How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less. Finished 7-21-16, 3.75/5 stars, graphic memoir, 208 pages, pub. 2010

Sarah Glidden’s charming and funny travel memoir of her trip through Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, Masada and other historic locales, brought to life with lush watercolors in all of their quirky and breathtaking detail.

At the same time, ISRAEL is a sensitive, deeply thoughtful and personal examination of a highly charged issue, an account of a journey Sarah never expected to take. Her experience clashes with her preconceived notions again and again, particularly when she tries to take a non-chaperoned excursion into the West Bank. As she struggles to “understand Israel,” Sarah is forced to question first her beliefs, then ultimately her own identity.      from Goodreads

Sarah, a progressive New Yorker is ready to take her Birthright trip, a 10 day tour of Israel for those of Jewish descent.  She is interested in getting to the bottom of th Israeli-Palestinian conflict and is expecting the trip to reinforce her views.  What she finds is a country and people more complicated than she could have ever imagined.

I picked this one up mainly because we live in a neighborhood with a large percentage of Jewish families and aside from some holidays I learned about the year Gage spent at a Jewish preschool, my understanding is limited.  I loved learning about some of the cities on the tour and their history.  I think I did come away with a better understanding, but, like Glidden, found no answers to the centuries old conflict.

I’d recommend this to readers interested in learning more about Israel or fans of graphic memoirs.