DIRTBAG, MASSACHUSETTS: A CONFESSIONAL (2022), by Isaac Fitzgerald. Meh. Mildly interesting memoir of a poor kid neglected by his angry parents, who drugs and drinks and screws around with his equally poor pals, but he's smart, gets into a boarding school, drugs and drinks with his rich classmates, goes to college in D.C., works crappy jobs on both coasts, has some favorite bars, blah, blah, blah. Not a very wise or even likeable guy. So finally, after 140 pages of this, I lost interest and put it down for good, glad it was a library book and not one I'd paid for. DIRTBAG indeed. Not recommended.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER ( )

This was a fairly entertaining memoir, but for two reasons the book didn't fully add up for me. Let's start with the author; he's a good writer and has some impressive bylines, but is not super notable. I first noticed him when pre-Musk Twitter thoroughly roasted him for this "Only in New York!" tweet that is anything but*. So I was a bit confused at the front end as to why I should consider this in my reading list; after taking the jump and completing it, I'm still not sure.

The second concern is how all this adds up to a notable experience. His family struggles and adolescent struggles and alcohol struggles and professional identity struggles were relatable and honestly told, and there are some truly enjoyable bits. Fitzgerald is spot on that being a bar regular is a grounding experience that you can return to even when you no longer live in that favorite city of your 20s and are only back visiting. Still, I would have liked a tighter theme that laced all of his experiences in the book together.

*My partner's family ran a bodega in Hialeah, Florida and they would have sold some loose butter to a regular in need in a second, as would plenty of bodegas/delis/corner stores with hot food in most places. The quote tweets on his original tweet are kind of brutal, but they do explode this notion that he is having some unique urban experience. ( )

well this was a fun read! well fun in a messy, honest and sad all at the same time type of fun. Fitzgerald was sooooo honest and it was beautiful and this collection of essays was the best. i wanted to hug him at times and other times i wanted punch him in the chest. Fitzgerald is somebody that i would love to meet at a bar and talk all night about everything and anything ( )

Pretty standard type of memoir, but very well written. His style of writing reminds me a lot of Anthony Bourdain. Not so much composed as conversational. I wish he'd named the "north central" town, but it's a small one (all of them there are) so it probably would have caused someone some issues. He apparently also lived right around the corner from me in South End, so it's possible our paths crossed, but I have a feeling he was really young at the time, so probably not.

Excellent read. ( )

As a Masshole myself, it's hard to see what all the fuss is all about here. If you aren’t, and you think that everyone from our Commonwealth sups with silver spoons and attends Harvard as a legacy admission, maybe you'll be amazed and impressed by this novel. Plot: cis white man overcomes miserable home life in miserable central MA with miserably confused and mildly abusive parents, escapes temporarily into a boarding school, and lives to find a life as a drunk in the bars of San Francisco. There's hardly a woman mentioned in the entire book (probably better for all cis females). The two final chapters were a vast improvement over the rest. In one, Isaac, his sister, and their father climb Mt. Kilimanjaro on a whim. In the final chapter, Isaac receives valuable advice from a friend on how to avoid offending other dirtbags by reframing the alienating concept of white privilege. The author writes well but for me, the whole effort was neither thought-provoking nor notable on any level.

Quotes: "Not once did I like what I saw in the mirror whenever I saw myself in it."

"He'd been discussing privilege with his white friends back home and hit on using the word "blessings" instead. He knew it wasn't a perfect match, but it had helped some people get used to the idea - after they'd been talking a bit - before he substituted "privilege" back in. He told me that he'd had more than one friend come around." ( )