Lifted by the Great Nothing

Max doesn't remember his mother, who was murdered by burglars before they emigrated from Beirut to New Jersey. He lives with his father, Rasheed, who is enamored of his concept of American culture – baseball and barbeques – and tries 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 joyful childhood. He showers his son with gifts…