Zeitoun

Zeitoun
by Dave Eggers

Zeitoun
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Book Summary Information

Author: Dave Eggers
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-07-15
ISBN: 1934781630
Number of pages: 342
Publisher: McSweeney's

Book Reviews of Zeitoun

Book Review: Everyone needs to read it
Summary: 5 Stars

Zeitoun was my introduction to Dave Eggers. I'm unfamiliar with his other works and after Zeitoun I'm a fan. When hurricane Katarina struck I was living in another country and missed the experience of hurricane Katrina. I really didn't realize the toll on America and how much we failed New Orleans. I grabbed this book from a library shelf and was unable out it down. Read it in 2 days. It's a sometimes slow read but it gradually builds up and you can't put it down. Eggers focuses on this one family's experience. It's their story and their reaction to the Hurricane. Eggers doesn't remark on his personal opinion or theories. The father (name to long for me to remember) was born in Syria and raised to work at sea. He landed in New Orleans and worked various jobs. Eventually he owns a successful contracting business in New Orleans. Kathy his wife an American much younger than her husband decides to convert to Islam as a young adult. Together they have 3 children. They're dedicated Muslims and their faith is at the core of their story. The basic theme of this book is one family's experience in surviving hurricane Katrina and her aftermath.
It begins a few days before Katina and ends a few weeks after Katrina. It tells the experience of Zeitoun coming to America and becoming a successful contractor. A man that is kind, hard-working, loving, and stubborn. He decides to stay behind after his wife and children evacuate. The story centers around him. After the storm, his day's are filled with basic tasks. However, the story changes after the levees breaks. Zeitoun now forges New Orleans in a steel canoe bought for $75. He rescues people, dogs, neighbors and believes it was his destiny to stay behind. At first, the city seems calmer than the rumors of murders, rapes, and looting. He continues to do the same daily routine. As a reader you will soon come to respect and admire his kind and graceful heart. He rescues with no question, he just does it because it's the right thing to do. This man loves his community & city and it shows through his actions. Kathy his wife calls daily giving him updated information from the media. She worries and requests for him to fly to Arizona, where she is staying. He declines and believes God wants him to stay behind. He has a few remaining neighbors who join him on his quest and they support each other after Katrina. You keep your eyes open for Zeitoun, will the looters come to his house? Please don't go near the dome! Please stay away the city center! Listen to your wife and leave New Orleans!! These are the things you repeat to yourself because you want safety for him.

Half-way through the novel, Zeitoun's experience changes drastically. It quickly goes from a hopeful experience to an unbelievable American nightmare. What you don't expect is, he survives Katrina and the chaos afterwards, only to fall into the hands of a corrupt system. Even after the horrible experience of Katrina, Homeland Security is more worried about terrorism than thousands of Americans wihtout food and water. In Zeitouns aftermath you worry about looters, violence, disease, but end up truly fearing the government. FEMA was a disaster (from arrests to no organization), our National Guard was a disaster (ignoring citizens calling out for help arrests, ignoring pleas for one phone call) private security agencies were prevelant(aka Blackwater). I kept saying to myself, turning page after page,this can't be America! Did this really happen and can it happen again? I'm glad I wasn't in America at the time. I read it now and it breaks my heart. FEMA, the National Guard, & Homeland Security arrested and illegally detained American citizens. They labeled most arrests as "looting". The Bush years were awful and their response to Katrina had devastating effects on the people in New Orleans and America. In the end, no matter how much faith you lose in a corrupt system, in this book you won't lose faith in its citizens.
When our government fails and it's only concerned for itself, the real American dream lives in good people who continue to love their communities. No matter the amount of devastation, lawlessness, or disaster; good people are always present. Drifting through a flooded city and picking up the remains of a devastated city continuing to pray in the midst of a horrific experience. Good people always exist and their story should be told. Mr. Eggers simply tells a story of one family in New Orleans and it's a story you will never forget.

Summary of Zeitoun

When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a prosperous Syrian-American and father of four, chose to stay through the storm to protect his house and contracting business. In the days after the storm, he traveled the flooded streets in a secondhand canoe, passing on supplies and helping those he could. A week later, on September 6, 2005, Zeitoun abruptly disappeared. Eggers?s riveting nonfiction book, three years in the making, explores Zeitoun?s roots in Syria, his marriage to Kathy ? an American who converted to Islam ? and their children, and the surreal atmosphere (in New Orleans and the United States generally) in which what happened to Abdulrahman Zeitoun was possible. Like What Is the What, Zeitoun was written in close collaboration with its subjects and involved vast research ? in this case, in the United States, Spain, and Syria.

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