Dumbfounded: A Memoir

by: Matt Rothschild

Published by: Crown Publishers

Reviewed by Gene Hayworth

The tone of Matt Rothschild’s new memoir, Dumbfounded, falls somewhere between the demented, sidesplitting satire of David Sedaris and the earnest pathos of Augusten Burroughs. Like Burroughs’ memoirm Running With Scissors, Dumbfounded is a coming-of-age story told by a boy who has been both emotionally and physically abandoned by his mother.

Helen Rothschild left her son with her Jewish parents—her sharp-tongued, independent mother, and her gentle, ailing father, a man who worries so much about the family’s reputation that he bristles at the notion of riding in their white Rolls Royce after Labor Day. The family dynamic provides for entertaining analysis.

The vignettes that make up Dumbfounded evoke mixed emotions. Though only loosely chronological, the stories are embellished with vivid descriptions of Rothschild’s youth and his teenage development. It is tempting to slide into a kind of rueful sympathy for the young boy when learning about his effort to emulate Judy Garland, singing “Get Happy” without accompaniment at a high school talent show. After his best friend Elaine coaxes Matt to participate in a shoplifting spree, then abandons him to face the punishment alone, the reader is torn between anger and amusement. The impenetrable suffering of first love is sweetly depicted in a chapter about a one-sided boarding school romance.

The book’s most moving accounts describe how Rothschild faces his grandmother’s Alzheimer’s disease, and how he wins the affection of an awkward, anti-social student shortly after taking his first job as a kindergarten teacher.

Dumbfounded successfully weighs the foibles of adolescence, the craving to belong, and the fear of failure, all against the hard lessons of growing up and accepting responsibility. Anyone who has suffered the childhood taunts of bullies, or longed for independence from authority, will find satisfaction in reading about Rothschild’s roller coaster journey.

Armchair Interviews says: A memoir with a theme familiar to many people.