Zeitoun

Dayton's Big Read this year (2012) was the non-fiction novel Zeitoun by Dave Eggers.  The novel won the 2010 Dayton Literary Peace Prize for non-fiction (for more details, click HERE).  In typical fashion, I read the work several months after all the Big Read events were complete.  Nonetheless, I was glad I decided to read this anyway.

This book was fabulous, shocking, appalling, heartbreaking, and hopeful all in one package.  I cannot (or should I say that I DO NOT) want to believe that this could happen today in the country I live; however, it did.  The events of this novel were centered during and just after Hurricane Katrina.  If I was a high school English or history teacher, I would incorporate this text into the school year.

The surprise element in this novel was the repeated references and reliance on faith in God.  

The family established The Zeitoun Foundation to help with the rebuilding process in New Orleans.  Proceeds from the sale of Zeitoun help to fund this organization.