Zeitoun
by Dave Eggers, Penguin, $32
The Zeitoun of the title is Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a New Orleans resident whose life was changed forever by Hurricane Katrina. When the levees inevitably broke and the raging flood waters inundated the city he loved, Zeitoun stayed to protect his home and neighbourhood.
It turned out
to be several days before help would arrive. Meanwhile Zeitoun, in a small boat, rescued survivors, ferried provisions and fed the abandoned people and pets in his neighbourhood.
This is an uplifting and inspirational tale of how one man and his neighbours banded together to survive the biggest natural disaster in American history.
What happened when their "rescuers" did arrive is a revelation that shines a searchlight into the darkest recesses of contemporary American society.
The National Guard prove to be a gang of jittery, gun-toting amateurs, whose default response seems to be suspicion and repression.
What happened to Zeitoun and his neighbours after they were supposedly "rescued" by the authorities is a shocking indictment of the politics of fear, xenophobia and racial profiling personified by the Bush era. Dave Eggers' Zeitoun is an example of hard-hitting contemporary non-fiction at its best.
