Zeitoun (book)

Zeitoun
Cover of first edition
Author(s)	Dave Eggers
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Nonfiction
Publisher	McSweeney's
Media type	Print (paperback)
Pages	359 pp
ISBN	978-1-934781-63-0
OCLC Number	332257182

Zeitoun is a nonfiction book written by Dave Eggers and published by McSweeney's in 2009. It tells the story of Abdulrahman Zeitoun, the Syrian-American owner of a painting and contracting company in New Orleans who chose to ride out Hurricane Katrina in his Uptown home. After the storm he traveled the flooded city in a secondhand canoe rescuing neighbors, caring for abandoned pets and distributing fresh water. Soon after the storm, Zeitoun was arrested without reason or explanation at one of his rental houses by a mixed group of National Guardsmen and local police. He was not immediately charged with a crime but was imprisoned for 23 days without having stood trial. During that time he was accused of terrorist activity presumably because of his ethnicity, was treated inhumanely, and was refused medical attention and the use of a phone to alert his family. His wife and daughters, staying with friends far away from the city, only knew that he had seemingly disappeared from the face of the earth.

Plot summary

Abdulrahman Zeitoun is a Muslim who grew up in Syria. After a few years of "apprenticeship" in Jableh, Zeitoun spent "twenty" years working at sea as a "muscleman", engineer and fisherman. During this time he traveled the world and eventually settled in the United States in 1988. There he met his wife, Kathy — a native of Baton Rouge who had converted to Islam — with whom he founded their business, Zeitoun Painting Contractors, LLC.

In late August, 2005, as Hurricane Katrina approached the city, Kathy and their four children left New Orleans for Baton Rouge. Zeitoun stayed behind to watch over their home, ongoing job sites and rental properties. Once the storm made landfall, their neighborhood (although miles from the nearest levees) was flooded up to the second floor of most houses. Zeitoun began to explore the city in a secondhand canoe, distributing what supplies he had, ferrying neighbors to higher ground, checking on his tenants, and caring for abandoned dogs.

On September 14, Zeitoun and three companions were arrested at one of Zeitoun's rental houses by a mixed group of National Guardsmen and local police. Although the men were not immediately charged with any crimes, they were detained in a makeshift jail in a Greyhound bus station for three days time before being transferred to Elayn Hunt Correctional Center in nearby St. Gabriel, Louisiana. Zeitoun was held at Hunt for "40" more days without having stood trial. During that time he was refused medical attention and the use of a phone to alert his family of his predicament.

Major Themes

Racism is a key issue addressed throughout the book. It is not only Abdul who is discriminated against, but also Kathy. It is mentioned several times in the text that she is looked at differently for her Muslim attire everywhere from the grocery store to the DMV. She shares her experience of being laughed at by her family, who did not raise her as a Muslim and do not respect her choice to convert.

The importance of family and close relations is also stressed. Abdul's family, although residing across the world, are terribly worried about him when he goes missing. They are mentioned often as being interactive in the lives of Kathy and Abdul. Kathy depends not only on her own family but on Abdul's side of the family as well. Kathy and Abdul treat their friends as family, too, depending on them for food and shelter during the storm.

Writing process

Eggers began work on the book in 2006, after meeting Kathy and Abdulrahman through another McSweeney's project called Voices from the Storm. He worked closely with the Zeitoun family while researching and writing the book, meeting with them multiple times in New Orleans and letting them read six or seven versions of the manuscript. Eggers also visited members of the Zeitoun family living in Syria, as well as Abdulrahman's brother Ahmad, who lives in Spain.

Eggers says he will not personally make money from the book's publication; funds from the book will be distributed by the Zeitoun Foundation, a nonprofit set up by Eggers and the Zeitoun family for this purpose.

Reception

Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "He kicked off the decade as the look-at-me stylist behind 2000's A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. The fact that Eggers bookended it with this gut-wrenchingly poignant and selfless Katrina story proves that even boy wonders can grow up."

Writing in Prospect, Jonathan Tel complained that Zeitoun "reads like a film treatment". One of his chief criticisms was that "nobody speaks a word of local dialect, or so much as eats a bite of local food."

Zeitoun was nominated in the Creative Nonfiction category for the 2010 California Book Awards.

Film adaptation

The book is currently being made into a movie, set for release in 2014. The film will be an animated film and is being made by Jonathan Demme, the maker of films such as The Silence of the Lambs.

External links

• The Zeitoun Foundation Official Site
• Ed Pilkington, "The amazing true story of Zeitoun", The Guardian, 11 March 2010. An interview with Abdulrahman Zeitoun
• How a Hero in Hurricane Katrina Was Arrested, Labeled a Terrorist and Imprisoned - video report by Democracy Now!