*ZEITOUN* by Dave Eggers

When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a prosperous Syrian-American and father of four, chose to stay through the storm to protect his house and contracting business. In the days after the storm, he 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. Eggers’s riveting nonfiction book, three years in the making, explores Zeitoun’s roots in Syria, his marriage to Kathy — an American who converted to Islam — and their children, and the surreal atmosphere (in New Orleans and the United States generally) in which what happened to Abdulrahman Zeitoun was possible. Like What Is the What, Zeitoun was written in close collaboration with its subjects and involved vast research — in this case, in the United States, Spain, and Syria.

****Rate this book 4/5. The most horrific part of reading this non-fiction book was that it was true. It was difficult to note that racial profiling and abhorrent treatment of a man existed in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. I had watched all of the coverage after this disaster but never knew that a prison had actually be set up to contain American citizens and then accusing them of being terrorists. What a horrific event for Zeitoun and his family, who were truly good and kind American citizens. I doubt that I would be as forgiving as they have been or even stayed in the area.