Review: How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less by Sarah Glidden

How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less is a sad, funny and touching memoir about a young Jewish American woman who undertakes a birthright tour of Israel. Told in the form of a graphic novel, Sarah perfectly expresses her internal conflicts as she tours a place that she is both in awe of and despises. The author is sensitive, politically aware and nobody's fool, which makes a tour of a place that she disapproves of to be a difficult and, at times, lonely experience. She can see through most of the propaganda that she is presented with on the the tour. Also she is not afraid to ask big questions about the Israel-Palestine conflict, even if sometimes the answers are not things that she wants to hear, and she ends up learning that sometimes solutions to the conflict may not be as easy as they appear on the surface.

This was an interesting read and one that was certainly thoughtfully read and illustrated. What came through over and over again, is that the author is a good person, who genuinely feels a lot of compassion for others. She is also honest about her feelings, her own prejudices and what she has learned through the tour, which makes for interesting--and enlightening--reading. 

The illustrations are absolutely beautiful, done in watercolour.

Highly recommended.

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