Saturday Book Review #2

Well, last Sunday and Monday, I read Zeitoun. This story of a man's survival through Katrina, beset by both the elements of nature, and human society. It certainly made me stop and think, and even provoked feelings of injustice and anger. Here's the review:

Dave Eggers has written an amazing book with Zeitoun. The protagonist, Zeitoun, is a man of Syrian descent living in New Orleans before Katrina hits. He runs a prospering business, and has a good house and family. Then, we get to what I view as my favorite part of the book. Zeitoun stays behind to care for his house during the hurricane. The narrative was lengthy, descriptive, and long, but I felt the story was progressing as fast and chaotic as the hurricane itself. Then, after the hurricane has left, we see Zeitoun go out and explore his environment, while rescuing survivors and observing lootings and armed gangs. Then, halfway into the book, he is picked up by local militia and taken to a make-shift prison that the author says is quite like Guantanamo. When Zeitoun asks why he has been arrested, his answer is that he is Taliban. This part of the book, more than any other, was the reason for my strong responses to this book. The casual punishment of prisoners, the squalid conditions, the verbal, mental abuse, and how many were arrested for small crimes, and given bail ten times the normal amount. I feel that this book is a look at what America has become, where such occurrences, while certainly not official sanctioned, or appreciated, have happened, and might happen again. That is why I found this book so moving.

Stole it off Amazon.