Zeitoun
From Goodreads: The true story of one family, caught between America’s two biggest policy disasters: the war on terror and the response to Hurricane Katrina. Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun run a house-painting business in New Orleans. In August of 2005, as Hurricane Katrina approaches, Kathy evacuates with their four young children, leaving Zeitoun to watch over the business. In the days following the storm he travels the city by canoe, feeding abandoned animals and helping elderly neighbors. Then, on September 6th, police officers armed with M-16s arrest Zeitoun in his home. Told with eloquence and compassion, Zeitoun is a riveting account of one family’s unthinkable struggle with forces beyond wind and water.
Stats for nerds
2recommend
3mentions
3people
2010–2017years
67% recommend33% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Reposted from my site: (http://ben.kudria.net/post/2548785108/my-favorite-books-of-2...). Affiliate links there, for those inclined.
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In 2010, every single book I read, I read on my Kindle. Buying a Kindle has been the best thing I have ever done for my reading addiction. I recently upgraded to a Kindle 3, and I wholeheartedly recommended you get one as well, even if you currently have a Kindle 2.
Here are the top books I enjoyed in 2010, and you will enjoy also.
- The His Dark Materials Trilogy. Start with The Golden Compass.
- The City & The City by China Miéville. Quite the post-modern detective story. (Read also his novel Perdido Street Station)
- Surface Detail, the new novel by Iain M. Banks, who has quickly catapulted to the very top of my “Favorite Sci-Fi Authors” list. Surface Detail may not be the best novel for a Banks-unfamiliar reader, however — you may wish to start with something like Consider Phlebas or Look To Windward.
- I re-read Robert M. Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Read this book carefully and it will change your life. (N.B. It’s not really about Zen, although it kinda is.)
- The true story Zeitoun, by Dave Eggers, about Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a Syrian-born painting contractor in New Orleans. What Zeitoun does for the people of New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina is heartwarming and truly American, and what the US Government does to him and his family is terrifying and utterly infuriating.
- The Wind-up Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi is a fun Thai cyber/gene-punk yarn. Bacigalupi is a new author, and I look forward to reading more of his stuff.
- Dan Simmons’ Song Of Kali has an invasive and palpable stench of suspense. This horror novel set in Calcutta is an excruciating, brutal, and brilliant read.
- Kafka On the Shore by Haruki Murakami. I’ve always been a fan of Murakami’s works, but this novel from 2002 is, in my opinion, one of his greatest. It’s beautiful, haunting, and superbly thought-provoking.
- Zeitoun by Dave Eggers. A sad story about a guy named Zeitoun in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
Wars, Guns, and Votes: Democracy in Dangerous Places by Paul Collier. Someone smart thinks about how to move failed states toward democracy in such a way that it sticks.
Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama. A good memoir, but particularly interesting because he wrote it before he was famous.
Cliff Walk by Don Snyder. An English professor gets fired and becomes a carpenter. Great if academia irritates you.
- I believe after a certain point in your development, to be a better engineer or a better writer you have to become a better person. A person who is truly and consistently nurturing and able to understand what others are going through. You master your own inherent narcissism. Becoming a better person is much, much harder than improving your skills in one area or another. It takes a change that must come from within. No one will guide you. No external motivation exists. No material reward.
Consider if Ernest Hemingway had never written a single line of prose, but showed up to a party hosted by anyone who visits these pages, it would be clear he would be the most interesting person in the room. Because of the life he lived and choices he made. The words, they're a mere side effect of a life lived deeply and fully.
This is why writers like Dave Eggers write about other people who have lived extraordinary lives (What is the What and Zeitoun). Because he grew up in relatively bland suburbia. He lost both his parents very young, and wrote about that but then what is he going to write about?
