What We're Listening To: Abby

Zeitoun by Dave Eggers

This book tells the story of Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a local contractor in New Orleans and what happened to him after Hurricane Katrina. Zeitoun, Syrian born, well liked, hard working, married to a local woman, decided to stay behind and try to protect his properties while his wife and children fled to safety. With his canoe, Zeitoun was able to navigate from house-to-house, neighborhood-to-neighborhood, helping people, feeding dogs left behind and doing whatever he could. He had set up a time for a daily call to his wife so she wouldnt worry about him. Then tragically he was arrested for looting (while in his own house) and taken to a hastily constructed detention center where he was not given any basic rights, barely any food and was not able to contact his wife or a lawyer. He was also separated from other detainees because of his ethnicity and because of that he was sure that he would be sent to Guantanamo and never heard from again. His story is tragic, heartbreaking and yet in the end hopeful.