Zeitoun: The Final Pages

Fortunately after a month of Zeitoun's wrongful incarceration he was set free due to efforts by a lawyer and his wife and friends. This book sheds light on how ineffective our Government can be during a time of crisis. While an entire city was underwater with people suffering, the law enforcement agents were more concerned with a Muslim man in a canoe. The legal system was also messed around with to keep Zeitoun from his even basic rights like a phone call to his family. Reading this story was a huge blow to my faith in our Government, the reaction time to Katrina was so slow and unprepared, but we easily conjour up the money to fight a futile war across seas. We live in a country based off of basic rights and freedoms, but the people of New Orleans were not even treated like citizens of America, but refugees in a foreign country. Zeitoun's story is one of many unfortunate ones, but it sheds light on the ignorance of American society and how botched and terrible it was during and after hurricane Katrina.

Zeitoun: Fourth set of 68 pages

After reading these pages in the book Zeitoun I am furious with the reaction of the American Government and American people towards people of Middle Eastern decent. Zeitoun was taken captive solely on his looks. When he was arrested he was not in the process of committing a crime or had committed a crime in the past. The only cause of his arrest was his race and religion. This is what infuriates me about American society after 9/11 and the wars in Iraq, Americans have this belief that all Muslims are bad people, just because the KKK existed it does not mean that all white Christians are terrible people. It is a horrible injustice that many American Citizens are subjected too. Zeitoun is not even told what he is charged with, he gets ideas on the charges when he is referred to as al Quida and Taliban by racist soldiers. I am just very angry that in a time of need for Americans, the aid they are supposed to get is going towards arresting innocent Muslim men solely for being Muslim.

Zeitoun: Third 68 pages

These third 68 pages of Zeitoun focus mainly on Kathy's mental struggle when she cannot get in contact with her husband. During this time Kathy is playing out all worst case scenarios while getting desperate calls from Zeitoun's family in Syria. Personally I cannot even fathom what Kathy is going through, to deal with the emotional stress of not knowing the well-being of ones spouse must be extremely stressful. It is actually so stressful on Kathy that she starts developing mass amounts of gray hairs. She also has to stay strong not only for herself, but for the sake of her children. I cannot stress enough how much I cannot even imagine going through this kind of emotional suffering. We later find out that Zeitoun has been in fact arrested. This gives Kathy some peace at mind knowing that he is indeed alive, but now she has to worry about her husband being imprisoned. This is another emotional roller-coaster that I cannot fathom riding. I am very impressed with Kathy's will power and ability to stay sane during those trying two weeks of not knowing. I am very excited to continue on reading the novel.

Zeitoun: Second 68 pages

The second 68 pages of Zeitoun speak toward the actual hurricane and the days to come afterward. I can totally understand where Zeitoun is coming from when he decides that he will stay home to ride the storm out and maintain their house. Zeitoun feels that as the man of the house that it is his duty to stay behind and protect his home of many years. This is very understandable, like what we saw in the move "When the Levees Broke" many people who have lived in New Orleans have lived through many tropical storms with no damage to their property or lively hood. Zeitoun had this exact mindset. But as we all know the hurricane itself was no so terrible for New Orleans, but it was the levees breaking that destroyed the city. Zeitoun experiences this when the entirety of the first floor of his house ends up underwater. Surprisingly Zeitoun stays calm and moves upstairs what he can before his house is completely flooded. It is amazing that Zeitoun goes around in his old canoe feeding dogs and strangers his food. What Zeitoun does for people of New Orleans is simply stunning and selfless.

Zeitoun: First 68 pages

The beginning of Zeitoun is very interesting and captivating. The beginning of the Novel gives a great brief summary of both Zeitoun and Kathy's childhoods and how they came about meeting. The book starts out with describing the life Zeitoun has made for himself as a Muslim-American in Louisiana. Zeitoun runs a very successful painting and carpentry business. It describes his and his wife's brief brushes with Americans view on Muslims and how it has and mainly has not affected their lives. But I have thoroughly enjoyed reading the beginning to this book. I am very much captivated by the story being put in place in front of me. I would truthfully suggest this book to anyone, it has a great story so far and the writing is great that it is easy to keep reading while not feeling like you are reading something for an eighth-grader. I am excited to continue reading this book and am kind of bummed out that I did not start it earlier.