What do you think?
Rate this book
Carryout
In the late 1970s, Ziad Idilbi, a Palestinian refugee from Lebanon, marries Salma, a Lebanese refugee escaping the war in Beirut. Resolving to start over for the very last time, the couple opens a corner store in Toledo, Ohio, across from the General Motors factory, where Toledo’s Arab community intermingles with the working class. Over the decades, whether it’s bigotry (pre- and post-9/11), financial ruin, or terminal illness, the Idilbis find themselves on life’s outskirts, attempting to build something new.
Achingly poignant and slyly funny, the linked stories in Carryout follow the Idilbis and their children as they teeter on the brink of catastrophe. Walid, the youngest child of Ziad and Salma, navigates the heartbreaks of youth as well as the colorful characters who haunt his parents’ corner store. As he grows up into a writer, Walid’s gaze fixes on his father and the long shadow of displacement and occupation. Mustafa, the eldest son, is forever trying to outrun the disasters that seem to seek him out, while Nawal, the only daughter, is dumped by a friend and hatches a scheme to win her back. Unsure whether to run toward each other or away from each other, the characters in Dudar’s exquisite debut suffer the absurdities and indignities of life in America with wry obstinance and striking wisdom.
PRAISE FOR CARRYOUT:
“Dudar’s debut is an intricately linked story collection portraying the intersections of race and class in the lives of an immigrant community. You will cheer for these characters’ triumphs and mourn their losses. A powerful new literary voice!”—Susan Muaddi Darraj, author and Pen/Faulkner Finalist, Behind You Is the Sea
“There are so many stark truths in Dudar’s lyrical collection, and I felt so connected to the in-between lives described so carefully, so generously in its pages. Dudar writes with poise and maturity, with stories that veer from the darkly comic to the endearing to the tragic, never losing sight of one of the core truths of immigrant lives: that everything can feel borrowed and everything can so quickly fall apart. These are the sorts of stories that make a reader sit up and pay attention.”—Daniel Alarcón, author and journalist
“Dudar’s precise prose—clean yet rich in wit and wisdom—drew me in, but the subtle complexity and aching emotion he reveals in these family members kept me immersed in each of their stories. Dudar’s kindness and unique sense of curiosity bring fresh dimension to notions of language, borders, distances between us, dreams, memory, forgetting, forgiveness, and our longing to embrace ever-elusive certainty. The stories are short, yet span generations who must negotiate new worlds of shifting cultures that challenge the idea of self. Graceful, insightful, and engrossing, Carryout is an excellent read.”—Eugenia Kim, author, The Kinship of Secrets
“Told from multiple points of view, the linked stories in Carryout dramatize the lives of an Arab American family over the years in Toledo, Ohio. As we follow Walid, a central narrator, as he comes of age, we’re introduced to a vibrant and diverse community. These are moving, beautifully written and humorous stories that explore notions of home and belonging and the importance of family and community in memorable detail. A terrific debut.”—Ghassan Zeineddine, author, Dearborn
“To read Carryout is to be transported, to be changed. In rhythmic, lucid prose, Dudar renders his wide familial cast with equal parts compassion and precision, alighting on the surface of seemingly small moments to plumb for their beating hearts. There is desperation in these stories, a raw desire to fashion a life, both together and apart, amid the indignities and atrocities of America. I consumed this book.”—Megan Kamalei Kakimoto, author, Every Drop Is a Man’s Nightmare
“A portrait of the artist as a young man and a portrait of community in diaspora, this debut is as funny and tender and vibrant as the remarkable family at its center. In the grand tradition of writers like Vladimir Nabokov and Aleksandar Hemon, Dudar brings places to life with brilliant originality while also bringing to life the existential experience of displacement. Carryout is as exhilarating as it is necessary.”—Harriet Clark, author, The Hill
Achingly poignant and slyly funny, the linked stories in Carryout follow the Idilbis and their children as they teeter on the brink of catastrophe. Walid, the youngest child of Ziad and Salma, navigates the heartbreaks of youth as well as the colorful characters who haunt his parents’ corner store. As he grows up into a writer, Walid’s gaze fixes on his father and the long shadow of displacement and occupation. Mustafa, the eldest son, is forever trying to outrun the disasters that seem to seek him out, while Nawal, the only daughter, is dumped by a friend and hatches a scheme to win her back. Unsure whether to run toward each other or away from each other, the characters in Dudar’s exquisite debut suffer the absurdities and indignities of life in America with wry obstinance and striking wisdom.
