At their core, they are about what most personal essays are about: finding love, purpose, and understanding. His essays delve into each of the above topics with honesty and nuance, unfurling a lifetime’s worth of mistakes, anger, and search for meaning. You’d be forgiven for having high expectations of groundbreaking revelations, especially for a book that promises to explore the possibility of “a more far-reaching vision of masculinity.” The material is there: a LOT has happened to Fitzgerald, and he approaches each chapter of his life with kindness and a genuine care for the truth. These elements provide substantial fodder for a series of books, and so the promise of a collection is intriguing.ĭirtbag, Massachusetts also sports perhaps the most star-studded endorsement quote line-up I’ve ever seen: praise from Roxane Gay, Min Jin Lee, Marlon James and Emma Straub crowd its cover, calling it “a revelation,” “a diamond of a memoir,” and “a wondrously crafted confessional.” These confessional stories explore the many facets of one man’s identity with warmth and honesty, painting a fascinating picture of rough childhood escapades and tentative debauchery.įitzgerald reveals layer after layer of his life throughout the essays: growing up in a dysfunctional family ( "My parents were married when they had me, just to different people.") his experiences with faith and the Catholic church his undying love for bars and drinking culture a stint in a BDSM porn compound how a search for purpose landed him smuggling medical supplies into Burma and his never-ending battle with body dysmorphia.
Dirtbag, Massachusetts: A Confessional (2022) is a collection of biographical essays on self-discovery by Brooklyn-based writer Isaac Fitzgerald.
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