About “Freud at the Quinceañera”

In his first collection of 18 memoir stories, Robert Schoen uncovers the hidden rhythms of everyday life. After 37 years as an optometrist, Schoen trades his exam chair for a storyteller’s bench, weaving together a lifetime of insights from music, nature, travel, and the unexpected “cultural collisions” that define us.

With a classic Jewish sensibility—blending a self-effacing sense of humor with deep-seated sense of caring—Schoen paints a vivid picture of human interactions through a different lens. From his days as a bandleader and performer to his epic Walk Across America, these stories are wise, witty, and deeply insightful. It is a masterfully woven collection that uncovers the hidden beauty in the everyday.