Zeitoun by Dave Eggers

Free Zeitoun Discussion Questions!!

Release date/ Length: 2009 / 335 pages

Synopsis (from The New Yorker): Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a successful Syrian-born painting contractor, decides to stay in New Orleans and protect his property while his family flees. After the levees break, he uses a small canoe to rescue people, before being arrested by an armed squad and swept powerlessly into a vortex of bureaucratic brutality. When a guard accuses him of being a member of Al Qaeda, he sees that race and culture may explain his predicament.

First line: On moonless nights the men and boys of Jableh, a dusty fishing town on the coast of Syria, would gather their lanterns and set out in their quietest boats.

Review: I wish I could send copies of this book to every book club in the United States.  I wish every American would read this book, too.  As usual, I did not know a thing about this work (except it seemed to be getting a lot of attention), and when it arrived from the library I only had the shortest allotted time to read it (i.e. — long waiting list).

Well, I needed no more than an afternoon to devour Eggers’ latest foray into “narrative nonfiction.”  I had read Eggers memoir and quite honestly didn’t care for it.  However, What is the What stopped my world on its axis, and I began to trust him as a storyteller.

In Zeitoun, Eggers recounts the story of one family’s experiences during Hurricane Katrina.  Surprisingly, this experience is so filled with hope and beauty that I must admit my national pride swelled a bit.  Abdulrahman Zeitoun decided to weather the storm in his home to try and stem the damage, yet sent his wife and four children north to safety.  I realize in hindsight “weathering the storm” seems foolhardy, if not downright suicidal, but the Zeitouns had lived in New Orleans for many years and were accustomed to hurricane season and had faced many melodramatic forecasts with tenacious determination.  The story alternates between Abdulrahman’s perspective (literally from the eye of the storm) and Kathy’s.  This results in an extremely fast-paced, suspenseful tale that it nearly impossible to put down.  After the storm passes, Abdulrahman helps countless people — and dogs — stranded by the storm.  By using his canoe, he is able to navigate the storm ravaged city and hear cries for help that the military’s fanboats and helicopters drown out.  Through Kathy’s eyes, we are reminded of our own experiences of Katrina — news footage of the Superdome, horrific reports of violence and looting. But Abdulrahman’s experiences are strikingly calmer, kinder and – again — inspiring.

Until his life collides with FEMA and the department of Homeland Security.  I truly cannot share any more details without including spoilers, but let me just say that an already fast-paced narrative becomes blistering in pace and left this reader asking the following questions:

• During national tragedies, when everything seems to break down, how do our ideals hold up?
• In the face of unimaginable fear, what are willing to sacrifice?

I promise that if you read this, you will be forced to consider what it means to be “an American” — Zeitoun protrays the very best and the very worst the United States has to offer.  I can’t help but hope that if everyone read this, we would have a better idea how to minimize the worst and remember that upholding the founding ideals of the Constitution are our only chance to not become what we most fear.

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