Zeitoun

[Butcher]

I'm about 1/3 of the way through Dave Eggers' newest book, Zeitoun, and I'm really enjoying it.

It's about a Syran guy who has a painting company in New Orleans. He sticks around during Hurricane Katrina while his family (and most of the city, obviously) evacuates. He wants to protect his home and his business, but he ends up paddling his canoe around, helping people who are stranded. It's a pretty amazing story, and it's completely true.

Eggers is a helluva writer. Anyone who has liked his other stuff will surely like this one. The last book he wrote, What is the What, is probably in my top 50 books of all time. Maybe top 25.

[jstraw]

Completely true? Would you describe this as fitting the genre of literary journalism? Would I, as a big Tracy Kidder fan find this to my liking?

[Butcher]

<!--quoteo(post=93462:date=Apr 28 2010, 09:58 PM:name=jstraw)-->QUOTE (jstraw @ Apr 28 2010, 09:58 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->Completely true? Would you describe this as fitting the genre of literary journalism? Would I, as a big Tracy Kidder fan find this to my liking?<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Well...it's billed as non-fiction, so I'm assuming nothing is embellished. It reads more like narrative fiction, though -- which is one of the reasons I'm really enjoying it.

[Butcher]

Just finished this today. Really good book. It really shows how insane Katrina was -- including the aftermath of the storm. This story will stick with me for quite some time...