 in Salem, Missouri. As a child, he was surrounded by art, literature, and music and was encouraged by his parents to pursue artistic forms of expression. When he was in the seventh grade, he started to write the screenplay that his novel "Life" is based on.

Although he is becoming known as an "author", he is more comfortable defining himself as a writer/director or filmmaker. In a world that likes to clearly separate the arts, Jack Gunthridge has been influenced by art, music, literature, movies, and television.

He graduated from Bowling Green State University in 2001 with a BA in Art History and Film Studies. Since that time, he has maintained his own production company, which has produced "The Gunthridge Show" and "Fairy Tale Romance" (winner of Best Experimental Film at the 2007 Pumelo International Film Festival in Mumbai, India).

He is currently working on the third season of "The Gunthridge Show" as well as his next novel.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A truly great book, March 25, 2010

By 

Jeff Schafer (Bowling Green, OH) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: 2010 ABNA Quarterfinalist 11 (Kindle Edition)

I should probably start off this review by saying that I am not the world's greatest reader. I've read the Twilight books because some girls I knew wanted me to. They then yelled at me because I didn't read them fast enough. I think it took me more than a month to read each book. They are now yelling at me for not having finished reading all of the Harry Potter books yet.

Anyway, when a friend gave me a copy of Life to read, I was able to read it in a day and a half. I actually enjoyed reading it and couldn't put it down. It's a smart, funny, and realistic book about a couple and their feelings for each other.

I think one of the things that I liked most about it was that it's a love story that guys can read. I don't have to hear about how hot some guy is. It makes me feel good that a girl could like me for just having a normal body. And I liked how Jack loves Christine, even though she clearly has issues. It's hard sometimes to get the person you love to understand why you love them. I think my favorite part was actually when Christine was writing about Jack. I liked hearing what she thought of him and why she did the things she did. If both of them are confused about the opposite sex, it was just nice to hear it.

And it is nice to have a book that I can discuss with my guy friends and female friends without feeling like less of a man.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jack Gunthridge at his best, March 25, 2010

By 

Brian Reynolds - See all my reviews

This review is from: Life (Paperback)

I have been a fan of Jack Gunthridge for awhile now. He is a very meticulous and deliberate comedian, who is not afraid to do certain jokes, even if they take a little bit of time to set up. Part of what makes him great is his ability to set up jokes beautifully, and then come out of left field with a one liner that fits perfectly with the situation, but also is unexpected. This makes his work fun and exciting. Just when you think you know what to expect, he throws you off in a logically unexpected way.

Life is an interesting entry in his works. It is more serious than Thursday or Fairy Tale Romance, which are more firmly established as true comedies. Life is funny, but not really a romantic comedy. And it can't really be called a romance novel or a love story. It's about growing up and being in love, but it doesn't fit in a genre. It is as if you took the seriousness of a drama and combined it with an episode of Seinfeld. Personal tragedies and heartaches are combined with everyday life in a touching and funny story. This is his most stylistically mature work to date. He proves that he is more than just a comedian with this book. He is a great artist and scholar of human nature.

As I am filling this out, Amazon is asking me to tag this book as a children's book. This is not a children's book. The book delves into the depths of emotions, desires, and hormones of being a teenager. It never gets worse than a PG-13 movie, but Jack Gunthridge has pushed the envelope more with this book than he has with any of his other works.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Life - An interesting look into the mind of a teenager, March 30, 2010

By 

S. Shinabery (Bowling Green, OH USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Life (Paperback)

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a fast reader, and if I book doesn't hook me within the first few pages or even sentences, I won't read it at all. With Life, I couldn't put it down. Gunthridge puts you right in the story; you feel for everything that goes on within his finespun teenage life.

The book starts off with a rather unconventional look at the birth of a human life. No one wants to think of their parents having sex, so Jack prefers to think of his emergence into this world to be a virgin birth. Honestly, I had never thought to look at it that way and right then, I knew Jack had an interesting mind to share with the world. Most of Gunthridge's book deals with the hot and cold relationship of Jack and Christine. Jack is a sentimental boy, lovestruck over Christine. Christine, having experienced a tumultuous childhood, has the proverbial "daddy issues". Together, these two young people have to work through their issues to strengthen their relationship.

Gunthridge's high school autobiography fits somewhere in between the psychological ramblings of Salinger's Holden Caulfield and the beautifully written letters of Chobsky's Charlie. Life trades in an action-packed storyline for a cerebral romp straight through the teenage mind of Jack Gunthridge that I found very much enjoyable from a reader's standpoint.