He had come initially in search of work, never expecting to stay, but he then met Kathy, a local Louisiana woman who had converted to Islam four years previously. The closest thing it reminded him of was Guantánamo. Although what happened following Zeitoun’s arrest was certainly traumatic, not all of his memories from the time after the storm are so negative—he takes solace in remembering how calm, peaceful, and helpful he felt maneuvering throughout the city and assisting those in need. (OPSO) “Zeitoun is a riveting, intimate, wide-scanning, disturbing, inspiring nonfiction account of a New Orleans married couple named Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun who were dragged through their own special branch of Kafkaesque (for once the adjective is unavoidable) hell after Hurricane Katrina. As he paddled by, Zeitoun explains, he heard a voice faintly crying "Help!". In the letter she asks the judge to impose the maximum sentence, saying Zeitoun "went through great lengths to make our live as miserable as possible." The moment he saw my name he said, 'Get into the boat!'". For two weeks she had no word from her husband, concluding in the end that he must be dead. Noises emanating from four of her five children bubble up like broth from the back room where they are watching Kung Fu Panda on a giant flat-screen TV. At the centre of the book is Kathy's husband, Abdulrahman, or Zeitoun as he is universally known, a New Orleans building contractor who has attained almost mythical status. ", We set off by car along the maze of streets around his neighbourhood. . The memory of people refusing to help. Tensions ran high in the predominantly Muslim country, home to a minority of Christians. A week later Zeitoun abruptly disappeared. In the aftermath of hurricane Katrina he paddled from house to house in a canoe, offering help to his neighbours. Orleans Criminal District Judge Keva Landrum-Johnson, who handed down the sentence Monday (Nov. 21), warned Zeitoun to abide by a permanent protective order barring him from contacting his wife and three children after he is released from custody. When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a prosperous Syrian-American and father of four, chose to stay through the storm to protect his house and contracting business. He was kept penned up at the bus station for three days and nights, and interviewed by officers from homeland security who seemed to think they had caught a big fish. Zeitoun, Zeytoun, Żejtun, Zaytoun, Zeitun, Zitouna, "Zetum" or Zeita (all derived from the Arabic word for "olive tree") may refer to: Organisations. ", "She was inside the house holding on to the bookshelf with water up to her shoulder," Zeitoun recalls, as we stand outside the house. The most interesting part was about the aftermath of Katrina, and as Hurricane Harvey had just inundated Houston, it was especially timely reading, How Zeitoun was able to get along so well showed his capability. Kathy walked right up to him and explained the situation, but Jordan said there was nothing he could do. Then, when he is arrested and imprisoned without being allowed to communicate and without being charged, he is helpless. Abdulrahman Zeitoun main.jpg. He remembers a time in his sailing days when he entered into a debate about the existence of God with his captain. On November 8th, Zeitoun was indicted for attempted first-degree murder and solicitation of first-degree murder. In June 2018, freshmen at Pentucket High School were assigned the nonfiction book Zeitoun by Dave Eggers for their summer reading assignment. Another soldier said as he passed: "Taliban. These guys wanted revenge on us, no matter what.". Nothing else. I felt lost.". Blackwell North Amer When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a prosperous Syrian-American and father of four, chose to stay through the storm to protect his house and contracting business. The request argued prosecutors failed to prove, among other things, that Zeitoun had intended to commit the crime of felony stalking. Zeitoun is revered in his adopted city as a fair and hardworking businessman. To prove the point to himself, perhaps, he plans to buy another boat; his canoe went missing following his arrest. His construction skills and great strength proved invaluable as he levered her on a ladder out to the vessel. About The Book Abdulrahman Zeitoun is a Syrian-born entrepreneur who runs a busy painting company in New Orleans. . Zeitoun by Dave Eggers is published by Hamish Hamilton in hardback on 15 March, £18.99. Zeitoun helped the woman reach safety in a fishing boat, which was no small feat given that she weighed 90kg (14st). Zeitoun was completely content, despite the grueling labor. The nadir came for her when she tried to find out the address of the courthouse where he was due to appear, charged with looting. The book by Dave Eggers titled "Zeitoun" showed him to be a stalwart husband and father who rescued neighbors by canoe after Katrina before landing behind bars for weeks after police and National Guard members mistook him for a possible terrorist. Zeitoun By Dave Eggers Vintage 368 pages Paperback $16.00 About This Guide This guide is intended to enhance your group’s reading and discussion of Dave Eggers’s Zeitoun, a harrowing nonfiction account of what happened to one man, and his family, in … Photograph: Julie Dermansky/Polaris. Zeitoun's attorney Paul Barker said since his client has already served two years and three months at the Orleans Parish jail, he may be eligible for release as early as this week. He refuses to bear a grudge, and says, for him, it remains a great country – you don't judge 300 million people on the behaviour of a few bad guys. Five years ago, Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans. "Zeitoun," he says in self-introduction, as though there were any doubt. They had built a life together, grown their construction business and had children. I cried harder