When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a prosperous Syrian-American and father of four, chose to stay through the storm to protect his house and contracting business. In the days after the storm, he traveled the flooded streets in a secondhand canoe, passing on supplies and helping those he could. A week later, on September 6, 2005, Zeitoun abruptly disappeared. Eggers’s riveting nonfiction book, three years in the making, explores Zeitoun’s roots in Syria, his marriage to Kathy — an American who converted to Islam — and their children, and the surreal atmosphere (in New Orleans and the United States generally) in which what happened to Abdulrahman Zeitoun was possible. Like What Is the What , Zeitoun was written in close collaboration with its subjects and involved vast research — in this case, in the United States, Spain, and Syria.

二〇〇三年，美国作家戴夫•艾格斯认识了来自苏丹的青年瓦伦蒂诺•阿沙克•邓。两人决定合作，把瓦伦蒂诺的经历和南苏丹的苦难用小说的形式写出来告诉世人。 瓦伦蒂诺七岁那年，苏丹内战爆发，战火烧到苏丹南方他的家乡。从此，这个孩子和无数同样失去家园和亲人的“迷途少年”一起，走上了流浪之路。一路上，他们遭遇雷区、轰炸、大屠杀、疾病、野兽捕食等无穷无尽的残酷经历，在孤独、恐惧、饥饿中也见证了同伴的存亡、人类的善良本能。 瓦伦蒂诺徒步数千英里，穿越苏丹、埃塞俄比亚、肯尼亚的沙漠，在难民营中度过十三年，最终来到美国。但是，美国是否就是自由的天堂？ 这是一本关于成长的书，瓦伦蒂诺不停地沉思：人类本性、爱情和死亡，还有什么是“什么”。 戴夫•艾格斯以丰富的想象力、宽阔的视野和令人动情的宏大力量将瓦伦蒂诺与他旅途中遇到的人改换成小说中的角色。他勾勒出众多读者陌生的东非悲歌，紧张，流畅，幽默，睿智，令人难忘。