Throw This Book Away

Rating:  

Time to toss your copy of Zeitoun in your curbside recycling bin; it can land on top of Three Cups of Tea in the corner of the bin reserved for books that don’t even deserve donation to a library because they turned out to be dishonest accounts narrated by shysters.

Yes, this news is four months old, but I just found out recently and wanted to alert Book Shark visitors who may also have missed the story: the “upstanding” and “misunderstood” “hero” Zeitoun has been convicted of domestic abuse. He beat Kathy more than once, but she was too afraid to press charges until she finally separated from him last year (they have since divorced).

Of course we now have to question the veracity of the book, beginning with the portrayal of his personal character as morally upstanding. Readers are asked to believe he was unjustly detained while innocently minding his own business, but why would we trust the word of a man who thinks nothing of smashing his wife’s head against the floor in front of his four hysterically crying children?  I’m getting a strong Greg Mortenson-esque con man vibe here. I think we will soon learn that much of the book is made up. Sadly, I think we will even learn that he never brought food to those dogs.