Zeitoun

This book is told from the perspective of a hard-working man who encouraged his family to leave the area while he endured the tragedy and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Because Abkulrahman Zeitoun is of Middle Eastern decent, he is captured by U.S. authorities and detained without explanation or permission to contact his family. His wife and children suffer through an array of emotions while they search for their missing family member, not knowing if he is dead or alive. This is just one of the thousands of horrific stories surfacing years after the hurricane demolished the majority of New Orleans.




 * Student Reviews:**

"This book, which chronicles the tribulations of a Muslim man during Hurricane Katrina, upends the reader's perspective of justice, bravery, and the difference between right and wrong. The book follows an unsupposing and mildly boring family who must combat physical threats as well as emotional ones which stem from the ignorance that fear breads. The only pitfall a reader may encounter is the plot development. Events in the story are not always in chronological order, and flashbacks to Zeitoun's youth intermingled with real-time events can make for some slight confusion. Furthermore, the book's ruggedly realistic portrayal does not lend itself to the traditional expectation of what makes a narrative "entertaining." There is no real peak in the plot structure and the conclusion leaves many questions unanswered, but I see this as one more element of the piece's brutal honesty as to the human experience during a tragedy." ~Billy Engelman (GCHS senior, 2014)