December 27, 2010
There are many indicators of great writing, but for me the most important characteristic is the exploration of what we humans are capable of through the lens of ordinary experience, or the way in which the lives of distinct people can illustrate the breadth of human possibility, as well as the universality of the human condition. Books that explore how a person responds to his or her particular reality, whether that reality be imagined or very, very real, pose questions for our own lives, provoke outrage or recognition, and at times even offer guidance on how to live ourselves. For example, the fictional worlds of Dickens, Hardy, Saramago, Achebe, Gordimer, or Morrison serve to illustrate fundamental truths about the real state of humanity.
For non-fiction writers the proof of great writing is in the ability to present not only the facts but to paint the larger truth of what those facts tell us about ourselves. In Zeitoun, Dave Eggers tells a multi-layered story rich in details and background to convey the most powerful of truths about who we are as Americans. Some of the truths are beautiful, and some are very, very ugly. Americans are capable of so much, of openness and reliability in our relationships, hope and will in pursuit of goals, and endurance in facing obstacles placed in our way. But we are also capable of deceit and mistrust and failure to keep promises made.
When our government succumbs to deceit, mistrust, and broken promises, the very spine of civilization breaks down: this is what happened in New Orleans after Katrina and this is the story Eggers tells, a story of one man's decency, hard work, and responsibility being turned against him by government agencies and agents misled, misinformed, misguided, and, even worse, excused again and again for their failures. Many individual stories have been recorded of the devastation and loss suffered as a result of the Katrina disaster, such as those recorded in Overcoming Katrina., In telling the story of one man, Eggers conveys in resounding prose the collective experience of New Orleans post-Katrina, with promises broken and dreams destroyed, and the underlying tenacity
and will of people determined to endure the worst of weather, water, and
government ineptitude, and survive, endure, and rebuild.
What Eggers does so magnificently in Zeitoun is tease out all the tangled threads of the story of Zeitoun, and how each experience in his life led to his being in New Orleans when the storm hit and influenced his decision to stay and help out, any way he could, whether it be rescuing stranded neighbors or feeding abandoned pets. Zeitoun is from Syria and traveled the world before settling down in the United States to found a business, start a family, and build a stable life. Eggers brings in details from Zeitoun's upbringing in Syria, along with background about his Louisiana-born wife Kathy, and about the couple's life together, including their presence in the community of New Orleans, to underscore the humanity and decency of Zeitoun, a man who worked hard to build his American dream and suddenly found himself in an America he no longer recognized, one without law or justice.
As an example of one of the many threads of Zeitoun's life captured so simply and strongly by Eggers is the sudden death forty-one years ago of Zeitoun's older brother, Mohammed. Mohammed had been the family treasure, a world-renowned long-distance swimmer and worthy representative of Syrian pride and hope; he was also very much six-year old Zeitoun's personal idol. Having lost my oldest sister, revered by me and now missed so very much, I understood how for Zeitoun his older brother hovered always in his consciousness, impacting decisions big and small, and how his death colored the lives of everyone in the family, from the heartbroken father to the siblings and outwards, to nieces and nephews he would never know, but who would know him well through stories and by witness of the lumbering commemorative statue in his home town in Syria.
Zeitoun's adulation of his long-dead brother underlay his decision to stay behind in New Orleans, helping out post-Katrina the best he could, paddling here and there in his tincan canoe, and it was a motivation that led, indirectly, to his unjust arrest and months of torturous and wrongful imprisonment. Eggers brings together this and many other threads -- Kathy's upbringing, the nature of the couple's contracting business, the role religion plays in their lives -- to weave together the story of one good man and of a shameful time and place in our country's history.
In telling the story of Zeitoun, Eggers asks of all Americans, "Could this happen in my town? To me?" Zeitoun is my town's town wide read for January 2011 and I look forward to debating that very question with my neighbors. Was it just New Orleans, just because Katrina happened so close to 9/11, or could the horrors of lawlessness, misgovernance, mistrust, and unnecessary death and destruction happen anywhere a natural crisis opens the (literal or figurative) flood gates of hell? Zeitoun is a deeply compelling, moving, provoking, and enduring story of who we are as Americans, and poses the important question of how we want our America to be.
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