(Chelsea Update would like to thank Emily Meloche for this book review.)
Ann Arbor native and Found Magazine creator Davy Rothbart falls in love too often and too easily and because of it, finds himself in unusual (and dangerous) situations. He details a handful of them in a collection of essays, My Heart is an Idiot.
The two strongest essays in the book involve trips to New York.
In “The Human Snowball,” Davy jumps on a Greyhound to Buffalo to surprise a woman who may or may not be his girlfriend and ends up aligning himself with a 110-year-old man trying to reconnect with his daughter.
In “New York, New York,” Davy also finds himself on a bus to New York—this time headed to the city in the week of the 9-11 attacks. Both of these stories end up centering more on Rothbart’s connections with humanity, rather than his connections with a love interest, and it’s there that his writing really shines.
This essay collection is best read over multiple sittings, as the “I do ridiculous things for love” mentality that pervades the book can seem a bit repetitive if taken in all at once. However, Rothbart’s humor, honesty, and zest for life (not to mention a peppering of Ann Arbor references) make it worth reading every page.
Though many may believe that Rothbart’s attitudes and actions are exaggerated for the sake of the stories, I believe them. Six years ago, I briefly met Davy at a fundraising event for the Ann Arbor-based writing center 826michigan. It was my first week as an intern for 826, and I was visibly nervous about the event when Rothbart arrived. He came right up to me, shook my hand, and said, “I’m Davy,” somehow putting me at ease even though I had no idea who this gregarious stranger was.
Later, during the presentation portion of the evening, I looked over and saw Davy sitting cross-legged on the floor (we had run out of chairs), listening intently to a teen’s writing piece with a look of pure joy on his face. A handshake and good listening skills may not be enough to get a true sense of someone’s character, but before I even knew who he was, I could tell that Davy was a person who lived life to its fullest.
His writing in My Heart is an Idiot only confirms that feeling.
