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Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
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Zeitoun (original 2009; edition 2011)

by Dave Eggers

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
4,1911812,809 (4.06)353
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, longtime New Orleans residents Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun are cast into an unthinkable struggle with forces beyond wind and water. In the days after the storm, Abdulrahman traveled the flooded streets in a secondhand canoe, passing on supplies and helping those he could. A week later, on September 6, 2005, Zeitoun abruptly disappeared-- arrested and accused of being an agent of al Qaeda.… (more)
Member:jayne_charles
Title:Zeitoun
Authors:Dave Eggers
Info:Penguin (2011), Paperback, 368 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:****
Tags:non-fiction, USA, 2000s, Louisiana, Hurricane Katrina, Islam, families, Syria, disaster, wrongful imprisonment, War on Terror

Work Information

Zeitoun by Dave Eggers (2009)

  1. 60
    What Is the What by Dave Eggers (jmarsico)
  2. 21
    Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans by Dan Baum (bdav1818)
  3. 10
    A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge by Josh Neufeld (BookshelfMonstrosity)
    BookshelfMonstrosity: Neufeld's compelling graphic novel depicts the effects of Hurricane Katrina through the true stories of seven of the city's residents.
  4. 10
    1 Dead in Attic: After Katrina by Chris Rose (BookshelfMonstrosity)
    BookshelfMonstrosity: A columnist for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Rose delves into the aftereffects of the storm on his adopted city in this compelling collection of essays.
  5. 10
    Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink (TooBusyReading)
    TooBusyReading: Both books are fascinating and heartbreaking looks at how much went wrong as Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.
  6. 10
    Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History by Erik Larson (SqueakyChu)
    SqueakyChu: Story of the hurricane in Galveston in 1900 resulting in unexpected and devastating flooding
  7. 00
    The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland by Jim Defede (LynnB)
    LynnB: Story of ordinary people, like Mr. Zeitoun, who made a difference.
  8. 00
    The Best Democracy Money Can Buy by Greg Palast (Othemts)
  9. 00
    Proved Innocent by Gerry Conlon (Othemts)
  10. 00
    A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster by Rebecca Solnit (Othemts)
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» See also 353 mentions

English (173)  Dutch (5)  German (2)  Spanish (1)  All languages (181)
Showing 1-5 of 173 (next | show all)
This story is such an indictment of the fear-filled Bush administration. What have we become? ( )
  jemisonreads | Jan 22, 2024 |
This is a true story about events that occurred during and after hurricane Katrina. Zeitoun is the name of the main character. The book follows Zeitoun and his wife, Kathy, in the days following the hurricane as they try to escape the storm and rebuild their lives. It's an amazing story and very sad to read about what happened to the people of New Orleans. ( )
  ellink | Jan 22, 2024 |
I read this for Book Group, thanks to my superb librarian friend, Kathy, who checked out the ICPL's book group bag (10 copies) for our group. It is an account of a family, particularly of the father, during the ravages of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. ( )
  maryelisa | Jan 16, 2024 |
What an incredible story! I couldn't stop reading this book. The main characters were so sympathetic and compelling, putting the horrific Katrina-related treatment of people in stark relief. ( )
  lschiff | Sep 24, 2023 |
I never would have believed this book if I didn’t have such a wonderful, loving uncle who is an Iranian from Iraq. He loves America and has created such a wonderful life for himself. So yes, I believe Zeitoun’s story of getting caught up in America’s hate and distrust in the Muslim culture. Zeitoun was caught in the cross-hairs of 9/11 of 2001 and Hurricane Katrina, which landed on the Louisiana coast on August 29, 2005, breaking the levees and flooding the New Orleans bowl. Tensions against anyone Muslim was still high as 9/11 was still somewhat fresh and we continued to fight the war against al-Qaeda and the Taliban overseas.

I had to give it a 3-star read only because of the writing, which felt like it was written for middle school readers...because of the dialogue between the characters. I loved that there were a few personal family photos included, even of his oldest brother, Mohammed Zeitoun, who was the #1 swimmer from Syria, and reportedly to be the #1 swimmer in the world. He was killed in an auto accident at the age of 24.
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Kathy Delphine, American born and raised in Baton Rouge, had turned Muslim before her second marriage to Syrian, Abdulrahman (Abdul) Zeitoun [pronounced ZAY-TOON]. His family originally came from Arwad Island, a town in Syria in the Mediterranean Sea. His father was a retired ship captain. Abdul and Kathy had four children of their own and Kathy had one from a previous marriage that ended two years earlier. Abdul would keep inquiring of Kathy and running into her another two years before she would finally show interest enough for them to date and finally get married. They resided in New Orleans where they built up a very profitable and high profile painting and contracting business.

