WHAT'S WRONG WITH THAT MAN'S HEAD

In Heath’s essay collection, a suburban dentist shares embarrassing moments and comic situations.

“What’s wrong with that man’s head?” a small girl in the supermarket once asked about Heath, who was sporting orthodontic headgear at the time; he was also the town dentist. The book seems to embrace this question as a comment on the author’s odd notions, which sometimes put him in absurd situations. He tells of playing a prank on a contractor friend who was close to cracking during a stressful construction job. In another tale, someone convinces him to ride a bronco at the local rodeo, and in another, he loses $50 playing “Name That Tune” with a 5-year-old. The author’s family members figure in these remembrances, as well, as when Heath’s Catholic mother-in-law forces the Methodist author to receive communion at Mass, leading to an embarrassing interaction with the priest. Over the course of these 35 essays, the author recounts several times that overthinking—or not thinking at all—got him into trouble. Heath is a capable writer, and his tales have the practiced feel of those that have been told many times. His sense of humor is firmly of the dad-joke variety, as when he describes showing his basement to men at a dinner party: “We like it down there. It’s like a cave, and it harkens back to our primordial roots, like the mournful sound of wolves howling at night.” However, the essays aren’t quite as incisive or entertaining as they should be; one can imagine several of these stories playing better when told in person, but on the page, they can feel a bit deflated. “Yes, Virginia,” about the author’s staging a Santa Claus sighting for his daughter, has a solid arc and an amusing premise, but many others are less engaging, such as “When In Amsterdam,” about minor inconveniences on a trip to the Netherlands, which lacks tension, colorful characters, or interesting observations.

A smoothly written but ultimately underwhelming book of anecdotes.