Community Corner

Author Dave Bry is Sorry, Shrewsbury

The author goes through life growing up in the suburbs and regret

Maybe it was the drunken teenage rampage through the Shrewsbury Borough School in 1985, or perhaps it was the rocks he threw at a house a few years later. It might have been the vodka-fueled race that followed through neighborhood backyards, with the homeowner in hot pursuit.

Whatever it was that triggered the itch to make apologies for the myriad gaffes and indiscretions he's made throughout his life, many while growing up in Little Silver, author Dave Bry just wants you to know he's sorry. Really.

His new book, Public Apology: In Which a Man Grapples With a Lifetime of Regret, One Incident at a Time, published last week, is based on the column he's been writing for The Awl since 2009 that enumerates the never ending slip-ups he's made for which he's sorry. An essay from the memoir appeared in the Lives column on the back page of the Sunday New York Times Magazine in March.

Find out what's happening in Red Bank-Shrewsburywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

His essays begin as letters, as in "Dear Bon Jovi" (he's sorry he threw a beer can on his lawn).

Bry will read from Public Apology at River Road Books, located at 759 River Rd. in Fair Haven, on Thursday, April 11 at 7:30 p.m. 

Find out what's happening in Red Bank-Shrewsburywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Bry, 42, says that looking back, growing up in Little Silver was the "cliched happy childhood." But at the time, "I was a nerd and it bothered me a lot," he adds of his Markham Place years.

"My thoughts about Little Silver and suburbia got pretty dim during high school," says Bry, who graduated from Red Bank Regional, "and I felt bored and stifled.

"I was sure I'd move out and never come back," he added.

As he and his friends got older, Bry says he was surprised by how many of his friends moved back to the area. "I thought, 'Who would want to live like their parents?'"

But over time, his view has "softened." He says, "I see the advantages more now than I did at 18."

Now he lives in Brooklyn with his wife and school-aged son and is beginning to see the merits of life in a place like Little Silver. For instance, he's sorry he doesn't have a backyard with trees and thinks raising a child in the suburbs would be a little less of a "struggle" than trying to do so in the city.

"What I liked about the city is that every minute was a struggle," Bry explains. "But just having a kid is a struggle."

Bry spends his days as a freelance writer and is the features editor for XXL Magazine, which covers hip hop and rap music.

His mom moved out of town a few years ago, so now he stays with friends in the area for visits and trips to the beach. One of those old friends is Karen Rumage, a former Markham and RBR classmate, who's hosting a reading this week at the River Road Bookstore, of which she is a part owner.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here