Skip to content
  • Image
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Podcasts
  • Email
  • Subscribe to Ray’s Columns
  • Contact
The Arab Daily News

The Arab Daily News

Original news, features, opinions from Chicago to Jerusalem

  • About
    • About
    • Our Writers
    • Subscribe to Ray’s Columns
    • Book Store
    • Contact
    • Submit Book Reviews, Press Releases
    • Advertise
    • Privacy Corrections Policy
    • Profile on Ray Hanania
    • Submit Press Release
  • Features
    • Food
    • Book Review
    • Humor
    • Movies
    • Travel
  • Arab US Community
    • Arab Stores Targeted
    • Arab Community Network Page
    • Arab Heritage America resources
    • Directory
      • Groups & Organizations
      • Mosques, Churches
      • Restaurants
      • 2008 & 2014 Arab Media Directories
    • National Arab Heritage Month
    • Video: Chicago Arab History
    • Video: Photo Array of Chicago Arabs
    • Overview of Arabs in America
    • Hanania standup comedy
    • Arabs on the Titanic
    • Obituaries
  • Podcasts
    • Ray Hanania on Politics Podcast
    • Arab News Ray Hanania Radio
    • Arab Radio Podcast intro
    • Radio Baladi Detroit
    • TwoGuys on Politics
  • Ray on Tiktok
  • Subscribe Ray’s Columns
  • Archive 2004-2013
  • Toggle search form
  • Arab Center Washington DC
    Arab Center Washington DC to host Conference on Second Trump Administration Policies toward the Middle East American Arabs
  • The Arab American Foundation, launched in2 019 to educate Americans about the Arab identity and empower and connect Arab Americans, will host the "Connect Empowerment Summit" on Friday and Saturday, October 24 and 25, at the Teaeck Marriot at Glenpointe in Teaneck, New Jersey.
    Arab America Foundation to host “Connect Empowerment Summit” in New Jersey Activism
  • CNN Commentator Van Jones courtesy of Wikipedia
    CAIR Calls Van Jones Apology for Joking About Slaughtered Palestinian Children a ‘Positive But Insufficient’ Step American Arabs
  • Boats with the Global Sumud Flotilla to Gaza are seen moored at the small island of Koufonisi, south of the island of Crete, on September 26, 2025. (Photo: AFP/ Eleftherios Elis) Courtesy of the Committee to Protect Journalists
    CPJ calls on Israel to release journalists detained on the Global Sumud Flotilla Activism
  • Arab Center of Washington DC Fellows and affiliates analyze Palestine State recognition. Arab Center Washington DC Sept. 24, 2025
    Arab Center of Washington DC Fellows and affiliates analyze Palestine State recognition American Arabs
  • WRMEA Sept 2025 issue cover
    Video Interview Delinda Hanley of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs Activism
  • ADC ArabCon Image
    ADC to issue awards for community leadsership at Convention American Arabs
  • CAIR Executive Director and co-founder Nihad Awad
    CAIR Wins Injunction Ordering U. of Missouri to Permit Mizzou Students for Justice in Palestine into Homecoming Parade American Arabs
  • Orland Township and logo
    Orland Township board shows concern for District 230 students American Arabs
  • Israeli snipers fire at Palestinians protesting in support of hunger strikers at the Gaza border with Nahal Oz. Photo copyright Gaza Strip Photographer Ahmad Hasaballah
    CAIR‑Chicago Urges DOJ to File War Crime Charges Against Naperville Man Who Joined IDF, Admitted Sniping Children Christian & Muslim
  • United Nations UN Building Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania 2019
    Denying Palestinian Officials Visas to Join UN General Assembly: Wrong and Hypocritical: American Arabs
  • United Nations UN Building Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania 2019
    UN experts urge US to grant visas to Palestinian officials, uphold diplomacy for peace Human Rights
  • Terrence Crawford and Canelo Alvarez in Las Vegas with HE Turki Alalshikh Photo courtesy of GEA
    HE Turki Alalshikh joins opening faceoff ahead of Fight Week for blockbuster Canelo-Crawford clash in Las Vegas Arab News
  • No Azure for Apartheid
    Microsoft fires a Jewish worker for taking part in the “Liberated Zone” American Arabs
  • Jeremy Ben Ami J Street President
    J Street among many Jewish groups supporting justice for Palestine and Israel Activism

Book Review: A Darkly humorous saga set in Post 9/11 America and the Middle East

Posted on May 13, 2019May 13, 2019 By rayhanania No Comments on Book Review: A Darkly humorous saga set in Post 9/11 America and the Middle East
SHARE ...
          
 
  

  • Tweet

Book Review: A Darkly humorous saga set in Post 9/11 America and the Middle East

When All Else Fails by author Rayyan Al-Shawaf begins on September 12th, 2001. It is the story of Hunayn, a luckless and lovelorn Iraqi college student living in Orlando, Florida, after having graduated from high school in Beirut. Hunayn’s life is upended by 9/11—but not immediately, and not in the way that he, fearful in the aftermath of the attacks, initially expects.