then than I did at any other time. Despite facing some mild prejudice after 9/11, Zeitoun has built a life that is both financially and socially successful. Part 4 of the book begins thirty pages later, as Eggers picks up Zeitoun’s story, and readers learn what has happened to him after the end of part 2 during his arrest and incarceration. To win the argument, Zeitoun compared God to a ship captain ferrying humans through the dangerous seas. Nor will he contemplate quitting New Orleans. Zeitoun, Egypt, a suburb outside Cairo. "All he did was look at my ID," Zeitoun says, "and that was enough. You have permission to edit this article. A line drawing of him in the boat is printed on the cover of Eggers's book, and the film director Jonathan Demme plans to make an animated movie of his story next year. He is known simply as "Zeitoun" to his many neighbors, friends and loyal clients. He is also extra careful to follow all the civil rules – he doesn't speed or cut through red lights or park where he shouldn't. "It can happen again.". Eggers spent three years on and off interviewing the family, then translating their memories into his trademark vivid yet restrained prose. He swam to the front door and inside found a woman in her 70s hovering above him. Then we arrive at Claiborne Avenue where the weirdness truly began. For his trouble, he was arrested as a suspected terrorist, Abdulrahman Zietoun in the New Orleans Greyhound bus station where he was held after ­being arrested. God left me here for a reason. Landrum-Johnson, explaining her decision to deny the request, cited testimony about the "history of physical abuse on the victim and daughter.". Abdulrahman Zeitoun is the real-life hero of Dave Eggers's new book. account of what happened to one man, and his family, in the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Abdulrahman Zeitoun was sentenced to four years in prison Monday, Nov. 21, 2016, for felony stalking. The book, entitled Zeitoun, is, as its name suggests, a very personal telling of a national tragedy. Abdulrahman Zeitoun grew up in Syria. But when Zeitoun was carted off there, he and his three companions found themselves surrounded by 80 or so men with assault rifles and dogs, a mixture of National Guardsmen, prison wardens and soldiers, some of whom had recently been serving in Iraq and who seemed to approach the situation in New Orleans with a war-zone mentality. At this point, our journey begins its descent to a much darker place. Zeitoun points out the spot where he saw a human body floating in the filthy water. Zeitoun was detained for almost a month before he was released on $75,000 (£50,000) bail for having looted his own house. "I only did what I had been brought up to do.". Landrum-Johnson found him guilty of the felony stalking charge at a bench trial on June 6, 2016. He could have turned up 10 hours late and still you'd forgive him, just as soon as you felt his firm handshake and the embrace of his warm smile. About The Book Abdulrahman Zeitoun is a Syrian-born entrepreneur who runs a busy painting Page 2/12. And now here he was being called a terrorist. "I don't want them to be afraid to live.". "The way I thought of it was, anything you can do to help. This time, though, he wants a bigger model that would allow him to rescue people more easily. Kathy Zeitoun, dressed in a blue silk shirt and matching hijab, is fluttering around making spiced pumpkin-flavoured coffee and answering the constantly ringing phone. In one of the most memorable phrases of the book, Eggers writes: "Her patterned dress was spread out on the surface of the water like a great floating flower. I was naive before – I felt I had things under control. Zeitoun explained he was the landlord, but the only response was a demand from one of the National Guardsmen for his identity card. It was 6 September, six days after the hurricane, and he was in the house – his own property, which he rents out – along with a Syrian friend, Nasser Dayoob, his tenant Todd Gambino and Ronnie, a white man Zeitoun didn't know but who had asked to stay in the house for shelter. Dave Eggers’s riveting account of what happened to this hardworking Muslim immigrant makes it impossible to put the book down. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Download File PDF Zeitoun By Dave Eggers ... Zeitoun visits his many work sites Instead, he … "It happened before," he says. "Until I step out on to the street – then it all comes back to me.". "Muslim is a very simple word. Our tour continues and we pass the house of a local Baptist church pastor and his wife whom the Zeitouns had known for years and who similarly cried out for help. On every street corner he has a tale to tell. Kathy seats me in the neat and orderly living room, which is dominated by cream leather sofas and a watercolour of a street scene from her husband's native Syria. All in all, Zeitoun reckons he must have helped to save or rescue more than 10 neighbours. Zeitoun paddling through New Orleans in his canoe may well become one of the enduring images of Katrina. It does so exclusively through the eyes of the Zeitouns. I felt like I was a little kid again – with no say-so, no rights, no voice. The others fared worse: Dayoob, Gambino and Ronnie spent five, six and eight months in prison respectively, despite Zeitoun's efforts to prise them out. "Why are we here?" "Stay away from them," Landrum-Johnson told Zeitoun, leaning forward from the bench while looking at him. Dave Eggers's latest book, Zeitoun, patiently unravels the harrowing tale of how Kathy Zeitoun, a Louisiana native who grew up in a southern Baptist … Eggers worked closely with Abdulrahman Zeitoun (known simply as "Zeitoun") and his American wife Kathy to faithfully represent Zeitoun's experiences when he remained in New Orleans to … Other questions:subscriberservices@theadvocate.com. The first stop we make is at a house of grey clapboard standing on stilts. His wife Kathy, a boisterous