Kathy’s conversion to Muslim came about when she started to see questionable actions inside her own Christian church. One Sunday her pastor counted the Sunday offering in the open then began openly chastising the congregation about how little they were giving and questioned their love for the church and for God. Kathy had been exposed to the Muslim religion through one of her friends and respect for how true and devoted she lived her life. The last straw for Kathy was when she ran into the pastor one day and she admitted to him that she had been considering turning to Muslim religion. The next Sunday he called her to the pulpit in front of hundreds of people and called her out on it. He even made a growl when he mentioned the name “Allah”, when in reality, she had learned that the devout Muslims Allah and God are one and the same. Kathy saw that the Christian church told who was going to heaven or hell, but in the Muslim church they would always say that only Allah knows. She learned that there are variations in Muslim beliefs just as there are variations in Christianity. There are good and bad Christians, just as there are good and bad Muslims. The Sunnis would be an example of good Muslims. There are extremes in both religions that abuse it for their own good, turning it into evil. [Another interesting note I noticed from the book, the Muslims offered up their Mosques as sanctuaries for their worshippers during the evacuation of Hurricane Katrina and even afterwards. Their people slept spread out all over the floor. I’ve never heard of any of our hundreds of churches opening up their doors for people to sleep even on their pews, only to eat and leave.]

Abdul came to America 11 years earlier by way of an oil tanker from Saudi Arabia to Houston. He made his way over to Baton Rouge where he would meet Kathy and plant his roots. They settled together in New Orleans.

Abdul had decided to stay behind, as he did in all the past hurricanes, to watch over the house. He never dreamed his life would take such a drastic turn for the worse. In the midst of helping others to safety after the storm, using his old canoe to get around, a group of about 10 law enforcements busted into his home where he and a couple of other neighbors were staying and brought them in without questioning. The officials were throwing around accusations that they were terrorists. The four men spent 3 days in “Camp Greyhound”, a temporary holding place at New Orleans Greyhound Bus Station, before being sent to Elayn Hunt Correctional Center, a maximum-security prison in St. Gabriel, Louisiana. He was never read his rights, nor allowed his one phone call, and treated as if he was a true terrorist. The only way he could get a message out to his wife for her to even know where he was being held was through a missionary who happened to come through the prison one day handing out Bibles. Then the struggles began for his wife, Kathy, to get him out. On September 29, he was finally let out on a $35,000 bail [the news article quotes $75,000 bail] for a trumped-up $500 theft charge from stealing stuff from his own house.

From it all, he may be a changed man, but not a vengeful man. He quoted, from the news article, “The Guardian”, dated 11 March 2010, that “you don’t judge 300 million people by a few bad guys.” He continues to love America and New Orleans. Five years after Hurricane Katrina, he had since rebuilt his life and his business, remaining in New Orleans, and had already rebuilt a museum, a few schools and about 250 homes that had been flooded. And since his canoe went missing while incarcerated, he planned on buying a bigger canoe so that he could rescue people a little easier, should the next storm bring in another flood. But, he’s wary, and he knows it could happen again.
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Online article with photo of Abdul Zeitoun at theguardian.com [The Guardian] dated 11 March 2010, by Ed Pilkington: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/mar/11/dave-eggers-zeitoun-hurricane-katr...
( )
  MissysBookshelf | Aug 27, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 173 (next | show all)
'Zeitoun was sterk', schrijft Dave Eggers in zijn verwoestend mooie boek Zeitoun. 'Hij had nog nooit zo'n gevoel van urgentie en vastberadenheid gehad. (...) Er was een reden, wist hij nu, waarom hij was achtergebleven in de stad. Hij had zich gedwongen gevoeld om te blijven, door een kracht die hij niet kende. Hij was nodig.'De eerste helft van dit zonder opsmuk geschreven non-fictie boek heeft iets van een sprookje.
De details die de auteur heeft opgediept, maken dit boek tot een meesterwerk. In de postmoderne romancier Eggers bleek een verslaggever van het zuiverste water schuil te gaan, een observator met een gouden pen.
 
In “Zeitoun,” what Dave Eggers has found in the Katrina mud is the full-fleshed story of a single family, and in telling that story he hits larger targets with more punch than those who have already attacked the thematic and historic giants of this disaster. It’s the stuff of great narrative nonfiction.
 
"Zeitoun" is a warm, exciting and entirely fresh way of experiencing Hurricane Katrina.

 
Eggers' sympathy for Zeitoun is as plain and real as his style in telling the man's story. He doesn't try to dazzle with heartbreaking pirouettes of staggering prose; he simply lets the surreal and tragic facts speak for themselves.
 

» Add other authors (9 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Dave Eggersprimary authorall editionscalculated
Bijnsdorp, MaaikeTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Schaap, LucieTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Sumpter, RachellCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Timmermann, KlausÜbersetzersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Wasel, UlrikeÜbersetzersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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Epigraph
...in the history of the world it might even be that there was more punishment than crime...
Cormac McCarthy, The Road

To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
Mark Twain
Dedication
For Abdulrahman, Kathy, Zachary, Nademah, Aisha, Safiya, and Ahmad in New Orleans.

For Ahmad, Antonia, Lutfi, and Laila in Málaga.

For Kousay, Nada, Mahmoud, Zakiya, Luay, Eman, Fahzia, Fatimah, Aisha, Munah, Nasibah, and all the Zeitouns of Jableh, Lattakia, and Arwad Island.

For the people of New Orleans.
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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.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, longtime New Orleans residents Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun are cast into an unthinkable struggle with forces beyond wind and water. In the days after the storm, Abdulrahman traveled the flooded streets in a secondhand canoe, passing on supplies and helping those he could. A week later, on September 6, 2005, Zeitoun abruptly disappeared-- arrested and accused of being an agent of al Qaeda.

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