My Heart Is an Idiot
By Davy Rothbart
It’s no accident that “heart” is in the title of this essay collection from Farrar, Straus and Giroux. The author is sensitive and romantic to a fault as he travels the United States, meeting people and having madcap adventures. But, to his credit, he plumbs every situation, no matter how disastrous, for humor. In the best essay, he exacts revenge on a writing-contest scammer by stalking the con artist, armed with bottles of his own piss, which he eventually lobs at the culprit. Rothbart’s wide-eyed enthusiasm wears a little thin, but his stories—of waking up naked in a park, or sharing a swimming pool with a dead body—rarely fail to engage.
