Zeitoun Response 2

“He wanted it all erased from their lives” (Eggers 296)

I really liked the book Zeitoun I found it intriguing to hear about the hurricane from the perspective of a person who actually experienced the hurricane. The first half of the book was very interesting and I found myself smiling while imaging Zeitoun going through his neighborhood in a canoe and being a hero, by saving people stuck in their homes, feeding dogs, etc. Then the second half of the book was just awful when Zeitoun’s experiences in prison were described. I felt that it was so wrong of what they did to Zeitoun and the others in prison during a time of such a crisis because of Hurricane Katrina. With the guards calling Zeitoun and his friends “Al Qaeda” and “Taliban” was just so horrifying because they were being so racist and calling them terrorists with no significant evidence. Also, the harsh treatment that was seen in prison was just horrifying and it scarred the people in prison and also their family members. Looking at Zeitoun’s family, their family had to suffer so much while he was in prison because they didn’t know if he was dead or alive and Zeitoun’s child’s hair was falling out, his wife was in a frenzy and even after Zeitoun returned, Kathy ends up with post-traumatic stress syndrome. I feel that the quote that I wrote at the top really expresses how much Zeitoun was scarred mentally from his imprisonment and how it shows the high level of injustice that the government allowed on its citizens. Overall I really enjoyed reading the book and I think that I got a lot of insights on Hurricane Katrina and also the injustice that was put upon the Middle Eastern people after 9/11.