DEARBORN
A sharp, tender, and uproariously funny portrait of the lives of Arab American community members in Dearborn, Michigan.
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,
A sharp, tender, and uproariously funny portrait of the lives of Arab American community members in Dearborn, Michigan.
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.
- Tin House Books
- Paperback
- September 2023
- 240 Pages
- 9781959030294
Buy the Book
$17.95
About Ghassan Zeineddine
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.
Praise
“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.” —Omar El Akkad, author of What Strange Paradise
“Stories full of humor and warmth about an Arab American community. Inspiring. . . . Masterfully told. . . . 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.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Stirring. . . . sharply observed.” —Booklist (starred review)
“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.” —Shelf Awareness
“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.” —Morgan Talty, bestselling author of Night of the Living Rez
“Fresh, exciting, and as American as it gets.” —Good Housekeeping, A Best Book of Fall