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“A story of identity, intimacy, and familial struggles … A young man\u2019s coming-of-age amid war and social unrest in the 1960s … The novel\u2019s empathy and humanism are admirable …”<\/p>\n
\u2014 Kirkus Reviews<\/p>\n
Paul Zarou illuminates a rough and tumble neighborhood in Queens in the late 1960s with precision, clarity and compassion… echoes of Philip Roth.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2014 Steven Schlesser, author of The Soldier, the Builder & the Diplomat<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Zarou\u2019s characters are familiar faces from the old neighborhood: first crushes, overprotective fathers, the bully-gang, mother hens overseeing the block. At the center of a rich tapestry of multi-generational America is Michael Haddad, the son of Palestinian immigrants. His coming of age story, set against the turbulent 1960’s, widens to encompass the ordinary lives of people we\u2019ve all known, those who\u2019ve loved and taught us, those who\u2019ve gathered us in their folds, and those who\u2019ve made us suffer. Ultimately, Zarou reminds us of the boundless power of family and friends as we discover who we are.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2014Sahar Mustafah, author of The Beauty of Your Face<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Arab Boy Delivered<\/em><\/strong> is an involving, well-told, multi-layered tale of Palestinian immigrants deepening their way into American life. They move from safe, Palestinian Brooklyn to a Queens neighborhood with more opportunity. We see Michael Haddad mature from fifteen-year-old working in the family grocery store to manhood as an NYU freshman\u2014<\/strong>toughened\u00a0<\/strong>against<\/strong> neighborhood prejudice, sweetened by a passionate, highly sexual affair with a slightly older woman.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n Set in the Vietnam War era, the novel also portrays a working-class neighborhood that nurtured young men like Michael but also did its best to hang onto them.<\/strong> Michael does not triumph. Yet in the end, manages to break free.<\/strong><\/p>\n