Southerner who converted to Islam, is left to make sense of the surreal atmosphere (in New Orleans and the United States generally) in which what happened to Abdulrahman Zeitoun was possible. Abdulrahman Zeitoun was sentenced to four years in prison Monday, Nov. 21, 2016, for felony stalking. Prosecutors argued at trial he repeatedly violated a protective order forbidding him to get near his ex-wife or properties they still owned jointly after their divorce. Today, a personal story of a national tragedy. Eggers's riveting nonfiction book, three years in the making, explores Zeitoun's roots in Syria, his marriage to Kathy — an American who converted to Islam — and their children, and the surreal atmosphere in which what happened to Abdulrahman Zeitoun was possible. In the days after the storm, he traveled the flooded streets in a secondhand canoe, passing on … It explores what happens when the entire fabric of society collapses, plunging a city into a parallel universe where there is no justice, no government, no protection, no respect. Zeitoun by Dave Eggers In August of 2005 Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. "Katrina was a great reality slap. The children are starting to sleep in their own beds again having for years insisted on cramming into their parents' for security. Abdulrahman Zeitoun is not the calm and peaceful man that Eggers portrayed. "How could the address of a courthouse be private? While Kathy and the kids joined the mass evacuation from the city, he hunkered down at home; and when the levees broke and the flood water poured in, he put to use a battered old canoe he owned to navigate the streets of his neighbourhood, now turned into canals. She dashed back to the city from Texas, where she had been staying with friends. As they approach the fifth anniversary of those events, the Zeitouns have managed with striking success to put their lives back together. Noises emanating from four of her five children bubble up like broth from the back room where they are watching Kung Fu Panda on a giant flat-screen TV. Despite that, he refuses to be bitter and vengeful. Abdulrahman Zeitoun is the real-life hero of Dave Eggers's new book. He has never even thought of abandoning the US. How would you feel?". This guide is intended to enhance your group’s reading and discussion of Dave Eggers’s Zeitoun, a harrowing nonfiction account of what happened to one man, and his family, in the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. On November 8th, Zeitoun was indicted for attempted first-degree murder and solicitation of first-degree murder. When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a prosperous Syrian-American and father of four, chose to stay through the storm to protect his house and contracting business. ', because your foot is infected and hurting badly, and he's wearing a green medical gown and a stethoscope around his neck, and he says, 'I'm not a doctor,' and walks on. Increasingly angry, Kathy reiterated what had happened to her husband as loudly as she could, in front of the reporters. Barker objected to the denial for a new trial and to the sentencing. We get back into the car and retrace the route of that boat ride, stopping at the Greyhound bus station near the city centre. Kathy seats me in the neat and orderly living room, which is dominated by cream leather sofas and a watercolour of a street scene from her husband's native Syria. An outside wall of the house is stained with a faint but still clearly discernible line at about shoulder height, a record etched in paint of where the flood waters settled. He begins by pointing to a pillar at the front of his house. Kathy Zeitoun, dressed in a blue silk shirt and matching hijab, is fluttering around making spiced pumpkin-flavoured coffee and answering the constantly ringing phone. While Zeitoun was incarcerated, first at Camp Greyhound and then in a maximum-security prison, Kathy was, as she puts it, "battling her own demons". Eventually, the charges against all four of them were dropped. During this time he traveled the world and eventually settled in the United States in 1988. The reason for her current preoccupation is the publication of the new book by that one-man literary factory Dave Eggers, whose best-known previous work is the memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. Beside it is a framed 3D model of the Qur'an. "I felt very bad. Abdulrahman Zeitoun is not the calm and peaceful man that Eggers portrayed. What he did was to stay in New Orleans when the hurricane struck, driven by a conviction that that is where he belonged. "That's where I kept the canoe tied, like you'd tie up your horse. My life is here now," he says. Today it's back to a semblance of normality, with its familiar canine logo and silver buses lined in rows. The publisher's description of the book couches it as a story about a Syrian native and house painting contractor who was caught "between America's two biggest policy disasters: the war on terror and the response to Hurricane Katrina.". they asked a passing soldier. It was very hurtful. "Being called those terrible names. She says her memory has been affected after her ex-husband used her "as a punching bag. Subject of post-Katrina book, 'Zeitoun,' sentenced to 4 years for stalking, Emily Lane, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. He says he is more disciplined now about his religious observance, making sure he at least is punctual for his five daily prayer sessions. "You guys are al-Qaida," came the reply. Then, on 19 September, she learned of his detention from a missionary who called her after having seen Zeitoun in prison. I did what I was brought up to do – to help people.". ", It was like a dagger blow for Zeitoun, for himself personally and for his vision of America, the country where he had come to live as a young merchant seaman from Syria and which he had always believed was a land of fairness and opportunity.