Book Review: Zeitoun
Zeitoun is a non-fiction book by Dave Eggers. The book relates the story of the real-life protagonist, American-Syrian man, Abdulrahman Zeitoun, who chose to stay back in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. A well-to-do businessperson, he intended to protect his home and business. He aided the suffering people and animals after the calamity, by making his way around the flooded roads in a canoe. However, he was captured and held without trail by local authorities and National Guardsmen for almost a month, causing much alarm to his American wife, Kathy, and their four children with his sudden disappearance. Egger has given an account of this shocking tale by exploring various racist sentiments that encourage such inhuman acts. The author has conducted extensive research with the persons and locations involved, and he has used a conversational writing style that brings out the focus of the story. The book also provides an insight into the philosophy of Islam and the lives and thoughts of the people adhering by the tenets of the religion.
The book begins two days before the storm. The atmosphere in New Orleans is tense with people rushing out of the city. In the Zeitoun family, Abdul decided to stay behind while Kathy and their children left to say with relatives. Abdul refused Kathy’s pleas to leave and insisted that, as he has served sailor for a long duration, he should be able to fend for himself in a storm. Hurricane Katrina was a Category 5 storm, which is the highest category for a tropical storm. The mayor issued mandatory evacuation on August 28th, 2005, and only a day later, it hit New Orleans in the wee hours of the morning. Abdul had remained inside his house and had bought a second-hand canoe to be on the safer side. While the first day after the storm was not very difficult, the next day as the levees broke, the city was flooded. With his experience, the water levels would continue increasing and he went about in his canoe, helping human or animal he could see. Ahmed’s thoughts, experiences, and actions are heart-rending. Small facts such as empting his aquarium into the flooded city and fondly remembering a dead brother and the efforts in saving an old woman hanging on a bookshelf as cries “help me” show Ahmed’s fatalistic thoughts as well humanitarian approach (Eggers 100). The book also depicts his despair, as he is finds himself unable bring enough help to the sufferers.
With the revelation that armed officers suddenly forced Ahmed into confinement at gunpoint in the midst of all this, the readers are left dumbfounded. He is not allowed any contact with the world, and his wife is haunted by the thought that her husband is dead. The unjustified pain and misery his family is put through boils up the reader in anger. Egger does a fantastic job in creating a mystery and sense of anger and disappointment by presenting the book through Kathy’s eyes and by speaking of the faith of the Islam-practicing family. It seems ironical that while Abdul’s faith in his religion made him reach out to help others, it was racist sentiments against the same religion that not only cut short his humanitarian endeavors but also caused him and his family such grief. Abdul is mistaken for a terrorist simply because of his heritage, while his good work goes unnoticed. That above, the book also shows the government’s apathy and its lackluster approach that cost many lives and made Hurricane Katrina the most damaging calamity in the U.S (Eggers). The question that remains on every reader’s mind is, “How can such as event occur in the United States of America?”
Work Cited
Eggers, Dave. Zeitoun. San Francisco: McSweeney’s, 2009. Print.
