Broken Frontier

In How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less, Sarah Glidden combines Joe Sacco’s anthropological prowess in Palestine with Marjane Satrapi’s self-introspection in Persepolis to create an honest and poignant account of the challenges of Jewish identity.

Sarah, left-leaning and sympathetic toward the plight of Palestinians, decided to go on Taglit-Birthright Israel, a free 10-day heritage tour of the country, open to Jews between 18 and 26,  intended to strengthen ties between Israel and Jewish communities around the world. Among other places, Sarah visits a Kibbutz, a mock-Bedouin campsite, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and comes to realize that Israel and its conflict, like the roots of her Jewish identity and its connection to Israel, is far more complex and complicated than she could have ever imagined.

Like the best of journalists, Sarah has a relentlessly critical mind, trying to parse truth from propaganda, yet her observations of Israeli society also challenge her longly-held assumptions and reductionist views. Glidden’s compassion, unabashed honesty (she admits to being “prejudiced”, albeit not unwarranted, against Hasidic Jews at a younger age; calls herself a “big hypocrite” for being afraid of riding alone in a cab to Ramallah) and occasional humour makes her one of the most memorable and endearing narrators in comics in recent memory.

The child-like simplicity of Glidden’s art style resonates with her innocent perspective. Stick-figure faces are barely distinguishable, but connote a shared humanity. She uses a wide palette of water colours to bring landscapes to life. Glidden knows when to cut back on words, letting silent panels speak volumes. One of the book’s most powerful sequences shows Sarah in one panel, imagining a Nazi soldier stomping on a helpless Jew as emaciated camp prisoners look on; in the next panel she imagines the Israeli occupation - a bulldozer, homes reduced to rubble, an Israeli soldier pointing his rifle at a Palestinian mother and her son. The third panel is a symbolic fusion of the previous two, depicting both Israeli and Palestinian aggression. Sarah is shown off-center, crying into her hands over the unrelenting violence and its historical association with Jewish and Israeli identity.

How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less comes with my highest recommendation. Buy it, read it, lend it to family and friends. Better yet, buy several copies and hand them out as gifts on Eid and Hannukah.

Special thanks to The Beguiling, Toronto’s premier comic book store, for providing a review copy! Visit www.beguiling.com to purchase graphic novels, original art, and information on comics events taking place in Toronto.