Zeitoun by Dave Eggers

Meredith gave me "Zeitoun" for Christmas. Last night, I decided to start a book. I decided to start "Zeitoun". I've now navigated the 300+ pages and am ready to share my thoughts, once again, on Katrina and New Orleans.

"Zeitoun", you see, is a person. Abdulrahman Zeitoun, the main character in this non-fiction work, owns a painting and contracting business in New Orleans and stays in the city during Katrina to attempt to salvage the family home and check in on his rental properties and projects. Eggers recounts the struggles of Zeitoun, his wife, and children in the days leading up to the storm as well as the subsequent days and weeks, before ending with updates on the main characters.

I am, certainly, not a literary expert. However, I found the book to be highly readable and well-written. It was gripping, at times, disgusting, in parts, and thought-provoking throughout.

Zeitoun, a native of Syria and devote Muslim, rides out the storm and is faring fairly well with a small group consisting of an old acquaintance and a tenant even after the levee failure resulted in widespread flooding. He found ways to help - feeding a few dogs left in houses and rescuing elderly neighbors trapped by the flood - and stay out of trouble and away from looters and violence.

Unfortunately, his posse of do-gooders ends up being arrested and thrown in prison at a makeshift prison at the NO bus terminal where strip searches, atrocious conditions and even worse treatment - including tear gas attacks on prisoners and target practice with bean bags - are almost more than Zeitoun can take (although, he didn't act out and receive any of the fun extra discipline). But, that wasn't it. Then, he and his friends were transferred to a maximum security prison. All the while, they weren't allowed to make a phone call, so they were presumed dead. Finally, two weeks later, through proper and inproper channels, Zeitoun was able to get word to his wife that he was alive and incarcerated. A while later, he was able to get out of prison and return to life as normal.

Except, life wasn't really normal. His wife was now suffering from PTSD. Certainly, the storm had something to do with this, Zeitoun's refusal to evacuate played a role as well, but Kathy Zeitoun seemed to be holding it together before she realized that the bulk of the reason she had assumed her husband was dead for more than a week was because agents of the US government had treated US citizens in such an unimaginably horrible fashion. But, the Zeitouns remain in New Orleans and are working on rebuilding the city they still love.

I thought, a few pages in, that the book might change my opinion on New Orleans by personalizing it a little bit. The book did give me a more personal experience. It didn't change my opinion on the Crescent City, though. If anything, I'm more ardent now that just rebuilding The Big Easy to its prior state is a horrible idea.

Certainly, they can rebuild New Orleans. They can make levees that are more robust. They can put a retractable gate across the IHNC. They can improve the pump systems. But, should they? At the end of the book, Eggers seems to endorse the "don't rethink, rebuild!" sentiment. I think this is irresponsible. I'm not intimately familiar with New Orleans, but I know it's an old city and certain things could be improved, just like they can be improved in any city.

Why not take the opportunity to re-evaluate and rebuild in the most efficient, resourceful manner? It seems like a tremendous opportunity. Maybe New Orleans doesn't need to be built back to pre-Katrina size. Maybe some of the lower areas should be abandoned to limit the amount of area that needs to be protected. How can infrastructure be improved to allow for better evacuation?

Additionally, the book sheds light on the ridiculous mismanagement of police work, search and rescue, civil liberties, and reconstruction. In particular, the Zeitouns were given a FEMA trailer. The trailer was installed wrong and not hooked up to water or electricity. Furthermore, they weren't given a key or a set of steps to use to get into the trailer. Eventually, they got stairs, but still didn't have a key. And, it still wasn't hooked up to services. Then, eventually, they got a key, but it still wasn't hooked up. By the time they'd got the key, they'd already fixed up the house they were living in and wanted to sell it because they were moving to another property. But, there was an unusable FEMA trailer in front of it, not hooked up and with a 1 ft gap between the stairs and entrance that had to be hopped to get into the trailer. It took Kathy contacting the Times-Picayune (the paper) before someone from FEMA contacted them to pick up the trailer.

And, generally, the entire jail incident reminded me of talking to the lady from the collection agency. Obviously, I didn't have it nearly as bad as Zeitoun, or the mentally retarded man who was pepper sprayed for not obeying the orders of the prison guard. But, the inability to reason with certain people. Oh, I know what it was like. It was like when I was at that bar with Jake and Miriah on Halloween last year. The stupid security dumbass made Jake go outside. I went outside to try to defuse the situation, only to be told "Don't talk. Did I ask you to talk?" Apparently, the security jackass would rather "talk to" someone he thinks is intoxicated than someone who is generally considered not to be. I guess, maybe, that's more his intellectual level. Anyway, you're in a situation that is somewhat your fault, but not to the level that you are in it. Then, you're trapped because there isn't anything you can do to get out of it, other than just do what you are told by whatever moron is "in control" of the situation. It's asinine.

And, it's depressing to think that people who work in certain industries lose their inability to interact on a human level. It's scary that people don't have the ability to use common sense to assess a situation and act accordingly.

For the first half of "Zeitoun", the book is primarily a work on perseverance in the face of adversity. However, the second half is a major downer that makes you question a lot of things ... although, a lot of them are things I already had questions about.