★ 08/07/2023
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.)
"Couched in humorous antics and poignant remembrances, the book deftly covers themes of assimilation and belonging, generational divides, migration, class mobility, masculinity, and queerness."
"Dearborn is a charming, insightful collection of 10 stories with a delightful, comic edge, exploring the distinct experiences of Arab Americans who have made a home in the midwestern United States."
"Stories of heritage, family, and trauma interconnect within a Michigan Arab American community."
A 2024 ALA Notable Book American Library Association
"A nuanced exploration into all aspects of a community. . . . Reading this collection is an eye-opening experience for those who only encountered these kinds of characters in mainstream American media."
a Most Anticipated Book of 2023 Debutiful
"Funny and sincere. . . . connected by history, by ambition, by a myth of a nation that never manifests but is reborn again and again in the immigrant gaze."
New York Times Book Review
"Whether it’s an aspiring actor evading ICE or a cross-dressing butcher, these characters are fully fleshed in their desire, fears, and contradictions. A brilliant work of fiction that will undoubtedly be canon in Arab American literature."
"These stories will stay with you for weeks and years after you’ve finished them, making you again laugh, wonder, and rage. Dearborn is masterful, gentle, wild, and full of heart."
"The stories in Dearborn —by turns hilarious and heartbreaking, astute and absurd—capture such a vital, underspoken aspect of the Arab-American experience, that sense of being not quite from the place you love and not quite loved by the place you’re from. Ghassan Zeineddine has a talent for those very small details of Arab life in a place like Dearborn —the generational fatalism, the converted garage living room, the unlikely mash-up of cuisines at the neighborhood restaurant. These are wonderful stories from an exciting new name in Arab-American literature."
"A razor sharp look into identity, migration and inherited trauma. . . . these tales are at times hilarious, but also heartening as they explores the complex and colorful lives of a range of characters."
"Fresh, exciting, and as American as it gets."
A Best Book of Fall Good Housekeeping
"Builds surprising, tender alliances and chooses idiosyncratic paths that exceed easy stereotypes."
"A supremely accomplished debut."
"Captivating. . . . These stories, written in Zeineddine’s compassionate and droll prose, evoke laughter, tears, and introspection."
"Zeineddine's eye for unusual, often surreal detail enables him to construct unique narratives. . . . Arab, not, or not really, here are true individuals seeking ways to express their identity against and across resistant geographic and cultural reference points."
"Both witty and thoughtful, Zeineddine’s tragicomic stories about Arab American characters in Dearborn, Mich., explore themes of immigration, prejudice, sexuality, belonging and more."
"Dearborn is one of the funniest, truest, and most heartfelt books I have ever read. Zeineddine writes with so much grace and understanding, so much love and compassion, so much mastery that these stories will become part of who you are."
"Terrific. . . . funny and tender tales will remain in your memory for a long while."
"Stirring. . . . sharply observed."
"Reads like a Lebanese party: glittering matriarchs, smoking naughty men, great food, arguments, love affairs, loud voices—and, above all, a love of Lebanon. . . . .Zeineddine is a writer to watch."
"It's a testament to the author's skill in hooking the reader with good stories and great characters. This is a standout collection with strong book club appeal that will have readers eagerly awaiting Zeineddine's follow-up."
A Best Book of 2023 Chicago Public Library
"At once urgent and timeless, the stories in Dearborn are searing and unflinching snapshots of an immigrant community struggling to carve out space for itself, to find home in unfamiliar territory. The unforgettable characters slash through stereotypes as they navigate heart-wrenching and absurd situations, all the while grappling with identity and intergenerational tensions. The world Zeineddine creates is filled with beauty, brutal realities, and humor. I couldn't put it down."
"Funny, tender. "
09/01/2023
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
★ 2023-06-21
In his debut collection, Zeineddine toes the impossibly delicate line between pathos and humor with the grace and finesse of a tightrope walker. His subject is Dearborn, Michigan, a city made up primarily of Arab Americans. In 10 stories, Zeineddine brings that community alive. His voice is irresistible—warm, funny, and unrelenting. “Money Chickens” begins: “Some folks store their money in safes; Baba used chickens. I was six the first time I saw him shove a Ziploc bag filled with bills inside a chicken in the kitchen of our two-bedroom house….” The story is nearly impossible to put down. Zeineddine writes as sympathetically from the points of view of his women characters as he does from his men, and in “Yusra,” he writes beautifully about Yasser, who on Fridays likes to dress up in heels, lipstick, and a hijab and call himself Yusra. Each of Zeineddine’s characters is marvelously complex: Some are devout, some secular; some run cons, some toil in honest work, while others strive toward a creative outlet. “Speedoman” is narrated in the first person plural, first by the men of the community, then by the women, and back again. A stranger has shown up at the local pool with images of Lebanon printed across the backside of his Speedo, inspiring nostalgia—and perhaps some other emotions—in both the men and women. It’s a masterfully told story. What Zeineddine can do with a simple storyline and a few pages is a thing of wonder.
A fantastic collection heralding the voice of a major new writer.
Sarab Kamoo and Qarie Marshall trade off delivering narratives that offer insights into the lives of a variety of characters of different ages and genders [...] Marshall delivers his characters in a strong, clear tenor that evokes sympathy for fathers and sons whose confusion over their drastically different upbringings makes it difficult for them to communicate. Kamoo portrays her female characters with a warm kindness that mirrors their emotional lives.
