One stroke of luck during my trip to the USA was that my visit coincided with the publication of Dave Eggers wonderful new non-fiction book ‘Zeitoun’. I snapped this up at Powell’s in Portland and it helped enormously to ease the boredom of long trips (and frequent delays) on Amtrak.
It is a marvellous piece of journalism, expanding on the story of Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun and their family that first came to light in ‘Voices From The Storm’ – a book of experiences from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina published by McSweeneys Voice of Witness in 2005 .
What Eggers has done here is quite remarkable. Writing simply and with great humanity he ensures that what might have been a depressing tale of misery, hardship and injustice is actually an inspiring story of the triumph of hope over adversity. Continue reading
