Dearborn : stories

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Dearborn : stories

Title:

Dearborn : stories

Added Title:

Actors of Dearborn.

Speedoman.

Money chickens.

Marseille.

I have reason to believe my neighbor is a terrorist.

Zizou's voice.

In memoriam.

Hiyam, LLC.

Yusra.

Rabbit stew.

Author:

Zeineddine, Ghassan, author.

Summary:

Spanning several decades, Ghassan Zeineddine’s debut collection examines the diverse range and complexities of the Arab American community in Dearborn, Michigan. In ten tragicomic stories, Zeineddine explores themes of identity, generational conflicts, war trauma, migration, sexuality, queerness, home and belonging, and more. In Dearborn, a father teaches his son how to cheat the IRS and hide their cash earnings inside of frozen chickens. Tensions heighten within a close-knit group of couples when a mysterious man begins to frequent the local gym pool, dressed in Speedos printed with nostalgic images of Lebanon. And a failed stage actor attempts to drive a young Lebanese man with ambitions of becoming a Hollywood action hero to LA, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have other plans. By turns wildly funny, incisive, and deeply moving, Dearborn introduces readers to an arresting new voice in contemporary fiction and invites us all to consider what it means to be part of a place and community, and how it is that we help one another survive. -- Amazon.

Edition:

First US edition.

Contents:

The actors of Dearborn -- Speedoman -- Money chickens -- Marseille -- I have reason to believe my neighbor is a terrorist -- Zizou's voice -- In memoriam -- Hiyam, LLC -- Yusra -- Rabbit stew.

Physical Description:

229 pages ; 22 cm

Genre:

Psychological fiction.

Domestic fiction.

Short stories.

Subject Term:

Arab Americans -- Michigan -- Fiction.

Identity (Psychology) -- Fiction.

Conflict of generations -- Fiction.

Muslims -- Fiction.

Immigrants -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

Dearborn (Mich.) -- Fiction.

Publisher:

Tin House,

Publication Date:

2023

ISBN:

9781959030294

Publication Information:

Portland, Oregon : Tin House, 2023.

Call Number:

ZEINEDDINE

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607003679878	New Adult Fiction	ZEINEDDINE Ghassan	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

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On Order

Summary

Spanning several decades, Ghassan Zeineddine's debut collection examines the diverse range and complexities of the Arab American community in Dearborn, Michigan. In ten tragicomic stories, Zeineddine explores themes of identity, generational conflicts, war trauma, migration, sexuality, queerness, home and belonging, and more.

In Dearborn, a father teaches his son how to cheat the IRS and hide their cash earnings inside of frozen chickens. Tensions heighten within a close-knit group of couples when a mysterious man begins to frequent the local gym pool, dressed in Speedos printed with nostalgic images of Lebanon. And a failed stage actor attempts to drive a young Lebanese man with ambitions of becoming a Hollywood action hero to LA, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have other plans.

By turns wildly funny, incisive, and deeply moving, Dearborn introduces readers to an arresting new voice in contemporary fiction and invites us all to consider what it means to be part of a place and community, and how it is that we help one another survive.

Author Notes

Ghassan Zeineddine was born in Washington, DC, and raised in the Middle East. He is an assistant professor of creative writing at Oberlin College, and co-editor of the creative nonfiction anthology Hadha Baladuna: Arab American Narratives of Boundary and Belonging. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Ohio.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Zeineddine's striking debut collection details an endearing cast living in the Arab American community in Dearborn, Mich. In "Speedoman," a group of husbands and wives who routinely lounge in the community pool and spa become obsessed with a newcomer who exclusively wears a Speedo to the pool. The husbands see the stranger as a symbol of their past lives and pine for their youth, while the wives are infatuated with his form and literary interests, for their "thriving book club." "Marseille" follows the elderly Madame Ayda, who survived the sinking of the Titanic, as she reveals secrets from her past to journalist Ibrahim, including that her husband, Nabil perished in the ship's sinking. In "Rabbit Stew," a 17-year-old Lebanese immigrant welcomes his cherished uncle on his first visit to America but discovers his war stories of Beirut may not be completely accurate, causing the narrator to question their bond. Each story strikes a chord, and Zeineddine is adept at finding different angles to engage the collection's themes of identity, race, and gender. This genuine offering speaks as much to the heart as the head. (Sept.)

Library Journal Review

DEBUT Zeineddine's debut collection examines the immigrant experience, the weight of memory, the myths we create, and the meaning of home, in a voice that's forthright and refreshing. The setting is mostly Dearborn, MI, here dubbed the capital of Arab America, but the characters range widely. A young man wants to help an undocumented friend fulfill his dreams of going to Hollywood, but instead they encounter ICE. Several Lebanese American couples who routinely relax at the Ford Community Center pool are taken with a newcomer who arrives every week in a different Speedo, each bearing an emblem of Lebanon on the backside; readers will be as intrigued as the couples are to figure out who he is, but he certainly stirs up their lives. At age 99, Madame Ayda describes leaving her Druze village at 14 with the husband she'd just met and discovering a passion cut short by tragedy. She'll never return home, but in another story, vainglorious Uncle Ramzy comes visiting from Beirut and tries to persuade nephew Amer's parents to do just that, though his own experiences there aren't what they seem. VERDICT Often bittersweet, these stories consistently surprise. Good reading about community, and of special appeal for its insights into the Arab American experience.--Barbara Hoffert