Of Suspense, drama, and painters

Right now, I’m sitting in front of my computer writing this blog.  Approximately twelve seconds ago, I was making weird noises and celebrating Zeitoun’s turn of events with odd giddiness.  Now, I’ll keep reading. 

All right, I’ve read ten more pages.  Now, let me explain to you why it’s important to recognize my willpower: I stopped reading the book at this stage in the storyline.  A book that has been based on the retelling of a series of inspiring and thought provoking events has now turned to suspense.  As Zeitoun was just about to call his wife, the mother of his children, the bearer of his crazy decision to remain in New Orleans after the storm, something happened that only happens in movies like Paranormal Activity, Fargo, Saw, or Freddy.  “When he put the phone down and looked toward the front porch, he saw a group of men, all of them armed, bursting into the house” (170).  Zeitoun is a painter, he knows how to fix windows and paint doors, and he’s spent the last week paddling around in a canoe feeding homeless dogs.  It would be fair to say that he isn’t prepared for a violent encounter.  This is what makes this occurrence so extraordinarily fantastic.  Eggers, who has a knack for exaggerating the drama behind a character’s feelings (mostly in order to highlight his ethnical origin) has opted to not overdramatize the only really dramatic moment thus far.  Just when the main character is about to get robbed, beat up, raped, or I don’t know what, Eggers decides to conclude the chapter, and then go on ten pages without mentioning Zeitoun or the armed men at his door.  How does this work? Clearly, this isn’t a suspense novella, or a horror film, and Zeitoun didn’t refuse to tell Eggers about what happened next.  Eggers is doing this on purpose because he can, because he knew that I (you and we) would enjoy it.  So, as I continue to read, and Kathy continues to “pace[s] the rooms, the phone an extension of her arm,” (179) all I can think of is how this experience will affect the rest of the retelling of Katrina’s aftermath.  Will Zeitoun spiral into depression and do nothing until his family arrives? Will he move on unharmed, continuing his borderline heroic actions? Will he die?

On another note, Eggers hasn’t ceased to include even the goriest details about “little babies being raped” (175) inside the Superdome.  Will Bush’s administration find a way to be remembered positively in what remains of the book? Doubt it.