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Zeitoun

4.12 of 5 stars 4.12 · rating details · 32,918 ratings · 5,224 reviews

National Bestseller

A New York Times Notable Book
An O, The Oprah Magazine Terrific Read of the Year
A Huffington Post Best Book of the Year
A New Yorker Favorite Book of the Year
A Chicago Tribune Favorite Nonfiction Book of the Year
A Kansas City Star Best Book of the Year
A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year
An Entertainment Weekly Best Book of the Decade

The t...more

ebook, 279 pages

Published June 15th 2010 by Vintage (first published January 1st 2009)

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Apr 08, 2013 Richard rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been revised and extended. It can now be seen at Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud.

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Aug 15, 2009 Imogen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Will you remind me again why we all hate Dave Eggers so much? I remember reading What Is The What as an act of defiance against the culture at the Strand, where all the book snobs I was working with were way, far too cool to like him. I don't think I looked into the situation very critically though. I mean, at the time I was more interested in reading as confrontation than I was in understanding that confrontation.

But now I'm old! So let's talk about it. Is it because he's popular? He's not, ac...more

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Feb 09, 2012 Richard rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Richard by: NY Times

Shelves: fiction

Rave review in the New York Times.

I'm on Amtrak today, on the first of a three-day trip to New Orleans. I checked five books out of the library just before leaving, then pondered and left two of them at home. This morning I started in on Zeitoun, and this evening I finished it. Maybe I should have brought more than three books? (I also listened to many hours of podcasts when I decided the scenery was nice enough that I didn't want to be reading — it turns out train trips are a great way of catch...more

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Apr 20, 2013 Jeffrey Zeldman rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a wonderful book, an important book, but I'm finding it impossible to finish because the injustice it chronicles enrages me. It tells the story of an amazing man who chose to stay behind during Hurricane Katrina, saved the lives of his neighbors, and then ended up in a cell because he is Muslim. Zeitoun was eventually freed—I know this. But it still kills me to read what happened to him, his wife, his kids, in our country. I also know, we all know, he is not the only man locked up for be...more

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Jul 31, 2009 Kasa Cotugno rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-biography-memoir, location-usa-south, themes-family

As a writer, Dave Eggers has the ability to find the small story within the larger one, as exemplified by his "Voice of Witness" series, out of which arose this book. But no one else could have written this book -- his extraordinary skill as a writer coupled with his deep seated humanity and puckish humor have woven a story of courage and loyalty and love far beyond any other I've read, save for his own "What is the What," my favorite book of 2006. His befriending of his subjects results in epic...more

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May 17, 2011 Paul rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011

Definitely compelling -- once we get to the storm. The book starts off pretty slow and unsatisfying. Eggers needs to establish these characters, needs to make us care, but he does so with vast brushstrokes punctuated with only the occasional specific detail for balance. The problem is it's pure exposition and summary. In part I of the book there's virtually no scene. This made it extremely difficult to invest myself completely in the book. While I got an idea of who the Zeitouns were, I never re...more

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Jun 03, 2012 Travis Greenwood rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I thought this book was excellent on the whole. The pacing was fantastic, the character development was concise and built real discernible depth. The story, by all accounts of my 2 minute thirty second google search is indeed a true story. It's an extremely sad account of what people do when no one is watching, and what our own civilized government is capable when an event slips outside their realm of control.

We aren't very far removed from animals after all.

That being said, I did have a few pr...more I thought this book was excellent on the whole. The pacing was fantastic, the character development was concise and built real discernible depth. The story, by all accounts of my 2 minute thirty second google search is indeed a true story. It's an extremely sad account of what people do when no one is watching, and what our own civilized government is capable when an event slips outside their realm of control.

We aren't very far removed from animals after all.

That being said, I did have a few problems and a few observations.

Number one, there was an odd section towards the beginning where it was explaining the virtues of Islam. I understand why it was put there, the average reader would be an American, and more likely Christian, or hold Christian values, and in all likelihood harbor racist sentiments against the middle east.

But it was forced and a bit awkward. The book did a fine job of showing that Muslim's are not bad, it didn't need this chapter.

I also found it interesting the scope of differences that Syrian's and American's feel about jail. It was an application of a stereotype. The Syrian members of the family felt it was vastly important that Kathy see him. The implication that people would be lying about his well being.

That being said, there was a lot of truth to this fear in this situation and being a large fan of American rights that we hold so dear, I'm ashamed at the level of treatment afforded these men.

Of course, I question if it was because they were Syrian, or because the entire judicial process had become a sham at that point. It would be interesting to see if white, Christians were held in jail for a similar amount of time. But in what we are shown, it seemed typical American fashion, which was to have a good lawyer on hand. Of course, Zeitoun got lucky with the Priest, and henceforth, Homeland Security.

All in all, worth reading.

EDIT UPDATE: I also find it interesting and a bit silly thinking now that Zeitoun's family was constantly talking about coming home to Syria since it's sooooo much safer then America.

Ask the children of Houla...(less)

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Feb 10, 2013 Alex rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013

This is the third Eggers book I've read and they've all been really readable. I like reading them.

The others were Heartbreaking Work and What is the What, and all of them have been about things that are true.

Zeitoun is fuckin' horrifying. It's about a Syrian emigrant to the US who chooses to stay in New Orleans during Katrina due to reasons that make perfect sense. He's equipped to stay, he has properties to watch out for, he's resourceful: he's actually the right guy to stay. He's an asset to t...more This is the third Eggers book I've read and they've all been really readable. I like reading them.

The others were Heartbreaking Work and What is the What, and all of them have been about things that are true.

Zeitoun is fuckin' horrifying. It's about a Syrian emigrant to the US who chooses to stay in New Orleans during Katrina due to reasons that make perfect sense. He's equipped to stay, he has properties to watch out for, he's resourceful: he's actually the right guy to stay. He's an asset to the post-Katrina mess. And then he's arrested for no reason and you really understand what it's like to be trapped in a broken system. It's eloquently put and solidly researched: this is what really happened, in our country, to one of our people who was helping. It's as powerful an attack on what can go wrong in a country you thought had its shit together as I've seen, and - I want to really emphasize this - it's absolutely true. Eggers checked his sources; there aren't any events in this book that didn't take place.

But Zeitoun the character turns out not to be Zeitoun now. And it's hard for me to deal with that. Was he not a violent man before? All my experience tells me that domestic abuse doesn't come from nowhere; this behavior probably existed before. (His ex-wife, Kathy, has given conflicting reports.) I could be wrong! Zeitoun's experience post-Katrina may have been so traumatic that it tilted him. I just...don't know.

Eggers as a writer has a slippery relationship with truth. Heartbreaking Work deals extensively with the difference between recollection and reality. What is the What is billed as a fictionalized autobiography; Eggers and Valentino Achak Deng collaborated on a version of the latter's life. And here with Zeitoun we have a story where all the facts are true, but the characters may be false.

I wonder whether he turned Zeitoun into his story, or whether the story changed Zeitoun. One way or another, this novel turns into a metafictional comment on the conflict between the story we write and the story we want told.

Eggers has set out to be a novelist who writes nonfiction. This story is great, but it got away from him. I'm not sure if that's okay.(less)

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Jan 01, 2011 Jennifer (aka EM) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: the-bandwagon

Read between 11.30 pm and 4.45 a.m. last night. One big gulp of stinky, corrupt water and the lives that were washed away in it -- and continue to be devastated by injustices codified and rationalized by "The War On Terror" -- the U.S.'s own citizens murdered by ineptitude, bureacracy and a racist, elitist, fear-based world-view that prioritized building prisons over providing food, water and shelter.

Eggers at his very best. What he manages to do here (a lesson learned from the backlash against...more

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Aug 07, 2009 Sally rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Zeitoun is a moving and eye-opening journalistic account of a much-loved and respected Syrian-born small business owner and resident of New Orleans in the days before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina. Eggers worked closely with Abdulrahman Zeitoun (known simply as "Zeitoun") and his American wife Kathy to faithfully represent Zeitoun's experiences when he remained in New Orleans to supervise his residential properties and business sites following the hurricane.

Some of the most emotionally r...more

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Aug 22, 2011 Lee rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Character-driven narrative non-fiction. Once the storm hits, it's consistently top notch, un-put-down-ably compelling and important. Not really just a book about Hurricane Katrina. It's more about how essential human virtues -- courage, endurance, hard work, tolerance, love for and reliance on family -- outweigh superficial religious and regional differences. How character's revealed under pressure. Extreme Bush-Era breakdown of rights we take for granted in the U.S -- there was some disbelief r...more

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Jan 22, 2013 Ummu Auni rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: e-book, inspirational, non-fiction, read-2013, religion-spirituality

If not for recommendation by Tuan Tanah (http://tuantanah.wordpress.com/), I wouldn't have pick this book. Despite being a book lover, I carefully select books to be bought just because I need to ensure myself not to be disappointed by the books and giving it away to others.

Zeitoun had me drawn into it. The story mesmerized me. I love how Eggers wrote from Zeitoun's and Kathy's perspective, moving back and forth with the reminiscence of memories: How Zeitoun was brought up, how Zeitoun met his w...more If not for recommendation by Tuan Tanah (http://tuantanah.wordpress.com/), I wouldn't have pick this book. Despite being a book lover, I carefully select books to be bought just because I need to ensure myself not to be disappointed by the books and giving it away to others.

Zeitoun had me drawn into it. The story mesmerized me. I love how Eggers wrote from Zeitoun's and Kathy's perspective, moving back and forth with the reminiscence of memories: How Zeitoun was brought up, how Zeitoun met his wife, Kathy, a revert American. What made me felt in depth connection is that Zeitoun's family are avid Muslims, they pray 5 times a day and despite the unfortunate events that occurred to Zeituon, he believed that everything in this world is a test.

Reading this strengthen my belief in Islam, but most glaring was the fact that even though I'm a self proclaimed Muslim, even though I pray 5 times a day, I couldn't compare myself with Zeitoun. Zeitoun, a humble steadfast, hardworking person, a house painter, still keep his prayers on regular basis, and the experience that he went through during the Hurricane Katrina made him a much pious person.

How can I judge him to be lesser than me, he was doing charitable works, rowing his canoe during the flooding and gave assistance to whomever he can irrespective of religion. And when he was beaten and carried away, he was still steadfast even though the US system failed him. For the trials and tribulations that he endured, he came out a much stronger person.

Eggers had wrote such a remarkable journey of Zeitoun's family. My eyes were glassy with tears on how Kathy search for her husband, and the brutalities that Zeitoun had to endure. How cynical, to claim being one of the freest country in the whole wide world, but something like this exists.

A book of hope, light will be there at the end of the tunnel and strengthened belief that this world is indeed a temporary test for us to achieve a much eternal after life.

Current status: Zeitoun & Kathy divorced(less)

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Apr 13, 2013 E rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: politics

"The artist doesn't matter." So say I in my GoodReads profile. What about the inspiration for the story? Does he matter?

After finishing the book, I had to push my heart back down my throat. I had mini-nightmares about what I had read. I took a deep breath and made a note of buying a copy for a close friend's upcoming birthday. And, as with all books I love, I searched for online reviews and varying opinions, and stumbled upon the real-life murder charges brought against Zeitoun this past fall:

h ...more

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Apr 30, 2010 Jeanette rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: started-it-hated-it

Aaaaaaaarghhh!! I just can't take Dave Eggers. He has authorial ADD. Stay focused already, dude! Beats me why he's considered such a great writer. Oh well, no accounting for individual tastes, I guess.

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Oct 10, 2012 okyrhoe rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: syria, u-s-a, bookcrossing

I was amazed by how restrained the writing is. Eggers allows the plotline, that is, the events and their sequence, to tell the story. It is a highly political story, but the treatment of it is not politically charged.
Adjectives, characterization, emphasis, all of that is kept to a minimum. Sometimes the narrative is a bit too dry (forgive the pun) but eventually it becomes necessary if the climactic moments of Zeitoun's experience are to be felt and understood in their full force, on a personal...more

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Jun 10, 2012 Caitlin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books4babes, non-fiction

If you have any knowledge of Hurricane Katrina and the way it affected the citizens of New Orleans, you know this story already. That being said, Dave Eggers' recount of Abdulrahman Zeitoun's experiences during the disaster kept me hooked. Every stage of the story had me on edge - will the family leave before the hurricane hits, will Zeitoun's home be looted, will he survive his journey, will he and his family be reunited?

Non-fiction stories are sometimes hard to tell in an engaging way; mostly...more

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Sep 01, 2012 Andrew Martin rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2012

so Zeitoun is a flagship work for Eggers' Voice of Witness, an organization that:

depicts human rights crises around the world through the stories of the men and women who experience them.

And in Zeitoun we get an intensely personal story cast as a morality play not only about Hurricane Katrina, but 9/11 to boot!

But what to make of a morality play where the protagonist attacks his wife with a tire iron and then gets arrested for three counts of attempted murder? Does oops cut it?

The world is a mes...more

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Aug 09, 2012 Angie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: one-book-one-lincoln, south, nonfiction, neworleans, survival

There were so many interesting aspects of this book, but I'd have preferred to see Eggers just stick to the story of Katrina and the family. When he did, it was a very good story and a solid 4 star book. Unfortunately, he spent too much time trying to impress upon us that the main character and his wife are good and perfect in every way. At first, it was only a little distracting. There were so many times when Eggers slipped in a flashback or a memory or a five page bunny trail about their relig...more

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Aug 10, 2012 David Quinn rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I despised this book and my review contains spoilers.

(Posted August 10, 2012) Dave Eggers must do the general public a favor and retract his bogus and biased account of the Zeitoun family and their alleged trials after Hurricane Katrina. I’ve now learned Mr. Zeitoun has been accused of attempting to hire someone to kill his ex-wife Kathy Zeitoun (she’s painfully annoying but undeserving of the terrible treatment he’s heaped on her). Here’s the latest account:

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2 ...more

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Apr 03, 2011 Barbara A rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I should have seen it coming.

With Dave Eggers's compassionate and searing "What is the What", imprinted in my consciousness forever, I should have realized that "Zeitoun" was going to be more than just a story about a doggedly determined, brave and proud business owner choosing to stay in New Orleans after the mandatory evacuation during Hurricane Katrina. But I didn't, and shame on me.

The eponymous hero of this book, who is the very embodiment of all we profess
to be as Americans, is taken to a...more

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Mar 01, 2011 Julie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Julie by: Matthew

Shelves: 2011, non-fiction, ebook, history, biography-or-memoir

I found this ebook at a very reasonable price so I thought I'd give it a shot, having been convinced to give Dave Eggers a try by a reliable source (hello, Matthew!). The subject matter sounded really interesting.

And it WAS interesting - interesting, intriguing, shocking and horrifying, by the end. The first half made me rather annoyed with Zeitoun. He seemed to embody my mental image of someone who would stay in a city in the middle of a Category 5 hurricane: arrogant, convinced that the danger...more I found this ebook at a very reasonable price so I thought I'd give it a shot, having been convinced to give Dave Eggers a try by a reliable source (hello, Matthew!). The subject matter sounded really interesting.

And it WAS interesting - interesting, intriguing, shocking and horrifying, by the end. The first half made me rather annoyed with Zeitoun. He seemed to embody my mental image of someone who would stay in a city in the middle of a Category 5 hurricane: arrogant, convinced that the danger and the mandatory evacuation don't apply to them, and confused as to how anyone could think that they were doing something wrong.

In the second half the tale took a shocking, awful turn as Zeitoun is subjected to repeated perversions of "justice" by government and law enforcement officials who are incompetent at best, and in some cases outright malicious. These people made sweeping assumptions about Zeitoun based on his Syrian background and the fact that he is Muslim, and the way he and his fellow prisoners were treated was just plain wrong. It's absolutely staggering that these events took place in the United States. (I would like to just mention that some of his cellmates certainly acted a bit suspiciously, like the guy who was carting around a duffel bag holding $10,000... but that still doesn't excuse the fact that they were held without any evidence and subjected to so many injustices.)

Throughout the book, even before Zeitoun's arrest, Eggers uses the book to illustrate what life is like for a Muslim family in the American South and talks about Kathy Zeitoun's experience converting to Islam, two points which are interesting on their own.

Overall, I had a hard time drumming up sympathy for Zeitoun as far as the initial aftermath was concerned, but I felt outraged on his behalf regarding his false imprisonment and the ridiculous circumstances surrounding it.

As far as the writing is concerned, it flowed fairly well but I still prefer Timothy Egan (author of The Worst Hard Time and The Big Burn). Sorry, Mr. Eggers.

I'd recommend this to others to read because it shows just how awful things got during the aftermath of Katrina, and reminds people that we need to watch out for injustice and human rights violations even in places that profess not to perpetrate them.(less)

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Nov 30, 2010 H. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: memoir

If Eggers had finished with “The End” on page 299, though I’d have found it rather abrupt and been quick to Google what had happened to Abdulrahman Zeitoun in the years since, I would have closed the cover on a truly satisfying 5-star book. The biographical story of Zeitoun builds slowly, as Eggers chooses a calm and patient tone matching the personality of his hero so closely that at first I felt the difficulty in differentiating the narrative perspective from the character was a mistake. Howev...more If Eggers had finished with “The End” on page 299, though I’d have found it rather abrupt and been quick to Google what had happened to Abdulrahman Zeitoun in the years since, I would have closed the cover on a truly satisfying 5-star book. The biographical story of Zeitoun builds slowly, as Eggers chooses a calm and patient tone matching the personality of his hero so closely that at first I felt the difficulty in differentiating the narrative perspective from the character was a mistake. However, as the text follows Zeitoun on his journey leading up to and through the devastation of Katrina, paddling his canoe around New Orleans, this matching of tone becomes perhaps the primary tool in making Zeitoun familiar and sympathetic. He is collected and a bit reserved, and so the careful pacing and quiet tone make the assurance of his humanity feel sincere and well-earned. Zeitoun is not quick to emotional overreaction, but action intended to aid people in need, and the story is less about judging than witnessing the events of Katrina.
This is so powerful. The little horrors and acts of goodness feel so intimate, so real, so precious that my heart aches. I can’t remember ever reading a biographical work that succeeded in building such a perfect capsule of suspenseful, cinematic story. It felt like a well-crafted work of fiction, one that would be lauded at the Oscars for delivering real, worthy emotional content along with the action/adventure goods. And I mean that in the best way. Because a biographical account of a man’s experience in New Orleans in Katrina’s immediate aftermath could easily be one of shocking and important journalistic information, but it’s a feat to make it a good yarn as well.
Unfortunately the end is a violent turn to cut back quiet strength of the story as it stood. I am agape at Eggers’ choice to drop his manner of storytelling and completely contrast the rest of Zeitoun with an epilogue as preachy and heavy-handed as a political blog. In this pushy entry, Eggers becomes a young activist writing to edify: the government did wrong, there is great injustice in America, Zeitoun is a tragic hero with a touch of holiness about him!
Zeitoun surfaces amongst Eggers’s lessons about what we should learn from his story, silently suffering internal pain and handing out pop wisdom like "God is watching the work (we are) doing, so it must be done with great care and even... with soul.” Eggers uses Zeitoun’s "It was a test.... Who among us could deny that we were tested? But now look at us.... Every person is stronger now,” in unintentionally polarizing conclusion. It’s disappointing, especially because the didactic tone betrays the thoughtful agreement Eggers, and through him Zeitoun, have previously achieved with me, the reader. We were in this together! I had felt the pain and the injustice by experiencing it with Zeitoun, and then to have Eggers ram it down my throat at the end... I’m just bewildered. Eggers is no amateur, but a master should recognize the strength of his work to stand on its own. (less)

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Jan 02, 2011 Nancy rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book could have been so much more! Based on the experiences of one family that lived in New Orleans during hurricane Katrina, it had the potential to be a really good read. Instead, the seemingly hasty writing and lack of research into social issues relevant to the story made it a one-man's-tale-of-woe, most appropriate for the very young reader. That said, it was a quick pleasant read which might stimulate some reflection about racial profiling, government's limitations in a crisis, challe...more

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Jun 28, 2010 Ruth rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An ordinary man and his ordinary wife and their small happy ordinary children. The man just happened to be of Syrian descent and his wife had converted to the Muslim faith. They ran a very successful painting and contracting business in the city which they loved, New Orleans. The day they got the news that a hurricane was on its way to their city they did the normal preparations and settled in to await the storm. "Zaatoon" as he was called became very busy boarding up his and his customers homes...more An ordinary man and his ordinary wife and their small happy ordinary children. The man just happened to be of Syrian descent and his wife had converted to the Muslim faith. They ran a very successful painting and contracting business in the city which they loved, New Orleans. The day they got the news that a hurricane was on its way to their city they did the normal preparations and settled in to await the storm. "Zaatoon" as he was called became very busy boarding up his and his customers homes and businesses but they had very little notion of what was in store for them and their beloved city. As the news became more serious they considered what would be best for the family, whether to evacuate as the city fathers were suggesting or to stay it out as they had done before. For the safety of the children Kathy decided to take them out of danger, but Zaatoon refused to leave, wanting to save as much of their property as he could. She went to friends in Arizona and as the fury of the storm struck she continued to hear from him until one day the call did not come. The City had been mandated to evacuate but Zaatoun found he could live on the roof of his three story house Using a small metal canoe he was able to rescue some of the stranded people and even four dogs that had been left behind.The only people seen were National Guard and FEMA personnel. Three other stranded men had joined him, one by one, and when they heard a knock on the door they were puzzled. They were arrested although not told on what charges, and taken to a hastily set up site where they were held, strip searched, and brutalized by the prison staff personnel. Thus began the nightmare!! Weeks later and horrors one would never believe could happen did happen. The story is a true story. All allegations have been verified as fact. I pray we never have to read such a story again-Man's inhumanity to man, stupid mistakes,carried out with such cruelty it is unthinkable. I recommend this book highly but promise there will be pages you may wish you hadn't read.(less)