As America settles into its post-9/11, open-ended “Septemberland” phase (vigilant but also overly suspicious and even paranoid), many Arab and Muslim Americans are made to feel it’s no longer their home. With Hunayn, who muddles through a series of surreal episodes in Orlando and nearby Indiantown, the situation proves almost the opposite: Septemberland—so many of whose citizens think they have Hunayn figured out just because of his name or origins—comes to remind him of his most recent unhappy home, Lebanon, which he assumed he’d left behind. Now, having had his fill of disconcerting experiences, Hunayn returns to Beirut. At least he knows how to navigate life back there—or so he thinks.

It turns out that Lebanon is about to undergo political upheaval of its own: a former prime minister opposed to neighboring Syria’s control of the country is assassinated; subsequent popular protests compel the Syrian regime to withdraw its army; a spate of mysterious bombings terrorizes everyone; and Israel, another neighbor, launches a war on Lebanon in retaliation for an attack by a Lebanese militant group. Hunayn finds himself caught up in the maelstrom. And all the while, he watches from afar as Iraq, his fabled homeland and the owner of his heart, unravels in the wake of the US-led invasion.

When All Else Fails by Rayyan Al-Shawaf
When All Else Fails by Rayyan Al-Shawaf

Rayyan Al-Shawaf is a book critic whose reviews and essays have appeared in the Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, Globe and Mail, LA Review of Books, Miami Herald, Minneapolis Star Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, The Millions, Toronto Star, Truthdig, Washington Post, and other publications. He lives in Malta. When All Else Fails is his first novel.

“When All Else Fails is a wonderful debut novel: profound, funny and a joy to read from start to finish. … Rayyan’s words are magical.” –Jim Powell, author ofThe Breaking of Eggs 

“You’re Middle Eastern. You’re a college student in conservative central Florida… and 9/11 happens. Who knew coming of age as a Stranger in a Strange Land could be so fraught … and so savagely funny? Rayyan Al-Shawaf’s book offers a completely fresh take on our 21st century’s pressing questions. What’s identity? What’s home? What’s in the heart to always find a way forward? When All Else Fails is marvelous and questing and honest. I think it’s a book of the year … no matter the year.” –Charles McNair, author of The Epicureans, Pickett’s Charge, and Land O’ Goshen

“In When All Else Fails, Rayyan Al-Shawaf deftly melds on-the-ground experience with an extremely engaging and vivid fictional narrative. When All Else Fails is required reading for all who desire an entertaining and illuminating perspective on individuals who find themselves caught in the cultural and religious cross-currents of life in both America and the Middle East.” –R. P. Finch, author of Skin in the Game

“When All Else Fails”

by Rayyan Al-Shawaf

Interlink Books, an imprint of Interlink Publishing Group, Inc.

Fiction • 5 ¼” x 8” • 316 pages

ISBN 978-1-62371-977-7 • paperback • $16.00 (in Canada, $21.95)

newswire info
  • About
  • Latest Posts
rayhanania
rayhanania
Op-Ed writer, author, radio host, podcaster at The Arab Daily News
Ray Hanania is an award-winning columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.  

His award winning columns can be found at www.HANANIA.COM Subscribe FREE today

Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.

Email Ray Hanania at [email protected].

Follow RayHanania at Twitter
rayhanania
Latest posts by rayhanania (see all)
  • Israelisnipers shooting and killing hospital workers in Gaza - December 11, 2023
  • CAIR Condemns Israeli Executions of Wounded, Unarmed Palestinian in West Bank   - December 11, 2023
  • Arab and Muslim American voters face a “simple choice” between Biden’s inhumanity and Trump’s edgy politics - December 9, 2023
NVP: 58

  • Tweet

SHARE ...
          
 
  
 
          
 
 Tweet 
Arab World, Book Review, Entertainment, Features, mainstream Tags:2001, America, author, book, Middle East, Rayyan Al-Shawaf, Sept. 11, When All Else Fails

Post navigation

Previous Post: Historical Fiction and Nakba
Next Post: Detroit civil rights group calls for probe into anti-Muslim hate flyers

Related Posts

  • Houston Businessman Farouk Shami urges the 16th Annual Convention for the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation to invest in Palestine and help build a strong economy that will provide jobs and result in peace.
    Farouk Shami urges diaspora to build industry and jobs in Palestine American Arabs
  • Children with PTSD in Gaza: AIPAC and MLK in USA Arab World
  • Israel’s Damnation and Living Death of Vanunu Mordechai, Nuclear Whistleblower Arab World
  • Imam Izzedin Elzir (Imam of Florence), Rabbi Marc Schneier, Dr Al Issa and Rav Lev
    New York Rabbi and Muslim World League leader share Global Interreligious Award Culture
  • Mayor-elect Latoya Cantrell of New Orleans, Louisiana. Photo courtesy of Mayor-elect Latoya Cantrell
    New Orleans stands with Palestine American Arabs
  • Nation’s richest lawyer Arab Joe Jamail dies American Arabs

