Carryout, Hasan Dudar
Carryout, Hasan Dudar
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Carryout

Author: Hasan Dudar

Narrator: Dominick Rabrun, Jeed Saddy

Unabridged: 6 hr 47 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/05/2026


Synopsis

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.

Reviews

Goodreads review by John on 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......more

Goodreads review by Lori on May 17, 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!......more

Goodreads review by Reader on May 09, 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......more