Review by Booklist Review
Ignatz Award-winning cartoonist Glidden provides readers with a well-crafted narrative featuring the birthright trip she took to Israel in her early twenties. A secular Jew with strong opinions about the state of Israel overstepping both political and moral rectitude in its relationship to Palestine and Palestinians, Sarah is presented with sophisticated and ingenuous arguments by the various tour guides and Israelis she meets during the carefully designed tour, which includes kibbutzim, Tel Aviv, museums, other birthright tour groups, and ultimately Jerusalem. Beautiful watercolors and well-chosen viewpoints detail the land and architecture, and a richly individuated cast of characters carries the reader into and beyond the Israel Glidden experiences as she comes to the realization that others don't need to agree with her in order for her to feel heard by them. Although aimed at adults, this graphic novel is also a good choice for collections serving older teens and good discussion material for current-events classes as well as ethnic studies curricula.--Goldsmith, Francisca Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Glidden, a progressive American Jew who is sharply critical of Israeli policies vis-a-vis the Occupied Territories, went on an all-expense-paid "birthright" trip to Israel in an attempt to discover some grand truths at the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict. This graphic memoir tells the touching and often funny story of her utter failure to do so. As the tour group moves from the Golan Heights to Tel Aviv, