The story of Zeitoun is set in the the complete clusterfuck that was the federal emergency relief effort of Hurricane Katrina. Like all clusterfucks, there are many factors to blame: levees that were ignored and improperly maintained; grandstanding by too many political officials to even begin counting, in nearly every position in the chain of command; a complete lack of co-ordination or even basic understanding of how the relief effort should proceed. It is in this backdrop that our hero Zeitoun, paddling about in his canoe goes about rescuing trapped victims, feeding stranded dogs, and generally being an all-round cool dude. What does he get for his efforts?
He is arrested, imprisoned, detained without charge, starved, denied medical attention, and refused phonecalls to both his wife and to a lawyer. All this, thanks to the wonderful wonderful relief efforts by
the good people at FEMA.
Eggers shows once again that he's a consummate and conscientious biographer (following on from the soul- and gut-wrenching What is the What). This is a supremely easy read; written simply, with ease and precision. Eggers also employs that trick whereby after the two main characters lose contact, he focuses on one, leaving a feverish cliffhanger on what the hell just happened to the other character.
Conceptual side-note: If there is anything that illustrated the 'near' and 'far' modes of thinking distinction, this is it. The DHS prepared for and imagined a scenario whereby al-Qaeda or the Taliban would stage an attack on the city of New Orleans in the chaos of Hurricane Katrina; and on the basis of this outrageous scenario proceeded to arrest Zeitoun and his companions. Instead of focusing on the 'near' and very real problems of the lack of sanitation, medical supplies, clean water, incompetent/insufficiently informed and trained officials, they focus on the Jack Bauer style 'far' problems of terrorism and civil war. Of course, it's more complicated than that (the use of mercenary third-parties i.e. Blackwater, the untrammeled use of deputisation, etc, etc), but when is it not complicated?
In short, this is a book about the very real effects of institutional failure, especially how those institutions fail in a time of severe crisis. There are very few silver linings in this: by the end, you're grateful and glad that our protagonist is alive and reunited with his loved ones. Compensation, justice, redress is discussed, but inevitably, little comes to fruition. An eloquently written, moving memoir of when the system fails, and what happens to those caught in it.
He is arrested, imprisoned, detained without charge, starved, denied medical attention, and refused phonecalls to both his wife and to a lawyer. All this, thanks to the wonderful wonderful relief efforts by
the good people at FEMA.
Eggers shows once again that he's a consummate and conscientious biographer (following on from the soul- and gut-wrenching What is the What). This is a supremely easy read; written simply, with ease and precision. Eggers also employs that trick whereby after the two main characters lose contact, he focuses on one, leaving a feverish cliffhanger on what the hell just happened to the other character.
Conceptual side-note: If there is anything that illustrated the 'near' and 'far' modes of thinking distinction, this is it. The DHS prepared for and imagined a scenario whereby al-Qaeda or the Taliban would stage an attack on the city of New Orleans in the chaos of Hurricane Katrina; and on the basis of this outrageous scenario proceeded to arrest Zeitoun and his companions. Instead of focusing on the 'near' and very real problems of the lack of sanitation, medical supplies, clean water, incompetent/insufficiently informed and trained officials, they focus on the Jack Bauer style 'far' problems of terrorism and civil war. Of course, it's more complicated than that (the use of mercenary third-parties i.e. Blackwater, the untrammeled use of deputisation, etc, etc), but when is it not complicated?
In short, this is a book about the very real effects of institutional failure, especially how those institutions fail in a time of severe crisis. There are very few silver linings in this: by the end, you're grateful and glad that our protagonist is alive and reunited with his loved ones. Compensation, justice, redress is discussed, but inevitably, little comes to fruition. An eloquently written, moving memoir of when the system fails, and what happens to those caught in it.
4 comments:
What was the reasoning behind his arrest, exactly?
He was foreign-looking? It's never explained exactly. They thought he was a looter, initially, then proceeded to implicate him in some kind of bizarre terrorist plot.
Plus the book includes the stories of other people in similar situations, such as an old woman who went out of her hotel to get supplies from her car and was instantly arrested for 'looting' and then detained etc....No reason other than complete horrible craziness
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