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Dec 01, 2012 Jonathan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: current-events, non-fiction

Zeitoun tells the true story of Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun and their 3 daughters. They are a New Orleans family caught up in Katrina and its aftermath, both its natural and man-made disasters. Written in an engaging style by journalist Dave Eggers, it tells a story alternating between inspiring and infuriating, of a man trying to do the right thing and proving that old adage of "No good deed goes unpunished".

The book opens with the story of Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun. Abdulrahman is an imm...more Zeitoun tells the true story of Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun and their 3 daughters. They are a New Orleans family caught up in Katrina and its aftermath, both its natural and man-made disasters. Written in an engaging style by journalist Dave Eggers, it tells a story alternating between inspiring and infuriating, of a man trying to do the right thing and proving that old adage of "No good deed goes unpunished".

The book opens with the story of Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun. Abdulrahman is an immigrant from Syria, who has lived in New Orleans for 10 years or more. Kathy is Muslim convert who, with Abdulrahman, have built up a well respected home repair and painting business in New Orleans. They hear of Hurricane Katrina bearing down on New Orleans and try to figure out if it is any more serious than the other ones in the past that came this way.

Soon enough, it become apparent that Katrina is serious and Kathy and their three daughters head out, while Abdulrahman decides to ride out the hurricane at home, in the hopes of taking care of their home, office and other homes around. After Katrina comes and goes, Abdulrahman is getting by okay. He takes his canoe to various local houses, several feet underwater. He feeds some trapped dogs, rescues some trapped folks and sets up camp on his roof, while Kathy and the girls eventually make their way to a friend's house in Arizona.

But soon things go off the rails for Abdulrahman and Kathy loses complete track of him. The remaining part of the story is a cautionary tale of government indifference, incompetence and down right ugliness. A truly infuriating tale at the end. Ugh.

I liked the book, although the side tracks into Abdulrahman's background and large family in Syria could drag on a bit too long. The first half, with its tales of heroism and even a great peacefulness, was a lot of fun. When the tale spiraled into a nearly unbelievable tale of enforcement agency ignorance, it became almost too frustrating to read.

One thing that occurred to me was bureaucrats can hide behind the stupidest regulation imaginable if it saves them time and effort, but as soon as a law gets in the way and makes their job even a little bit more complicated, it is so easy to ignore. And it was also amazing and scary just how quickly abusive and illegal activities could become institutionalized. Despite the rules of the land, as simple right like a phone call got ignored, but yet it became an act of almost inhuman strength to simply get Abdulrahman's wallet back (sans all credit cards and money of course).

So it was a story that needed to be told, although you will only be able to finish it if you can stomach being monumentally frustrated by the story. Kathy and Abdulrahman are strong people nearly broken by the experience, and while it could have ended much worse, you can hardly call it a "happy ending".(less)

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Aug 17, 2011 Lorenzo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: american, aaa-my-library, 2011-readings

Praise Dave Eggers!

For who would have ever foretold that the novelist who became famous with a self-hagiography of a book with an impossible title ready to be mangled ("A staggering work of heartbreaking genius" no wait: was it "A heartbreaking work of staggering genius"?) could have become one of the most reliable and worth voices coming from the US?

Guys, this is the same chap who wrote a biography of his unfortunate life when he hit 30 years old and later became the editor of an independent ma...more

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Apr 01, 2010 Julie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bio-autobio-memoir, best-of-2010, read-2010, book-club-selection

I am still trembling from rage, disbelief, and sadness -having closed the back cover of this book a few minutes ago. Aside from newspaper and magazine articles that I read in the weeks and months following Hurricane Katrina, this is the first long and complete account I have read of a family's experience in the disaster. It is a tremendous and devastating work, told with such forthrightness, simplicity and respect. I highly recommend it to all.

