The first few chapters cover the author’s childhood, from a homeless period in Boston, when his parents depended on the Catholic church for help, (he loses faith in the church because of the predatory priest scandal) to a move to a working-class town in central Massachusetts where he became, for a short period, “the fat kid.” We move onto his tough early teen years of drugs, early sex, and fights. Fitzgerald is now successful and happy but he remains emotionally vulnerable and he explains why in Dirtbag. My brother who was apparently physically abused by my mother - who was an undiagnosed manic depressive and subject to shock treatments - moved to northern Maine in his twenties and never came back, not even for the funerals of our parents.

Of course, this is the age of victimhood, isn’t it? Who among us hasn’t suffered or been attacked or abused or been done wrong? I have. If you find yourself nodding along with that sentiment - and you are in the market for life lessons - this is the volume for you. In the concluding chapter, Fitzgerald tells us: “My hope is that you’ll take one thing away from all this, maybe the only life lesson I’ve learned: Do not put off acknowledging your pain.” The suffering.” So Fitzgerald offers readers a voyeuristic reward by sharing his pain. “At some point, if we’ve grown close, I’ll reward you by breaking down and crying over dinner, detailing the pain. “You might come here Sunday on a whim, / Say your life broke down.” (“Degrees of Gray in Philipsburg”). He responded to his past the way a lot of comedians respond to their pain, with a kind of cynical humor. Hugo remained humble and surprised at his late life success and happiness. He sees the world from the perspective of someone who was victimized - in Fitzgerald’s case by a physically abusive father and a needy, emotionally abusive mother. In some vague way, the Grubskis degraded you/ beyond repair.” Apply this to Fitzgerald, but for “the Grubskis” substitute “your parents.” Like Hugo, Fitzgerald goes on to become quite successful and, like Hugo, he had an unhappy childhood. In his poem “What Thou Lovest Well, Remains American,” the poet Richard Hugo writes “You blame this neighborhood for your failure. Dirtbag, Massachusetts (a name a friend of his gave to a town in Massachusetts) is a collection of essays in which he focuses on periods of his life from early childhood to the present.

Intermittently, when speaking, he puts his hand on his heart. His demeanor is enthusiastic, his personality bubbly. He appears on The Today Show and recommends books. Isaac Fitzgerald is a literary celebrity. Essayist Isaac Fitzgerald sees the world from the perspective of someone who was victimized - in his case, by a physically abusive father and a needy, emotionally abusive mother.ĭirtbag, Massachusetts, A Confessional by Isaac Fitzgerald.

Dirtbag massachusetts review