Social Sciences
![Isaac Fitzgerald - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_a_isaac_fitzgerald.jpg)
Dirtbag, Massachusetts: A Confessional
"The best of what memoir can accomplish... pulling no punches on the path to truth, but it always finds the capacity for grace and joy." –Esquire, "Best Memoirs of the Year"
A TIME Best Book of the Summer * A Rolling Stone Top Culture Pick * A Publishers Weekly Best Memoir of the Season * A Buzzfeed Book Pick * A Goodreads Readers' Most Anticipated Book * A Chicago Tribune Book Pick * A Boston.com Book You Should Read * A Los Angeles Times Book to Add to Your Reading List
Isaac Fitzgerald has lived many lives. He's been an altar boy, a bartender, a fat kid, a smuggler, a biker, a prince of New England. But before all that, he was a bomb that exploded his parents' lives-or so he was told. In Dirtbag, Massachusetts, Fitzgerald, with warmth and humor, recounts his ongoing search for forgiveness, a more far-reaching vision of masculinity, and a more expansive definition of family and self.
Fitzgerald's memoir-in-essays begins with a childhood that moves at breakneck speed from safety to violence, recounting an extraordinary pilgrimage through trauma to self-understanding and, ultimately, acceptance. From growing up in a Boston homeless shelter to bartending in San Francisco, from smuggling medical supplies into Burma to his lifelong struggle to make peace with his body, Fitzgerald strives to take control of his own story: one that aims to put aside anger, isolation, and entitlement to embrace the idea that one can be generous to oneself by being generous to others.
Gritty and clear-eyed, loud-hearted and beautiful, Dirtbag, Massachusetts is a rollicking book that might also be a lifeline.
A TIME Best Book of the Summer * A Rolling Stone Top Culture Pick * A Publishers Weekly Best Memoir of the Season * A Buzzfeed Book Pick * A Goodreads Readers' Most Anticipated Book * A Chicago Tribune Book Pick * A Boston.com Book You Should Read * A Los Angeles Times Book to Add to Your Reading List
Isaac Fitzgerald has lived many lives. He's been an altar boy, a bartender, a fat kid, a smuggler, a biker, a prince of New England. But before all that, he was a bomb that exploded his parents' lives-or so he was told. In Dirtbag, Massachusetts, Fitzgerald, with warmth and humor, recounts his ongoing search for forgiveness, a more far-reaching vision of masculinity, and a more expansive definition of family and self.
Fitzgerald's memoir-in-essays begins with a childhood that moves at breakneck speed from safety to violence, recounting an extraordinary pilgrimage through trauma to self-understanding and, ultimately, acceptance. From growing up in a Boston homeless shelter to bartending in San Francisco, from smuggling medical supplies into Burma to his lifelong struggle to make peace with his body, Fitzgerald strives to take control of his own story: one that aims to put aside anger, isolation, and entitlement to embrace the idea that one can be generous to oneself by being generous to others.
Gritty and clear-eyed, loud-hearted and beautiful, Dirtbag, Massachusetts is a rollicking book that might also be a lifeline.
Editorial Reviews
"Fitzgerald nestles comfortably on a bar stool beside writers like Kerouac, Bukowski, Richard Price and Pete Hamill…The book's charm is in its telling of male misbehavior and, occasionally, the things we men get right. The fights nearly all come with forgiveness. It is about the ways men struggle to make sense of themselves and the romance men too often find in the bottom of a bottle of whiskey... an endearing and tattered catalog of one man's transgressions and the ways in which it is our sins, far more than our virtues, that make us who we are." - New York Times Book Review
"Isaac Fitzgerald's memoir-in-essays is a bighearted read infused with candor, sharp humor, and the hope that comes from discovering saints can be found in all sorts of places." - Rolling Stone, "Top Culture Picks of the Month"
"Dirtbag, Massachusetts is the best of what memoir can accomplish. It's blisteringly honest and vulnerable, pulling no punches on the path to truth, but it always finds the capacity for grace and joy." - Esquire, "Best Memoirs of the Year"
"Told without piety or violin strains of uplift, but rather, an embrace of the chaos of just getting by." - Chicago Tribune, "Books for Summer 2022: Our Picks"
"Fitzgerald reflects on his origins―and coming to terms with self-consciousness, anger, and strained family relationships. His writing is gritty yet vulnerable." - TIME, "27 New Books You Need to Read This Summer"
"Fitzgerald never stopped searching for a community that would embrace him. That search took him from San Francisco to Burma (now Myanmar), and he candidly shares the formative experiences that helped him put aside anger to live with acceptance and understanding." - Washington Post, "12 Noteworthy Books for July"
"[Fitzgerald] reflects on how his journey has both formed him as a man and helped to change his views of masculinity, race and identity. And while his recollections are pervaded by considerations of manliness, he never shuts out other genders or ways of being." - Los Angeles Times
"Equal parts illuminating and poignant, Fitzgerald's essays attempt to untangle what it means to be a man in this world and in his own body." - Buzzfeed, "Summer Books You Won't Be Able To Put Down"
"A modern look at what it's like to feel lost in America… he manages to handle these indisputably heavy subjects with clear-ey...
