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A review by ablotial
How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less by Sarah Glidden
4.0
With the current conflicts happening in Israel, I thought it would be a good time to pick up this book. I'll start by saying that of course this book is very one-sided and if you are looking for a balanced view of this subject, this is not the place to start. Sarah is a very leftist/liberal Jewish woman who grew up in the United States and goes on a free, Israel-sponsored birthright trip to visit Israel and experience it firsthand. As you might expect, then, the book is very much focused on the Israeli side of things - while the Palestinian side isn't completely ignored, it certainly takes a back seat. But that's very much a product of the type of trip she was on -- if anything she leans pro-Palestine and made plans to go into the Palestinian areas at the end of her trip so she could see for herself . Over the course of her trip, .
I have to say that Sarah is not a very likable person ... at least in this book... maybe she's great in real life. But here she comes across as pretty rude, thinks she's better than everyone else and her opinions are the right ones. She has no problem interrupting speakers with rude comments or incredibly obvious eye-rolls, or droning on to her friend about whatever her current issue is despite repeated requests to give it a break, speaking for her friend when it's not her place, etc. Even at the end of the book when it seems like she's figured out that the situation is a lot more complicated than she was treating it before, she still launches into her story and opinions to a new group of people, as if her opinions are more than a few days old and obviously the correct ones.
Still worth the read though. In addition to her growth as a person, there is a lot of interesting context and history here, and I googled a lot of the things mentioned to learn more. I also learned a lot about modern-day Israel and that was interesting as well.
Spoiler
at least at the beginning of the tripSpoiler
(but ends up chickening out)Spoiler
she learns a lot about Israel and the conflict and sees a side that she's not experienced in her reading. She realizes that the people on both sides are exactly that -- people -- and that makes things complicated and not black-and-white right-and wrong etc. She experiences less bias and propaganda than she expected to (which isn't to say there was none... there certainly was) and that colors her opinions of the guides and places she encounters. It's interesting to see her opinions mature over the course of the book.I have to say that Sarah is not a very likable person ... at least in this book... maybe she's great in real life. But here she comes across as pretty rude, thinks she's better than everyone else and her opinions are the right ones. She has no problem interrupting speakers with rude comments or incredibly obvious eye-rolls, or droning on to her friend about whatever her current issue is despite repeated requests to give it a break, speaking for her friend when it's not her place, etc. Even at the end of the book when it seems like she's figured out that the situation is a lot more complicated than she was treating it before, she still launches into her story and opinions to a new group of people, as if her opinions are more than a few days old and obviously the correct ones.
Still worth the read though. In addition to her growth as a person, there is a lot of interesting context and history here, and I googled a lot of the things mentioned to learn more. I also learned a lot about modern-day Israel and that was interesting as well.