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jennyluwho's review against another edition
3.0
It’s a terrifyingly sad story.
Also, if it’s a mandatory evacuation my belief is you should leave.
Also, if it’s a mandatory evacuation my belief is you should leave.
peebee's review against another edition
5.0
It's good every now and again to remind yourself how America was run by dumbshit redneck thugs, and their slezebag back slapping ivy league handlers during the Bush years. Things are still shit, but god they were so much worse.
tnorthcu's review against another edition
2.0
I feel like I have to justify my 2 stars for this book. All things considered, it was a decent story. A true account of a New Orleans family during and after the storm.
The main problem I had was with the narration of the story. It definitely felt like the narrator was telling someone else's story. The tone was clinical, removed, monotonous, which is somewhat understandable as writing a story that is not yours with the right amount of respect and emotion is, I imagine, difficult, you can't take the same liberties as when you're writing fiction, but I still felt there was too much distance between the narrator and the story. I did not have the same sense of distance when reading What is the What, I was fully involved in that story.
I didn't feel like I knew very much about the Zeitouns' other than their religion and their fears about the storm.
Also, it was somewhat repetitive. Not to mention is was slow in some parts and too fast in others. There was a lot of back story and build up, a few really good chapters, and then a lot of facts and wrap up.
On a good note, the proceeds go to a good cause.
The main problem I had was with the narration of the story. It definitely felt like the narrator was telling someone else's story. The tone was clinical, removed, monotonous, which is somewhat understandable as writing a story that is not yours with the right amount of respect and emotion is, I imagine, difficult, you can't take the same liberties as when you're writing fiction, but I still felt there was too much distance between the narrator and the story. I did not have the same sense of distance when reading What is the What, I was fully involved in that story.
I didn't feel like I knew very much about the Zeitouns' other than their religion and their fears about the storm.
Also, it was somewhat repetitive. Not to mention is was slow in some parts and too fast in others. There was a lot of back story and build up, a few really good chapters, and then a lot of facts and wrap up.
On a good note, the proceeds go to a good cause.
librovermo's review against another edition
DNF - Before I started this book, I read the truth about Zeitoun. He’s a horrible man who has done horrible things. He’s been arrested several times. He’s abused his wife and tried to have her killed. He’s just a terrible bastard and when he dies the world will be better off.
Zeitoun likely lied about most of the events in this book. Knowing that, but also knowing that I spent money on the book, I decided to read it as fiction. I imagine the events depicted in the book at least loosely mirror some experiences of other people who suffered through Hurricane Katrina, so why not read and learn about them?
But I can’t do it. The writing is great, I just hate reading about Zeitoun being a beloved member of the community and a loving husband and father when I know he isn’t. I can’t force myself to read that as fiction.
I can read another Dave Eggers book. I can Read and learn about the events of Hurricane Katrina in many other ways. This is not it.
Zeitoun likely lied about most of the events in this book. Knowing that, but also knowing that I spent money on the book, I decided to read it as fiction. I imagine the events depicted in the book at least loosely mirror some experiences of other people who suffered through Hurricane Katrina, so why not read and learn about them?
But I can’t do it. The writing is great, I just hate reading about Zeitoun being a beloved member of the community and a loving husband and father when I know he isn’t. I can’t force myself to read that as fiction.
I can read another Dave Eggers book. I can Read and learn about the events of Hurricane Katrina in many other ways. This is not it.
savaging's review against another edition
3.0
Zietoun is great journalism: an intense personal story with broad policy implications, told carefully and thoroughly and with the full consensus and participation of the protagonists. I've heard explanations for why it was a bad idea to militarize post-Katrina New Orleans, but I'm a social animal, and the description of the horrors that happen to a guy with a name in a canoe does something for me.
But the book doesn't function as a work of art. The protagonists don't cast a shadow. They are heroes. They are up against the villains. This is probably a natural consequence of a writing process that is so closely tied to the approval of the Zeitoun family. Maybe you can't make art about someone you can't betray. Comparisons are drawn between this book and [b:The Executioner's Song|12468|The Executioner's Song|Norman Mailer|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1325755176s/12468.jpg|838965], with the explanation that Eggers is more "heartfelt" and "humanist" than Mailer, but Mailer's less-loveable characters have development at least, and an internal life. The admirable Zeitouns are living at the surface.
This is why it's such a scandal to discover that since the book was published, the protagonists have divorced and Kathy has accused Zeitoun of trying to kill her. Such news is indigestible for the shadowless heroes in the book.
Is it only horrible injustice if it happens to good, 'decent' people?
Having read Eggers at his cleverest, I can admire that he puts aside his wordplay to tell a story as plainly as possible, in words that fit with the characters themselves. Yes, I can admire this. And then I hope the next thing I read has some more musicality to it, because the lines hit me flat like newsprint or gospel tracts.
But the book doesn't function as a work of art. The protagonists don't cast a shadow. They are heroes. They are up against the villains. This is probably a natural consequence of a writing process that is so closely tied to the approval of the Zeitoun family. Maybe you can't make art about someone you can't betray. Comparisons are drawn between this book and [b:The Executioner's Song|12468|The Executioner's Song|Norman Mailer|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1325755176s/12468.jpg|838965], with the explanation that Eggers is more "heartfelt" and "humanist" than Mailer, but Mailer's less-loveable characters have development at least, and an internal life. The admirable Zeitouns are living at the surface.
This is why it's such a scandal to discover that since the book was published, the protagonists have divorced and Kathy has accused Zeitoun of trying to kill her. Such news is indigestible for the shadowless heroes in the book.
Is it only horrible injustice if it happens to good, 'decent' people?
Having read Eggers at his cleverest, I can admire that he puts aside his wordplay to tell a story as plainly as possible, in words that fit with the characters themselves. Yes, I can admire this. And then I hope the next thing I read has some more musicality to it, because the lines hit me flat like newsprint or gospel tracts.
plattcraig's review against another edition
4.0
Having lived in New Orleans from 1996 - 2000 I have a very strong affection for the city. I have not been back since Katrina, but I do know that the people of New Orleans are kind, resilient and extremely quick to help a neighbor (except for the the neighbors I had while living at 2426 Calhoun St., those ladies should burn in hell.) Eggers does a wonderful job of reporting here. He rarely gives the reader his opinion, instead allowing for the story of the Zeitoun family to unfold. As the Zeitoun's saw the storm, the city and it's recovery. That's all we get as a reader and because the Zeitoun's are such an ordinary and hard working American family, we get a truly honest rendering of life before, during and after the storm.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to see into the city of New Orleans during the storm. And to anyone who wants a glimpse of the American dream.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to see into the city of New Orleans during the storm. And to anyone who wants a glimpse of the American dream.