Asim Zahid is ready to bust out of Lackawanna, a rundown steel town outside Buffalo, New York. But his dream of a bright future at the University of Michigan is derailed when his father dies, leaving behind two last wishes: that Asim keep open the cherished Bethlehem Theater and befriend Sonia, his old man's longtime mistress, now suffering from Parkinson's disease. Although Asim and Sonia are bound together by a shared passion for the celluloid dreams that flicker across the movie house screen, his conflicting desire to be a good son is tested by rapidly changing events.
Soon there's another reason for the restless son to stay in Lackawanna: Billy, an Irish redhead who flirts with him from the window of the Pig Iron Pub across the street from the theater. Asim begins to wonder whether he might be happy in his hometown after all ? until he discovers that his brother, Tarik, is headed off to a mysterious training camp in the Afghan desert. Meanwhile, Asim grows more concerned for Sonia, whose mind is becoming a mishmash of distant memories of Russia and the movies she has anchored her life in. And when Asim receives a package containing the skull of a Jewish boy and is compelled to answer the call of Tarik's militant friends, a terrifying and ultimately deadly chain of events is set in motion, culminating on September 11, 2001.
Gary Zebrun's coming-of-age novel ? part thriller, part love letter to classic movies ? returns to print, accompanied by an introduction by Jim Shepard.
"Coming of age in a dying American town is hard enough. But if you're Middle Eastern and gay ... Zebrun's ruminative second novel captivates through the complexity and vulnerability of its characters and the excellence of its prose, polished to a luminous transparency." ? Kirkus
"A rich dive into the tempest of family, the cold depths of loneliness and the riptide of fundamentalism ... haunting." ? JustOut, Portland, Oregon
"Much like the old black-and-white movies that Sonia loved, Only the Lonely reads like an artsy independent film ... a modern-day update of The Glass Menagerie." ? Desert Daily Guide, Palm Springs, CA
"A major fiction writing talent." ? Ron Hansen, Exiles
"A very intimate story that reflects international concerns in miniature, about one immigrant family's struggles with secrets, discrimination, and religion." ? Bay Windows, Boston
"... once you start you won't stop ... for noir novel lovers." ? OutSmart, Houston
"This quietly perceptive, insightfully written novel ... doesn't speculate but lets the chilling tale play out to a climax that is as frightening as it seems inevitable." ? The Providence Journal
"With his memorable cast and nicely underplayed big themes, Zebrun delivers a new and worthy perspective on the 9/11 experience." ? Publisher's Weekly
"Only the Lonely is a perceptive work of modern fiction, a gripping tale of dreams dashed amidst the dust of 9/11 ... a truly involving narrative about a teenager named Asim, his father's dying wish, a passion for cinema, and a country hurtling toward September 11." ? Buffalo Spree Magazine
