Lifted by the great nothing

"Max lives with his father, Rasheed, a sweet, funny man who fled Lebanon's civil war for New Jersey when Max was a baby. Rasheed is enamored of his idea of America--baseball and barbeques--and has tried to shed his Lebanese heritage completely. "When we are in America," Reed (for he goes by Reed in America, not Rasheed) tells Max, "we are Americans." Rasheed has a singular purpose in life--to provide Max with a happy childhood. Though Max can't be made happy by the treehouse and musical instruments his father offers, he recognizes his father's need and assures him--as sincerely as he is able--that he is indeed happy, very happy. Max has always thought that his mother was murdered by burglars in Lebanon, but when he turns seventeen, he learns from Rasheed's ex-girlfriend that his father has been lying to him. Max's father has secrets dating from the war that have grave consequences relevant to Max's life today. As Max begins searching for the truth, from suburban America to Beirut and Paris, he unravels his true history. At the center of this offbeat, big-hearted, and often dark world are a son and his father trying to live normal lives by desperately keeping buried anything that identifies them as "other." With its poignant relationships, surprising love stories, and unsettling misadventures, Lifted by the Great Nothing is a touching and devastating portrait of a young man coming to terms with his country's--and his own--violent past"--