Thursday Night at the Mall

Author Robert L. Seltzer’s second memoir examines a complicated father-son relationship as Seltzer learns how to be a father to a son with Asperger’s. The text presents two different timelines: the first captures a year in the life of father Robert and adult son Chris as they navigate their relationship and find ways to connect through movies, books, and music; the second timeline follows father and son from Chris’s birth through the trial of diagnosis until the timelines meet up in the present day. Seltzer describes himself as “a man fleeing his demons” and his son as “a boy still wrestling his.” This beautifully written memoir is a raw and honest look at a struggle many families will relate to.