I just finished reading Zeitoun by Dave Eggers. Eggers is my favorite author and his writing style comes through again for me. He writes a non-fiction story like a novel. It is constantly flowing and moving, like his other books. He weaves the character's background and history into the story, in a way that sounds like it took years of research and conversing with each person in the book.
His great writing sets the stage for a fantastically unbelievable story of what can happen in our country when our government does not serve us. Zeitoun stuck around in New Orleans when Katrina hit, and his accounts of the post-storm happenings gave me the first true sense of what was going on there. The story then weaves in another whole issue: the plight of Arab-Americans in the post 9-11 world. The story reminds me that our government needs to serve and protect us, but also needs to be kept in balance with itself.
The book is a condemnation of what can happen when authority go unchecked and does not serve the people. To me, it is also a reminder of some of the catastrophes that went on while the worst President in our Nation's history was in power.
Please buy this book at McSweeney's or Amazon. Proceeds benefit the Zeitoun Foundation, which funds several organizations working in the New Orleans Area.
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