Author Ivan Maisel, I Keep Trying to Catch His Eye

Darien Library and Barrett Bookstore welcome Ivan Maisel, author of I Keep Trying to Catch His Eye. In this deeply emotional memoir, a longtime ESPN writer reflects on the suicide of his son Max and delves into how their complicated relationship led him to see grief as love. Ivan Maisel will be in conversation with Dr. Michael Groat, Chief Clinical Officer of Silver Hill Hospital and Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry in the Yale Department of Psychiatry.

About I Keep Trying to Catch His Eye

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 next to Lake Ontario. Two months later, Max's body would be found in the lake.

There’d been no note or obvious indication that Max wanted to harm himself; he’d signed up for a year-long subscription to a dating service; he’d 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.

About Ivan Maisel

Ivan Maisel is Vice President/Editorial and Senior Writer at on3.com. He has covered college football for nearly four decades, from 2002-2021 as a senior writer for ESPN, where he wrote for ESPN.com, appearing on television, ESPN Radio and on podcasts. He also served as Editor-at-Large for ESPN College Football 150. Prior to joining ESPN.com, Maisel covered national college football for Sports Illustrated, Newsday, and The Dallas Morning News. He has been honored eight times for Best Story by the Football Writers Association of America, and twice by The Associated Press Sports Editors, which in 2019 named him one of the 10 best sports columnists. Maisel earned a bachelor's degree in American Studies from Stanford University.

About Michael Groat, PHD

Michael Groat, PhD, is the Chief Clinical Officer of Silver Hill Hospital and Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry in the Yale Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Groat completed 4 years of postdoctoral training in the treatment of people with severe and complex psychiatric illness at the Austen Riggs Center, adult psychoanalysis and mentalizing-based treatment at the Center for Psychoanalytic Studies, Houston, and was associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Baylor College of Medicine, where he also served as the Director of Adult Services at the Menninger Clinic. He was previously the director of Menninger’s Professionals program, and prior to Silver Hill, was the president and CEO of CooperRiis, residential treatment center in North Carolina. He has taught nationally and internationally on the subject of suicide assessment and treatment.

This event is co-sponsored by Barrett Bookstore. If you would like to add the author's book to your collection, please visit their website.