February
2012
Zeitoun
By Dave Eggers
Abdulrahman
Zeitoun, a successful Syrian-born painting contractor, decides to stay in
New Orleans after Katrina to protect his property while his family flees.
After the levees break, he uses a small canoe to rescue people, before
being arrested by an armed squad and swept powerlessly into a vortex of
bureaucratic brutality. When a guard accuses him of being a member of Al
Qaeda, he sees that race and culture may explain his predicament. Eggers,
compiling his account from interviews, sensibly resists rhetorical
grandstanding, letting injustices speak for themselves.
Eggers
employs a poetic, declarative style, shaping the narrative with subtlety
and grace.
Though Zeitoun’s story could have been a source of cynicism or
despair, Dave Eggers’s clear and elegant prose manages to deftly capture
many of the signature shortcomings of American life while holding onto the
innate optimism and endless drive to more closely match our ideals.