"Isaac Fitzgerald's memoir-in-essays is a bighearted read infused with candor, sharp humor, and the hope that comes from discovering saints can be found in all sorts of places." - Rolling Stone, "Top Culture Picks of the Month"
"Dirtbag, Massachusetts is the best of what memoir can accomplish. It's blisteringly honest and vulnerable, pulling no punches on the path to truth, but it always finds the capacity for grace and joy." - Esquire, "Best Memoirs of the Year"
"Told without piety or violin strains of uplift, but rather, an embrace of the chaos of just getting by." - Chicago Tribune, "Books for Summer 2022: Our Picks"
"Fitzgerald reflects on his origins―and coming to terms with self-consciousness, anger, and strained family relationships. His writing is gritty yet vulnerable." - TIME, "27 New Books You Need to Read This Summer"
"Fitzgerald never stopped searching for a community that would embrace him. That search took him from San Francisco to Burma (now Myanmar), and he candidly shares the formative experiences that helped him put aside anger to live with acceptance and understanding." - Washington Post, "12 Noteworthy Books for July"
"[Fitzgerald] reflects on how his journey has both formed him as a man and helped to change his views of masculinity, race and identity. And while his recollections are pervaded by considerations of manliness, he never shuts out other genders or ways of being." - Los Angeles Times
"Equal parts illuminating and poignant, Fitzgerald's essays attempt to untangle what it means to be a man in this world and in his own body." - Buzzfeed, "Summer Books You Won't Be Able To Put Down"
"A modern look at what it's like to feel lost in America… he manages to handle these indisputably heavy subjects with clear-ey...
Readers Top Reviews
G. Bestick
The section of north central Massachusetts where Isaac Fitzgerald spent a good chunk of his youth has stopped manufacturing textiles but seems to manufacture memoir writers. Jack Kerouac grew up in the area. Andre Dubus III published the well-received Townie, practically a prequel to Fitzgerald's own story. Fitzgerald grew up in the eighties and nineties, so he experienced that generation's version of sex, drugs and rock and roll. He had a difficult childhood, and has spent a lot of adult energy trying to understand and move past it. He fled to San Francisco, and some of the best parts of the book chronicle the rebels and beautiful losers he met there. Besides the usual drinking and drugging, Fitzgerald did some out-of --the-box stuff, such as smuggling medical supplies to Burmese insurgents and acting in porn films. The book is organized as a series of essays that add up to a life. in this format, some ground is re-travelled or presented out of sequence, but these aren't show stoppers. What comes across are Fitzgerald's pain and mordant humor, his caring for others, and his honorable attempts to define manhood in a way that works for him and the people he loves. Much anticipated and heavily blurbed, this memoir doesn't rise to the literary heights of a Charles Bukowski or Frank McCourt, but it's worth reading, especially for men who grew up in Fitzgerald's generation and struggle, as we all do, to figure out why we're here and where we fit in.
C
This book is probably best summarized like this: A memoir in a collection of essays, with many painful and dark subjects, but told by a very funny writer who can somehow make you smile too, sometimes. The book consists of 12 individual essays that cover various events and experiences in Fitzgerald’s life. He has a very casual, funny, sarcastic writing style; and even when he is recalling some very difficult times or personal trauma, he can still add in some witty barbs or amusing lines. He is a great storyteller, and many of these stories would seem even more sad, if he hadn’t included some humor to lighten the mood. Some of the “chapters” are more dark and painful, as you can tell that Fitzgerald hasn’t fully forgiven his parents for his difficult childhood; while other chapters are lighter and more humorous, like the haircuts essay. Overall, I enjoyed this book. Fitzgerald covers many different experiences; from growing up without a house and helping others in the community, to abuse and body images issues, uncomfortable church experiences, starting a Fight Club, bars in San Francisco and living in Thailand. Each essay/chapter starts with a great hook sentence, that draws you in and piques your interest. I enjoyed his sense of humor and appreciated his sharing such personal stories. All in all, an interesting and entertaining memoir.
