Click here to buy this book! Amazon Lulu Lulu Category:  Young Adult/Teen Publisher: Jack Gunthridge Publishing ISBN-10:  0615254837 Type: Fiction Pages: 108 Copyright: Oct. 4, 2008 ISBN-13: 9780615254838 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.    Life is a love story, but it's not your typical love story.  I mean, there is the typical love story of Jack and Christine.  They are two people who have grown up together and have had to transition from friends to lovers.  They have to learn how to be in love while they have to deal with their strong feelings of desire for each other.  This wouldn't be a problem if they didn't know each other.  The hardest thing in the world is to fall in love with your best friend.  Life is also a love story about parents and children.  I wanted this story to be primarily about Jack and Christine and their relationship, but it is a story about teenagers.  One of the worst things about being a teenager is wanting to be separate from your parents while recognizing that, as much as you hate to admit it, you have elements of your parents in your personality.  Once I grow older, I plan on writing more stories about these characters.  Their perspective on life will change.  That's the nature of life.

AuthorsDen Reviewer Jacqueline Aguilera
There seems to be a part of us that sees our parents in us. We either see their strengths or weaknesses. It is not enough that we are just trying to escape our past, but we are trying to escape our parents’ pasts as well (p75).

Written in a voice so honest and rich that to truly appreciate what is being offered one must experience it, Jack Gunthridge’s Life: An Autobiography As Told By Jack Gunthridge is a modern literary masterpiece. Presented in narrative form, this work reads like having a conversation over coffee with a close friend. Gunthridge invites his reader’s into a time of life when transitions rage as quickly and ferociously as adolescent hormones.

Jack and Christine are linked from birth. In fact, Christine claims she owes her existence to Jack. If it were not for his parents conceiving a child, her competitive father would not have followed suit. Unfortunately for Christine, she is not born a boy, and an early rejection from her father begins an intensely intriguing journey with the opposite sex that contributes to the pain and joy of Jack’s heart.

Interestingly enough, Jack also experiences rejection from his own father, but the rejection is involuntary and arrives in the news that his father is killed by a drunk driver. Gunthridge recalls, “The facts are this. I was about to lose my virginity, when I lost my father instead . . . My father was actually killed by the impact of Lee's car hitting his. His car then burst into flames. The tragedy of this is that the one thing that my father did not want in life was to be cremated.” (p 23).

From their young days playing house to becoming heads of their own households while still in their teenage years, Jack and Christine’s lives are linked, and Christine quickly becomes the love of his life. There is no doubt of his love for Christine, and he bluntly exposes his feelings for her to his readers, taking them by the hand into the heart and soul of the unrequited lover beginning at the age of six.

Unlike so many works where one reads only one version from one voice, even when recounting the voices of others, Gunthridge invites the important players in this journey to add their particular views of his recollections. With equal honesty, we get to know Jack not only from his heart and from the desire of his heart, but also from his best friend Arthur and from Melinda, who loves him as much as he loves Christine and loves him enough to let him be with his happiness.

Much more than simply a story of adolescence, Gunthridge writes in a voice reminiscent of J.D. Salinger. His accounts cross the generation line. If you have ever loved, you will be touched by this work. He crosses the act of love with the past, present and future bringing forth unexpected emotional involvement with his words, ideas and philosophies. He reminds readers why we love in the first place, why we consider the meaning of life, and later, why we examine the meaning of our own existence.

For such powerfully touching words to come from such a young voice is extraordinary. This is not a simple memoir from a high school student, the mere fulfillment of an assignment, another reflection of teenage alienation and loss of innocence. This is a declaration of love for all time, not only for another, but in the end, for one’s self. The ultimate love comes from the self and is expressed only when one is ready for more than passion. It is, as Gunthridge writes, “not a question of love or desire. I am looking at the commitment and how to keep it” (p 92).

This work can easily be read alone or on a Saturday afternoon with the one you love. It can be shared between and across the generations. Gunthridge has given us one of those novels that you pass on to those you care for in your life. His work is an opportunity to experience now what will later be considered a classic. Read Gunthridge’s Life and get a taste of profound writing in its youth and prime, poised to be as influential on the future of literature as the writer himself.

Jacqueline Aguilera, MLA
AuthorsDen.com Reviewer