Dave Eggers' "Zeitoun": your purchase in part benefits Levantine Cultural CenterZeitoun (McSweeney's Books, 2009), so named for the surname of the main character, is a harrowing, nonfictional tale of biblical proportions—the crux of which takes place in New Orleans immediately following Hurricane Katrina.

Abdulrahman Zeitoun and his wife Kathy are practicing Muslims who own a busy painting company and numerous properties throughout New Orleans. Zeitoun is well-known and heavily utilized, especially at the first warnings of any storm, for in addition to the usual painting jobs his company is regularly called on for the preparatory securing of homes and offices. When Katrina arrives, he feels he cannot abandon the city during its time of crisis. He evacuates Kathy and their four children but is compelled to stay behind. Like a mini version of the flood story, his world is all but drowned. Rather than seeking the protection of an ark, however, this protagonist takes to a second-hand canoe.

Paddling his canoe down the city streets-turned-waterways, Zeitoun is on a mission to save whomever and whatever he can. In his tiny craft, he picks up a neighbor and without delay they miraculously rescue an infirm elderly couple and a handicapped woman struggling to tread water inside their flooded homes.

Zeitoun's house is under water to the second floor. The heat, humidity and stagnant water inside the home drive him to camp out on the roof of his garage. From his rooftop perch tucked inside a tent, he prays for peace in the midst of the city's decimation. But the eerie nighttime commotion of howling dogs and military helicopters prevent Zeitoun from sleeping. In the light of day he sets sail in the canoe.

Tracking the incessant howling, he discovers family pets abandoned and trapped in a neighbors' house. Zeitoun paddles up to the house, and scales a nearby tree to gain entry through an upstairs window to the room where several dogs have been left. An animal lover, he is overwhelmed with concern for the scared and starving pets. Because he has no way of removing them from the house, he goes home for food and then returns. Zeitoun's managed to save the food in his freezer from which he delivers steaks to the dogs for as many days after the hurricane as possible.

Zen-like, Zeitoun and his canoe become one on the water, purposefully sculling the urban watercourses. In the days succeeding the hurricane, heroic rescues become Zeitoun's near round-the-clock ritual.

the Zeitoun family returned to rebuild their lives in New Orleans: visit zeitounfoundation.org to learn moreMeanwhile, with no phone or cellular service, Zeitoun is unable to contact his family members, who have taken refuge with friends in Arizona. His wife, Kathy, is fraught with desperation over the uncertainty of her husband's whereabouts. She frantically does all she can to track him down in a system bereft of all modern communications. Finally, she is stunned to learn that Zeitoun is locked away in a maximum-security prison.

Referencing the inordinate mishandling and militarization of post-Katrina New Orleans, the city was not only under water, but under siege. Within a brief span of time, Zeitoun sails from rescuer to prisoner. Mercenaries and out-of-state cops hired to "secure" the city capture him, along with a Syrian-born friend and two Americans. Like animals, they are locked up in small outdoor chain-link cages, reminiscent of Guantánamo. The humiliations, the accusations of being linked to Al-Qaeda, the torturous treatment, and complete disregard for human life or the law are unthinkable.

Eggers (known for writing to create awareness and social justice) spends the first portion of this book establishing Zeitoun's integrity of character, commitment to his family, and pillar-of-the-community stature in the city that Syrian-born Zeitoun has come to call home. Many pages are dedicated to building up Zeitoun to near-sainthood, and frittered away on the mundane ins and outs of Zeitoun family life. The remainder of the book, however, is spent spinning the nightmarish details of what I only wish had been a fictional tale. With each shocking twist and turn a true, albeit horrifying, story unfolds.

While the writing is prolific, it's not exactly extraordinary. The story itself though, is undeniably poignant. To Eggers' credit, his voice is unobtrusive and amazingly void of personal opinion. Eggers seems to sidestep his own emotional reactions and instead allows the surreal reality of the Katrina/Zeitoun catastrophe to come forth, telling the story exclusively from the perspectives of both Zeitoun and his wife Kathy—an American who converted to Islam before they met.

Once reaching part two, the book starts to become a real page-turner. Anxiety builds. By part three, the intensity multiplies. As the life of an innocent man is hijacked, the reader is completely engrossed in Zeitoun. The injustices that occurred in New Orleans under the direction of the Bush Administration are no longer vague and anonymous. Zeitoun's ordeal personalizes it, and therefore has the power to elicit a flurry of reactions ranging from shock and outrage to grief and compassion. In keeping with Eggers' purpose of writing for justice, consciousness-raising, and restoration of human dignity, profits from the book are dedicated to the plethora of charities listed in the back of the book.

Mischa Geracoulis is an LA-based writer and Associate Editor of Levantine Review.