PRAISE FOR CARRYOUT:
“Dudar’s debut is an intricately linked story collection portraying the intersections of race and class in the lives of an immigrant community. You will cheer for these characters’ triumphs and mourn their losses. A powerful new literary voice!”—Susan Muaddi Darraj, author and Pen/Faulkner Finalist, Behind You Is the Sea
“There are so many stark truths in Dudar’s lyrical collection, and I felt so connected to the in-between lives described so carefully, so generously in its pages. Dudar writes with poise and maturity, with stories that veer from the darkly comic to the endearing to the tragic, never losing sight of one of the core truths of immigrant lives: that everything can feel borrowed and everything can so quickly fall apart. These are the sorts of stories that make a reader sit up and pay attention.”—Daniel Alarcón, author and journalist
“Dudar’s precise prose—clean yet rich in wit and wisdom—drew me in, but the subtle complexity and aching emotion he reveals in these family members kept me immersed in each of their stories. Dudar’s kindness and unique sense of curiosity bring fresh dimension to notions of language, borders, distances between us, dreams, memory, forgetting, forgiveness, and our longing to embrace ever-elusive certainty. The stories are short, yet span generations who must negotiate new worlds of shifting cultures that challenge the idea of self. Graceful, insightful, and engrossing, Carryout is an excellent read.”—Eugenia Kim, author, The Kinship of Secrets
“Told from multiple points of view, the linked stories in Carryout dramatize the lives of an Arab American family over the years in Toledo, Ohio. As we follow Walid, a central narrator, as he comes of age, we’re introduced to a vibrant and diverse community. These are moving, beautifully written and humorous stories that explore notions of home and belonging and the importance of family and community in memorable detail. A terrific debut.”—Ghassan Zeineddine, author, Dearborn
“To read Carryout is to be transported, to be changed. In rhythmic, lucid prose, Dudar renders his wide familial cast with equal parts compassion and precision, alighting on the surface of seemingly small moments to plumb for their beating hearts. There is desperation in these stories, a raw desire to fashion a life, both together and apart, amid the indignities and atrocities of America. I consumed this book.”—Megan Kamalei Kakimoto, author, Every Drop Is a Man’s Nightmare
“A portrait of the artist as a young man and a portrait of community in diaspora, this debut is as funny and tender and vibrant as the remarkable family at its center. In the grand tradition of writers like Vladimir Nabokov and Aleksandar Hemon, Dudar brings places to life with brilliant originality while also bringing to life the existential experience of displacement. Carryout is as exhilarating as it is necessary.”—Harriet Clark, author, The Hill
- GenresFictionShort Stories
228 pages, Paperback
First published May 5, 2026
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 21, 2026
A corner store in Toledo becomes the center of everything—memory, exile, family, survival.
Carryout follows Ziad and Salma, refugees rebuilding a life from scratch, and the community that forms around them. The stories move outward—from the parents to their children, to the people orbiting that store—until it all starts to feel like one shared history instead of separate lives.
What stuck with me most is the atmosphere. Ohio isn’t just a setting—it’s cold, heavy, a little worn down. You feel the distance from “home” in every interaction. There’s this quiet ache running through the whole collection—people carrying a past they can’t fully return to, and a present that never quite fits.
Walid’s thread—trying to piece together his family’s story—adds a nice layer, giving the book a sense of reflection without overexplaining things.
