Broken Frontier

Full of opinions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Jewish-American Sarah Glidden went off on a Birthright Israel trip sponsored by Taglit Birthright Israel.

This comprises a trip to the promised land of Israel to experience firsthand a deeper understanding of the culture and heritage of the Jewish people. Sarah, though, went prepared - obsessively so since the sixty days in the title comprises her two week tour and a 1.5 month research period - and determined not to be brainwashed by the ‘Jewish propaganda’. Her original experiences were jotted down in mini-comics form but when Vertigo comics signed a book deal with her, Glidden transformed and expanded upon the mini-comics, metamorphosing them into a full-blown, thick graphic novel entitled How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less.

The Big Question of course is how to treat the subject matter fairly, especially one that has such a long and troubled history with so many shades of gray. The answer Sarah Glidden provides is: you approach it from an extremely subjective point of view and in a journalistic reflex that means her own POV. How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less falls into the comics journalism category in the same manner as Mariane Satrapi’s Persepolis is a part of that sub-genre. It represents the author’s renumerations, philosophizing and confrontations with external ideologies and throws it at real world events. This clash between real life and the inner world of the author/protagonist is where How to Understand Israel comes to life. 

Sarah Glidden is an extremely acute observer, not only for the external but also her internal world. Constantly balancing her own outsider knowledge of Israel - the power mad usurper of Palestine - against her real world interactions, she finds only more shades of gray covered by testimonials and personal anecdotes and gradually her black-and-white outlook starts to change. She chronicles a few emotional breakdowns upon having her own viewpoints challenged, and walls of assumptions broken down, but she also doesn’t shy away from some sarcastic comments and humorist introspection which really uplifts the book at times and helps to keep the spirit of (self-)exploration alive. Her constant inner criticism of her pro-Israel tour guides also serves up a few good laughs.

The main theme running through the book is of personal growth but the historical information of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is comprehensive and easily digestible. Glidden’s travels in Israel as a pro-Palestinian lend the social interaction with her fellow Birthrighters and guides and edge that makes you breeze through the book even though it can be quite daunting material to read. The ultimate lesson learned here is that being pro-Palestine doesn’t automatically mean that you are anti-Israel.

The art showcased by Glidden certainly helps to make the subject matter easily digestible. Her washed out water colours enliven the pages and often lend depth and texture to her open drawing style. Her line work sticks to the essentials and renders only what is needed for the reader to make a visual distinction in a ligne claire sort of way. But it works beautifully and only enhances the reading experience. 

I highly recommend this graphic novel for not only people interested in reading about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but to anyone interested in reading a good story.

This review of How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less by Sarah Glidden was based on the Dutch edition, published by Oog & Blik I Bezige Bij. The English language edition was published by Vertigo in 2010. It is a full colour hardcover counting 208 pages and retailing for €24.99.