Dumbfounded by Matt Rothschild

Rothschild, Matt. Dumbfounded.
Crown see Random, 2008, 301p, $23.95, 978-0-307-40542-5

In Matt Rothschild’s memoir, Dumbfounded, we are confronted with a challenge to decipher. Is this book autobiographical? Is it purely fiction? Does it lie somewhere in between? Truthfully, it is so entertaining that we jump from page to page, hardly believing the stories that Matt tells us about the poor little rich boy, raised by wealthy Jewish grandparents. Yet, we come aboard and are drawn into each chapter as Matt describes the comedic horrors of growing up in New York’s East Side. It’s an oxymoron! Indeed, Matt is loved. He survives. He grows up with the right values. His grandparents are real people, demonstrating the tolerance and friendship necessary to create longevity in their marriage. Matt sees this and it becomes part of him. On the other hand, Matt describes his family as dysfunctional. Yes, his own mother has rejected him. And, yes, he questions his bizarre upbringing in each and every chapter of the memoir. We laugh, we feel and we believe. Rothschild’s characters are so very real. First, there is his best friend Elaine, again an oxymoron, as Elaine hopped into her limousine with a bag of toys from FAO Schwarz, leaving Matt at the door to take the rap for shoplifting. There is Mike, the captain of the lacrosse team who poured super glue into the teacher’s shoes, leaving Matt to take the blame and to be expelled. Second, there is a neglectful mother who only reached out to Matt for her own selfish reasons. She was bereft of personality as to intentionally exclude Matt from his grandmother’s funeral, despite that fact that his grandmother was his life. Finally, there is Matt’s grandmother, an abrasive, sarcastic, opinionated fighter of everything normal in life. From her we learn that it takes all kinds to raise a child to become a happy, productive adult. At times, the humor is subtle; other times, it is blatant.
This book is for the more sophisticated reader making it a good selection for a high school library or a public library. MS