Sunday, February 21, 2010

reader/response

i dedicated the majority of the weekend to dave eggers' zeitoun, a third-person journalistic narrative that that is eggers' most heartbreaking work of staggering genius yet.

abdulrahman zeitoun - a syrian immigrant, successful contractor, dedicated husband & father of four - remained in new orleans during katrina in order to care for his business and protect the family home. in the days that follows he uses a second hand canoe and his dwindling resources to rescue the stranded, care for the abandoned and intentionally embody the mercy of God.

when the government that is unable to serve citizens in distress proves perfectly capable of indiscriminate condemnation, zeitoun endures a storm he never saw coming. .

this is a remarkable story of the experiences that bind us together and the fear that tears us apart. highly, highly recommended.

2 comments:

Josh said...

also reading it now. about 75 pages to go. it's beautiful and unsettling. hard to read without being inspired and pissed. tough combo.

g13 said...

hey josh, thanks for dropping by this dilapidated joint. if your picture suggests that you are attending or going to attend yale, we'll have to connect at some point. that's within shoutin' distance.

one of the things that impressed me about zeitoun was how gracious he was in the face of injustice. if i was in that situation, i would be exercising my first amendment rights on a continual basis - pepper spray or not.

his way was probably better.