That said, it didn’t fully land every time. Some stories hit hard, others feel a little undercooked. A few threads—especially from the past—are introduced with weight but never really unpacked. And the shift in Ziad and Salma over time feels a bit abrupt. It might be intentional, but I wanted more of that emotional bridge.
Still, there’s something here. It’s subtle, observant, and grounded in community in a way that feels real.
A little uneven—but when it works, it really works.
Carryout follows Ziad and Salma, refugees rebuilding a life from scratch, and the community that forms around them. The stories move outward—from the parents to their children, to the people orbiting that store—until it all starts to feel like one shared history instead of separate lives.
What stuck with me most is the atmosphere. Ohio isn’t just a setting—it’s cold, heavy, a little worn down. You feel the distance from “home” in every interaction. There’s this quiet ache running through the whole collection—people carrying a past they can’t fully return to, and a present that never quite fits.
Walid’s thread—trying to piece together his family’s story—adds a nice layer, giving the book a sense of reflection without overexplaining things.
That said, it didn’t fully land every time. Some stories hit hard, others feel a little undercooked. A few threads—especially from the past—are introduced with weight but never really unpacked. And the shift in Ziad and Salma over time feels a bit abrupt. It might be intentional, but I wanted more of that emotional bridge.
Still, there’s something here. It’s subtle, observant, and grounded in community in a way that feels real.
A little uneven—but when it works, it really works.
April 19, 2026
In the 1970s, Ziad and Salma Idilbi open a corner store in Toledo, Ohio. They are both refugees from Lebanon but are determined to start over and build a meaningful life together.
These linked stories illuminate the conflict in Lebanon that made Ziad and Salma flee separately. We watch them build a life in Toledo, start a family, and grow older. Walid, their son and presumably a stand-in for the author, has aspirations to be a writer. His attempts to understand and document his family’s lore and the Lebanese community he’s a part of give us a deeper understanding of the characters. The reader is left with a portrait of an immigrant community that mourns their lost country and doesn’t quite feel at home in the U.S. It’s a melancholy but ultimately a hopeful collection.
Thank you to NetGalley and University of Iowa Press for allowing me to read an ARC of this title.
These linked stories illuminate the conflict in Lebanon that made Ziad and Salma flee separately. We watch them build a life in Toledo, start a family, and grow older. Walid, their son and presumably a stand-in for the author, has aspirations to be a writer. His attempts to understand and document his family’s lore and the Lebanese community he’s a part of give us a deeper understanding of the characters. The reader is left with a portrait of an immigrant community that mourns their lost country and doesn’t quite feel at home in the U.S. It’s a melancholy but ultimately a hopeful collection.
Thank you to NetGalley and University of Iowa Press for allowing me to read an ARC of this title.
June 17, 2026
This was a very well-written novel about the Arab community in Toledo (I actually didn't know there was a community there b/c like what is in ohio). The last few stories hit me really hard, maybe because it's when Walid and the other children are grown up and whatever. I think the novel is advertised as a collection of stories, but don't be fooled because you have to read the whole thing get the full experience.
Thanks to the author, publisher, and goodreads for posting the giveaway I won this book from.
Thanks to the author, publisher, and goodreads for posting the giveaway I won this book from.
July 8, 2026
After reading in The Toledo Blade that Dudar was a Toledo native, I had to order his novel! Being born and raised in Toledo, I was captivated by his telling of a Palestinian family's journey to America, their hardships, relationships, and building a life for themselves with the formation of Arab American communities in Toledo. It was a profound learning experience for me, as I was introduced to a community outside of the one I was brought up in! Thank you, Hasan!
May 18, 2026
A great read. Provides insight into Toledo history and the culture and life of those who immigrated to the city. Being from Toledo i could only imagine what and where he was speaking of! Well done Hasan!
May 9, 2026
This was a great book about the experience of an Arab American community the midwestern city of Toledo, Ohio . Which has a sizable Lebanese American population
June 10, 2026
Smart, complex, interesting--a story collection for grown-ups! An excellent pairing with Joyce's Dubliners and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. I recommend it!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews