Zeitoun

by Dave Eggers | Biographies & Memoirs |
ISBN: 0307387941 Global Overview for this book
Registered by wingGoryDetailswing of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 4/19/2012
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1 journaler for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by wingGoryDetailswing from Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Thursday, April 19, 2012
This is one of 20 copies of this book that I received from World Book Night, to be released on April 23.

I was interested in reading - and distributing - this book because I have family living in the Louisiana/east Texas area, including one whose home in Metairie was badly damaged by the hurricane and flood, and others who were among the many who lost power for weeks. Their accounts of the conditions, the plight of the people who tried to evacuate and found themselves stranded on the jammed highways, and more - these combined to make me feel a personal connection to the disaster.

This book also felt personal, as it includes a good deal of detail about the history, family life, and career efforts of Zeitoun himself, a man who has worked very hard and achieved success, and of his wife Kathy, whose conversion to Islam and decision to were the hajib made her the target of prejudice (not to mention the strain it caused within her family). But they seem to have formed a solid, loving family of their own, with a successful business, happy clients, and supportive friends. [Among the more light-hearted moments: when he founded his painting and contracting business, he'd chosen a rainbow for his logo, thinking only that it would be colorful and eye-catching. It wasn't until he began to get lots of gay clients - and to lose a few potential clients when they thought HE was gay - that he found out what its connotation could be. His response? Since his new client base seemed to be very good about paying the bills, he was perfectly happy!]

New Orleans residents are used to hurricanes, and most of them would ordinarily choose to hunker down and wait out a storm, preferring to be on hand to stop leaks and keep an eye on their houses. It was no different for Katrina - until it became clear that this was no ordinary hurricane; Kathy and the kids decided to try and get to her sister's house, battling horrible traffic all the way, but Zeitoun chose to remain behind. The storm was bad enough, but the aftermath, when the levees broke and flood waters rose, was something he hadn't even imagined, and his adventures while dealing with this were intriguing, sometimes heartwarming (he helped to rescue several people) - and sometimes heartbreaking (those poor dogs!).

But just when it seemed that he was going to be able to ride out the worst of the flood, doing his part to help with rescue efforts - he was arrested, hauled off to a hastily-built prison compound, and locked up without being allowed to contact anyone. His wife's increasingly frantic attempts to find him, his own growing anger, fear, and depression, and the (eventual) details of just how this all came about, combine to make a riveting story. And if it weren't for the kindness of one Christian missionary, who risked carrying a message out of prison (on a page torn from one of his Bibles, yet), who knows how long Zeitoun may have remained unheard of and locked away?

I knew the general outline of this story before I started the book, but I hadn't realized just how horrifying - and infuriating - it would be. Sure, in times of crisis, normal procedures may be dropped, but the wholesale disregard for basic decency (never mind basic Constitutional rights) by those who were not themselves in immediate danger really got to me. Yes, there was heroism as well, and kindness, but there could have been so much more...

The book left me wondering what I would have done in the place of each of the main characters, from Zeitoun himself to the police officers who arrested him – some uncomfortable speculations, and impossible to guess at without going through the same thing. I was pleased to find a section at the end of the book with a list of foundations working to help with the recovery effort; even with the time that’s passed since the flood, there’s still work to be done.

Journal Entry 2 by wingGoryDetailswing at Pine Street in Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Monday, April 23, 2012

Released 11 yrs ago (4/23/2012 UTC) at Pine Street in Nashua, New Hampshire USA

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

I left this book, bagged against the weather, on the wall of what looks like a brand-new park (near where Pine St. runs into Ledge St.) at around 2 or so. Hope the finder enjoys it! (Update: the park is on the site of the historic Labine Building, built in 1900 and, sadly, destroyed by fire in 2010.)

Thanks to the World Book Night Organization, and to the friendly folk at the Book Cellar, where I picked up the books!

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