Zeitoun
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the bestselling author of The Circle • The true story of one family, caught between America’s two biggest policy disasters: the war on terror and the response to Hurricane Katrina.
"Eggers’ tone is pitch-perfect—suspense blended with just enough information to stoke reader outrage and what is likely to be a typical response: How could this happen in America? ... It’s the stuff of great narrative nonfiction.” —The New York Times Book Review
Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun run a house-painting business in New Orleans. In August of 2005, as Hurricane Katrina approaches, Kathy evacuates with their four young children, leaving Zeitoun to watch over the business. In the days following the storm he travels the city by canoe, feeding abandoned animals and helping elderly neighbors. Then, on September 6th, police officers armed with M-16s arrest Zeitoun in his home. Told with eloquence and compassion, Zeitoun is a riveting account of one family’s unthinkable struggle with forces beyond wind and water.
"Eggers’ tone is pitch-perfect—suspense blended with just enough information to stoke reader outrage and what is likely to be a typical response: How could this happen in America? ... It’s the stuff of great narrative nonfiction.” —The New York Times Book Review
Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun run a house-painting business in New Orleans. In August of 2005, as Hurricane Katrina approaches, Kathy evacuates with their four young children, leaving Zeitoun to watch over the business. In the days following the storm he travels the city by canoe, feeding abandoned animals and helping elderly neighbors. Then, on September 6th, police officers armed with M-16s arrest Zeitoun in his home. Told with eloquence and compassion, Zeitoun is a riveting account of one family’s unthinkable struggle with forces beyond wind and water.
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Community Reviews
I have to be honest: Iâd never heard of this book until a month ago when the college that I work for chose it as its common read pick where faculty and students alike are encouraged to read and discuss the book at a later period in the semester. My boss, knowing that I was an avid reading enthusiast, checked the book out, threw it on my desk, and told me to read it and then âreport backâ all in the hopes of inciting her to read it as well. Here I am, reporting back after visiting the frontlines of devastation, hypocrisy, and prejudice in New Orleans through the eyes of Abuldrahman Zeitoun.
Itâs hard to imagine that the current world we live in, in first-world utopia, is distraught with such antediluvian principles of hate and the restriction of basic human rights. After reading Zeitoun, I myself, however, am still flabbergasted. During and after Hurricane Katrina, Abdulrahman Zeitoun, referred to simply by his last name, stays behind in New Orleans to look after his home, business, and several rental properties while the rest of his family, friends and most acquaintances flee. However, in an emergency state, even non-threats are perceived as threats in the midst of reports of looting, raping, and pillaging during and days after the storm. Soon a whirlwind of allegations, accusations, and conflict with authority that Zeitoun, a Middle Eastern American, encounters only exacerbates the damage and torrential legacy of Hurricane Katrina.
One can only hope the love that he and his wife, Kathy, share, separated by a thousand-plus miles, prevails over the injustice of a broken and ill-suited governmental response. Zeitoun is surprisingly captivating and a fairly quick read. But the situations and, more importantly, the settings they occurred in force you to question what era we live in and what principles cannot be cast off even in the epicenter of chaos.
Itâs hard to imagine that the current world we live in, in first-world utopia, is distraught with such antediluvian principles of hate and the restriction of basic human rights. After reading Zeitoun, I myself, however, am still flabbergasted. During and after Hurricane Katrina, Abdulrahman Zeitoun, referred to simply by his last name, stays behind in New Orleans to look after his home, business, and several rental properties while the rest of his family, friends and most acquaintances flee. However, in an emergency state, even non-threats are perceived as threats in the midst of reports of looting, raping, and pillaging during and days after the storm. Soon a whirlwind of allegations, accusations, and conflict with authority that Zeitoun, a Middle Eastern American, encounters only exacerbates the damage and torrential legacy of Hurricane Katrina.
One can only hope the love that he and his wife, Kathy, share, separated by a thousand-plus miles, prevails over the injustice of a broken and ill-suited governmental response. Zeitoun is surprisingly captivating and a fairly quick read. But the situations and, more importantly, the settings they occurred in force you to question what era we live in and what principles cannot be cast off even in the epicenter of chaos.
Beautifully written and exposed deep issues with how things were handled by the government during Katrina. However a little soured by the truth about Zeitoun that came out later.
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