Informative Entertainment

I’m inventing a literary genre.  Through a snapshot realization that everyone is petty, I’ve coined (as far as I know) the term: informative entertainment.  Even Zeitoun, the man that decided to stay in New Orleans (cue the patriotic music) for the sake of the city, for the sake of the country, for the sake of munificence (end music) is petty.  As I’ve continued to read about the trials and travails of Zeitoun and New Orleans, all I’ve thought about is his utter kind-heartedness.  His family left, and he stayed.  He wanted to help! I tell myself.  While this is true, Eggers has finally shown the underlying reasoning behind his apparent good will. “A hope flickered within Zeitoun that…” (167) he would be rewarded on some level, for his actions.

I’ve conveniently decided not to include the latter part of that sentence.  What Zeitoun, and behind him Eggers’ cynicism, want to tell the reader, is that there is no good guy in this book.  More than a praise for Zeitoun’s actions and a celebration of Muslim acceptance in the South, the book targets the reader that wants informative entertainment.  Yes, this is a genre that I just made up.  Zeitoun is described as a “disturbing, inspiring nonfiction account of a New Orleans married couple that w[as] dragged through their own special branch of Kafkaesque hell…”*   As I began reading the account I lost sight of the target for the author.  An account, seeks to inform.  This particular account not only seeks to inspire, but also to provide the reader with a bright light after a natural disaster and a terrorist attack. Now, I’ve been forced to take some time for introspection.  As Zeitoun mentions his wish for “his siblings to see him like this, on the water, a sailor, being useful, serving God,” (167) I realize that all this time Eggers has been blatantly manipulating me. My empathetic melodramatic self has gobbled up a cover story.  Zeitoun is an account of how Katrina is comparable to the war on terror. 

Kafkaesque: "it describes a nightmarish situation which most people can somehow relate to, although strongly surreal." - Urban Dictionary 

The step by step explanation of the story, including the sometimes-omniscient yet sometimes ignorant narrator, is a way to get the reader to be entertained. The contents regarding the storm are informative.  As Zeitoun reaches out to the average American, noting that there are some Muslims, even after 9/11, that are willing to help, Zeitoun reaches out to the reader, simply to show them how he saw Hurricane Katrina.