When Hurricane Katrina met New Orleans and caused the ocean to breach its levees and destroy its homes, Abdulrahman Zeitoun was busy becoming my newest hero. I just didn’t realize it until I read Dave Eggers’ most recent book, which tells the true story of Zeitoun’s life and, primarily, his experience in a New Orleans changed in the aftermath of its worst storm to date.

The book blends a fascinating nonfiction subject with the kind of emotional power present in great fiction, a singular story of the prosperous, Syrian-born Zeitoun and his family, the inspiring dynamic and love between him and his wife, Kathy—a former Southern Baptist and divorcee who converted to Islam prior to meeting Zeitoun—and the quagmire that was (and may still be) U.S. post-storm policy. While his family leaves the city for safer ground, Zeitoun stays behind to look after his jobsites and properties. But in the days after the storm, he instead finds himself paddling the quiet streets of New Orleans in an aluminum canoe, helping stranded and injured residents to safety, feeding abandoned dogs, and bringing water and supplies to folks who chose to stay in their homes. The more people he helps, the better he feels, and as a professional contractor and a generally hopeful man, he sees the storm’s damage as an opportunity to rebuild. But his story takes a horrifying turn when he is suddenly arrested and placed into a poorly-devised post-storm prison system, where the legal process does not exist.

Eggers works as a journalist with this book. He uses no literary tricks to tell Zeitoun’s story, to the point where you forget there’s even an author, and you are able to watch it all unfold without interruption. This is an illuminating, heartbreaking, and inspiring story, and it’s easily my favorite book so far this year. ~Jared