Old Time read and liked Imogen's review of Zeitoun:

"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...more 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, actually, that popular. I mean, he is. Sure. He's enormously popular for a writer who's basically self-publishing his books on his own press, so all us idiots invested in being cool can hate him for being a sell-out- it's a special kind of hate we reserve for our own who are successful. Or for being too pomo for his own good (an argument that really only applies to A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, which was his first book, and which I maintain was actually a meditation on self-consciousness, and a pretty insightful one)! House of Leaves wasn't unnecessarily pomo, some of us will argue, but A Heartbreaking Work certainly was.

You could also hate him like the way people hate on Bono- specifically, "dude, Bono's a fuckin rock star so he thinks he's a politician," we will say. To which, hopefully, someone will counter, "No, actually, Bono is famous, so he tries to use his fame to actually do some good in the world instead of just buying mountains of coke and a fleet of cars." (If it's me retorting, here, I will also throw in something about how, while it's cool for him to try to do good in the world, U2's rhythm section is still probably the most boring one in the world.) And so Eggers does the same thing; I remember not getting much from his fiction. And you can't coast on self-conscious memoir all your life (can you, Augusten Burroughs? Oh, I guess some of us can, but only if we're smug and think we're smarter than everyone else). So Dave Eggers stumbled into this way to actually do some good in the world: he writes these novelly, semi-first-person not-really-journalistic nonfiction books about fucked up shit that happens in the world, and then uses his specific kind of fame to go on NPR and talk about them, and to get his built in NPR-listenin audience to learn about them.

I have an ugly hat onto which I sewed a patch that reads TSPX, and to you, Mr. Eggers, I remove that hat.

Blah blah, this is obviously where Zeitoun is situated culturally. Can you tell us anything about the book, Imogen?

Sure.

Firstly, he writes some of the most clear, direct prose around. But it's not simple and straightforward in a bad way, like U2's rhythm section- it's uncomplicated and transparent like a goddam, I don't know, acoustic guitar playing you some chords, in time, without any soloing or note bending or anything. The writing just kind of gets you there. I think this has been read by some folks as pretentious, especially in the context of all the faux-old-timey simplicity we get from McSweeney's, but I think... I mean, fuck it. Zeitoun is not McSweeneys.net, you know? It's a story about a real guy (and his wife, and their family) who did some real things and had some fucked up real things happen to him. The author's voice isn't smirking. It's not really a funny book, but it's not dry, either, which is hard to pull off, you know?

I mean, okay, I am totally gay for layout on the interior of a book: the typeface is beautiful, the margins are inviting, the painted cover (similar to the painted cover of What Is The What) is inviting. It feels good in your hands, the way a Skittle feels good in your mouth.

Anyway, I read the whole fucker in a day, and- if you've been following me on goodreads for a while- you know I haven't been into anything enough to read it in a day in a long time. So... so yeah. There is disturbing shit in this book, and there is charming shit in this book, but I can't think of a good reason (besides lack of access) not to read it. I'm over hating on Dave Eggers, all shamefully admitting that What is the What was actually pretty good. Fuck that! Dave Eggers is doing a good job.(less) "