What strikes me as I read several of the Goodreads...more I am still trembling from rage, disbelief, and sadness -having closed the back cover of this book a few minutes ago. Aside from newspaper and magazine articles that I read in the weeks and months following Hurricane Katrina, this is the first long and complete account I have read of a family's experience in the disaster. It is a tremendous and devastating work, told with such forthrightness, simplicity and respect. I highly recommend it to all.

What strikes me as I read several of the Goodreads reviews that follow is the degree of dissatisfaction expressed by readers for Eggers's approach to this book and his style. This reaction comes from avowed fans of Eggers, who has generated a huge following of hipster, Gen X, Y, yuppie and largely WASPY readers since his breakout works What is the What and A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. Perhaps I am the last registered Democrat who has not read any Eggers until Zeitoun, but at the very least I went into this book with zero expectations of the story I would find or of the writer who assembled it.

Now that the reading is over, I have little sense of Eggers's voice, which is one precise reason why I rate this so highly- the story is not his, it is that of the Zeitoun's. Eggers served as a conduit and his skill as a writer is apparent in how quickly one forgets he is there.

I also reserve judgment of the actions of Zeitoun, never once questioning his desire to remain behind in New Orleans to guard his home and to serve as caretaker for the property and possessions of his friends and neighbors. It seemed completely fitting with the character of this brave and proud man. Nor did I have the sense that Zeitoun was presented as or ever considered himself a victim of anti-Muslim backlash following September 11; it is simply and horribly the reality of the world in which he, others of Arab descent, followers of Islam, and those whose skin tone and facial features might possibly identify them as potential threats now live. That these fears didn't appear to have anything to do with his arrest and incarceration doesn't diminish their potency.

This is a love story- love by a man for his wife, children, his community, his business, and for the country he adopted as home. It is a story of shattered hearts and dreams, a tragedy so Shakespearean in scale it seems impossible to believe that is really happened. But it did- and this is just one story, one man, one family. All thanks to Dave Eggers, McSweeney's Books and the Voice from the Storm Project for bringing it to light.

I am now placing What is the What on my to-read list in hopes that another vital story will be related in such an honest way, but I have to admit that AHWOSG utterly repels me. I remember scanning through it in a Borders bookstore in California in 2001 and rolling my eyes- it smacked of smug tragedy... maybe we've all grown up!
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Sep 07, 2012 Melody rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: second-monday-bookgroup, non-fiction, hurricane

I read this book while watching thick gooey tar-balls wash up on my beloved Gulf of Mexico beaches. Watching another disaster roll in on a community that I felt I belonged to was so similar to watching the hurricane target its eye on my sweet New Orleans. Oh yes – they’re mine – those beaches and those bourboned scented streets. What happens to them and to the life and culture of the Gulf region and the Crescent City happens to my soul. Zeitoun is the story of the aftermath of Katrina and the ph...more

2 likes · like · see review

Feb 04, 2010 Mona rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: life-stories, nonfiction, social-justice-human-rights, united-states, small-press-nyrb-persephone-virago

When I first started reading news reports of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, I was reminded of Blindness by Jose Saramago. Though that book concerns a mass epidemic of blindness with unknown causes, not a natural disaster, Saramago explored the moral breakdown of society that results when people – and the law – stop caring about what it means to be human. I remember the reports coming out of New Orleans were eerily similar to the incidents described in Blindness: family separa...more

3 likes · like · see review

May 19, 2010 Kimberly rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am approximately 2/3 of the way through this book and am thus far underwhelmed. Not by the story - the characters, primarly the eponymous name character, Abdulrahman Zeitoun, are nuanced, courageous individuals who captura the at once deeply personal and universal nature of Katrina and its aftermath. But Eggers' writing is quite dry and the book much longer than it needs to be to tell this story. Eggers intersperses the main narrative with stories of Zeitoun's family and childhood in Syria, wh...more

7 likes · like · see review

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About Dave Eggers

Dave Eggers is the author of six previous books, including his most recent, A Hologram for the King, about a struggling businessman pursuing a last-ditch attempt to stave off foreclosure, pay his daughter's college tuition, and finally do something great. In this novel the author takes us around the world to show how one man fights to hold himself and his splintering family together in the face of...more

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“Be strong, be brave, be true. Endure.” — 43 people liked it

“Yes, a dark time passed over this land, but now there is something like light.” — 15 people liked it

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