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A review by mschlat
Comment Comprendre Israël En 60 Jours, Ou Moins by Sarah Glidden
3.0
This was a reread --- I bought the GN when it came out and read it then, but I didn't remember much about it. Having throughly enjoyed Guy DeLisle's [b:Chroniques de Jérusalem|13037817|Chroniques de Jérusalem|Guy Delisle|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327882244s/13037817.jpg|18201569] and looking to cull my GN collection, I took a second read.
The focus here is Sarah Glidden's birthright trip to Israel --- a free trip sponsored by a non-profit organization to help non-Israeli Jews connect with the state of Israel. Glidden starts the story highly skeptical of the entire process and deeply concerned that the scripted experiences she will go through will mask or omit the "situation". That focus stays through the book, even as Sarah runs into more balanced discussions than she expected.
Because of the tourist focus of the trip, the story itself mostly alternates between speeches Glidden hears at various sites and her emotional and intellectual responses. To avoid the talking heads syndromes, Glidden does a lot to liven up the talks. My favorite is when a tour guide describes the different levels of Jaffa built on top of each other by piling baseball caps on a tourist. Glidden then illustrates each different culture on the brims of the caps.
There's not a definitive conclusion --- at the end, Glidden is still concerned that Israel's policies are making the situation worse. There is, however, a deeper understanding on her part of how people disagree. I don't think the GN shows the same level of complexity that you see in Delisle, but I think it's worth it to see the birthright trip process and how non-Israeli Jews react to being in Israel.
The focus here is Sarah Glidden's birthright trip to Israel --- a free trip sponsored by a non-profit organization to help non-Israeli Jews connect with the state of Israel. Glidden starts the story highly skeptical of the entire process and deeply concerned that the scripted experiences she will go through will mask or omit the "situation". That focus stays through the book, even as Sarah runs into more balanced discussions than she expected.
Because of the tourist focus of the trip, the story itself mostly alternates between speeches Glidden hears at various sites and her emotional and intellectual responses. To avoid the talking heads syndromes, Glidden does a lot to liven up the talks. My favorite is when a tour guide describes the different levels of Jaffa built on top of each other by piling baseball caps on a tourist. Glidden then illustrates each different culture on the brims of the caps.
There's not a definitive conclusion --- at the end, Glidden is still concerned that Israel's policies are making the situation worse. There is, however, a deeper understanding on her part of how people disagree. I don't think the GN shows the same level of complexity that you see in Delisle, but I think it's worth it to see the birthright trip process and how non-Israeli Jews react to being in Israel.