I Keep Trying to Catch His Eye: A Memoir of Loss, Grief, and Love

Ivan Maisel received a call that his son Max's car had been found abandoned, and two months later, his body was found in the lake. This uncertainty became part of his father's grief, and the film explores the tragically transformative reality of losing a child and the deeply human and empathetic story of a father's relationship with his son. It also highlights the importance of overlooking men's mental health and the healing power of openly grieving.

Format: Hardback
Length: 240 pages
Publication date: 25 November 2021
Publisher: Hachette Books

In February 2015, Ivan Maisel received a call that would alter his life forever: his son Max's car had been found abandoned in a parking lot next to Lake Ontario. Two months later, Max's body would be found in the lake. There had been no note or obvious indication that Max wanted to harm himself; he had signed up for a year-long subscription to a dating service; he had spent the day he disappeared doing photography work for school. And this uncertainty became part of his father's grief.

I Keep Trying to Catch His Eye explores with grace, depth, and refinement the tragically transformative reality of losing a child. But it also tells the deeply human and deeply empathetic story of a father's relationship with his son, of its complications, and of Max and Ivan's struggle—as is the case for so many parents and their children—to connect.

I Keep Trying to Catch His Eye is a stunning, poignant exploration of the father and son relationship, of how our tendency to overlook men's mental health can have devastating consequences, and how ultimately letting those who grieve do so openly and freely can lead to greater healing.

Weight: 456g
Dimension: 161 x 235 x 24 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780306925740