Brooklyn Bookbeat: Writer confesses to screw-ups in ‘Public Apology’
I imagine it’s hard to find a book that is as unique and funny and sad and true as Dave Bry’s debut memoir, “Public Apology: In Which a Man Grapples with a Lifetime of Regret, One Incident at a Time” (Grand Central Publishing Hardcover; March 19, 2013). It’s not often that someone so willingly lays themselves at your feet, exposing all of their faults and past wrong-doings. It may be intimidating and unnerving to face such earnestness. But let me reassure you, this book is funny, too!
I’m sure you’ll laugh at Dave’s throwing beer cans on John Bon Jovi’s lawn in protest of their shared New Jersey heritage. And you may even relate to how Dave’s sincere love of Led Zeppelin resulted in his singing the last verse of “Stairway to Heaven” into Wendy Metzger’s ear while slow dancing in junior high. You may blush at his collegiate hubris when he compares Miles Davis’ “Kind of Blue” to Bob Seger’s “Turn the Page” in a History of Jazz class, remembering your own moments of infinite adolescent wisdom.
“Public Apology” can be touching in its innocent regrets, like when Dave fails to kiss the Girl from California and later, after she’s gone back home, learns he could have. Or when he wore sweatpants on his first date with his future wife. It can also be heartbreaking when Dave neglects to hear his cancer-ridden father call out for help one fateful afternoon. You may find yourself hating twenty-something Dave for being so irresponsible, and constantly drunk or high or both, and often heartless to the women in his life. But all those emotions are worth it, because you will find yourself loving the imperfect thirty-something Dave who stands before you.