"Zeitoun", a work of non-fiction by Dave Eggers
This is an American masterpiece.
Dave Egger's account of Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun and their children during Hurricane Katrina is a document of our times as well as of a disaster. Egger's accomplished unadorned writing style gives the reader the freedom to think, and as the book develops that freedom evolves into a powerful and troubling experience.
As the storm approaches Eggers weaves present circumstances with personal history, the story of a Syrian immigrant and a Baton Rouge working class woman marrying, raising a family, and building a successful home repair business in New Orleans. The day to day is familiar, the climb up the ladder to middle class and acceptance is engaging, and the personal histories are fascinating.
The story then follows the arrival of the storm, the decisions that need to be made, and the departure of Kathy and the children while Abdulrahman stays behind to take care of their home and rental properties. This sets the table for a tale, a highly researched and documented true one, that is just as much about the precipice this country is on as it is about a personal nightmare in the immediate aftermath of Katrina's landfall. The mosaic of primal cruelty, evil competence, bureaucratic indifference, and the accompanying complicity of those with even the smallest amount of power manifests itself in a way that this reader could even conceive of as the same mindset of 1930's Germany. That's a strong statement but, as I said, Eggers gave me the freedom to think.
"The country he had left thirty years ago had been a realistic place. There were political realities there that precluded blind faith, that discouraged one from thinking that everything, always, would work out freely and equitably. But he had come to believe such things in the United States. Things had worked out. Difficulties had been overcome. He had worked hard and achieved success. The machinery of government functioned... But now nothing worked... This country was not unique. This country was fallible. Mistakes were being made."
"Zeitoun", pages 272-273
Dave Egger's account of Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun and their children during Hurricane Katrina is a document of our times as well as of a disaster. Egger's accomplished unadorned writing style gives the reader the freedom to think, and as the book develops that freedom evolves into a powerful and troubling experience.
As the storm approaches Eggers weaves present circumstances with personal history, the story of a Syrian immigrant and a Baton Rouge working class woman marrying, raising a family, and building a successful home repair business in New Orleans. The day to day is familiar, the climb up the ladder to middle class and acceptance is engaging, and the personal histories are fascinating.
The story then follows the arrival of the storm, the decisions that need to be made, and the departure of Kathy and the children while Abdulrahman stays behind to take care of their home and rental properties. This sets the table for a tale, a highly researched and documented true one, that is just as much about the precipice this country is on as it is about a personal nightmare in the immediate aftermath of Katrina's landfall. The mosaic of primal cruelty, evil competence, bureaucratic indifference, and the accompanying complicity of those with even the smallest amount of power manifests itself in a way that this reader could even conceive of as the same mindset of 1930's Germany. That's a strong statement but, as I said, Eggers gave me the freedom to think.
"The country he had left thirty years ago had been a realistic place. There were political realities there that precluded blind faith, that discouraged one from thinking that everything, always, would work out freely and equitably. But he had come to believe such things in the United States. Things had worked out. Difficulties had been overcome. He had worked hard and achieved success. The machinery of government functioned... But now nothing worked... This country was not unique. This country was fallible. Mistakes were being made."
"Zeitoun", pages 272-273
posted by John Borden at 9:21 PM
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