More Related Articles

Meme of the Chicago Sun-Times endorsing Bruce Rauner, who owned a major share in the newspaper. Now the newspaper seems to do his political bidding. (Former Truman photo courtesy of Wikipedia) Hypocrisy at racist, anti-Arab/Muslim Chicago Sun-Times American Arabs
Americans serving in Israel military violate US laws Arab World
Nuclear Disarmament, Twitter and The Absurd American Arabs
United Nations General Assembly 74, Sept. 2019. Photo courtesy Ray Hanania United States: UN experts condemn crackdown on peaceful protests and highlight calls to overhaul policing     American Arabs
Prosecute Saudis, then prosecute US Soldiers, too American Arabs
King Tut’s First Visit to Chicago — 1977 American Arabs

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Ray Hanania's 4 times a week columns at https://RayHanania.com at Substack

Enter Your Email to Subscribe to Ray Hanania’s Columns

  • OPINION COLUMNS
  • Netflix Mo Series courtesy of Wikipedia
    Mo Amer’s “Mo” on Netflix is more than just a great comedy series
    September 6, 2025
  • Photo courtesy of Journalist Abdennour Toumi
    France: Political Compromise vs Political Instability
    August 28, 2024
  • Zakia Restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia
    Arabs eat Middle East food like they are making love
    June 27, 2024
  • Zwar lamb kabob and kufta with white and yellow rice
    Zwar ranked the Best Middle East restaurant in Chicagoland suburbs
    June 8, 2024
  • Pictured: Rahm Emanuel, Afghan activist Salman Aftab who was co-chair of the Iftar dinner, and several non-Arab Muslim leaders. Also pictured is Ald. Joe Moore. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania for Arab News
    Comprehensive look at the failings of former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel
    January 18, 2024

Creative Commons License
All work on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Do not edit original work. Give credit to the original source.

The Lightning Strike Radio Sun 8-10 AM

Mohammed Faheem The Lightning Strike Radio Show
Mohammed Faheem The Lightning Strike Radio Show
  • NEWS
  • Arab Center Washington DC
    Arab Center Washington DC to host Conference on Second Trump Administration Policies toward the Middle East
    October 9, 2025
  • The Arab American Foundation, launched in2 019 to educate Americans about the Arab identity and empower and connect Arab Americans, will host the "Connect Empowerment Summit" on Friday and Saturday, October 24 and 25, at the Teaeck Marriot at Glenpointe in Teaneck, New Jersey.
    Arab America Foundation to host “Connect Empowerment Summit” in New Jersey
    October 8, 2025
  • CNN Commentator Van Jones courtesy of Wikipedia
    CAIR Calls Van Jones Apology for Joking About Slaughtered Palestinian Children a ‘Positive But Insufficient’ Step
    October 5, 2025
  • Boats with the Global Sumud Flotilla to Gaza are seen moored at the small island of Koufonisi, south of the island of Crete, on September 26, 2025. (Photo: AFP/ Eleftherios Elis) Courtesy of the Committee to Protect Journalists
    CPJ calls on Israel to release journalists detained on the Global Sumud Flotilla
    October 2, 2025
  • Arab Center of Washington DC Fellows and affiliates analyze Palestine State recognition. Arab Center Washington DC Sept. 24, 2025
    Arab Center of Washington DC Fellows and affiliates analyze Palestine State recognition
    October 2, 2025
  • New-iTunes-1400-x-1400-The-Ray-Hanania-Show-Podcast-Icon-300-x-300.jpg
  • Podcast-iTunes-Logo-Chi-City-Hall-1985.jpg
  • The-Kings-Pawn-Book-300-x-300.png
  • terroristbookcover-300-x-300.jpg
  • powerpr300x300ad.jpg
  • NEWSWIRE
  • The Arab American Foundation, launched in2 019 to educate Americans about the Arab identity and empower and connect Arab Americans, will host the "Connect Empowerment Summit" on Friday and Saturday, October 24 and 25, at the Teaeck Marriot at Glenpointe in Teaneck, New Jersey.
    Arab America Foundation to host “Connect Empowerment Summit” in New Jersey
    October 8, 2025
  • CNN Commentator Van Jones courtesy of Wikipedia
    CAIR Calls Van Jones Apology for Joking About Slaughtered Palestinian Children a ‘Positive But Insufficient’ Step
    October 5, 2025
  • Boats with the Global Sumud Flotilla to Gaza are seen moored at the small island of Koufonisi, south of the island of Crete, on September 26, 2025. (Photo: AFP/ Eleftherios Elis) Courtesy of the Committee to Protect Journalists
    CPJ calls on Israel to release journalists detained on the Global Sumud Flotilla
    October 2, 2025
  • Arab Center of Washington DC Fellows and affiliates analyze Palestine State recognition. Arab Center Washington DC Sept. 24, 2025
    Arab Center of Washington DC Fellows and affiliates analyze Palestine State recognition
    October 2, 2025

Follow Ray Hanania at
Twitter
Facebook
TitkTok
BlueSky
RayHanania Columns

Click here to get information on The Ray Hanania Radio Show and its podcasts

Copyright © 2025 The Arab Daily News.

Powered by PressBook Premium theme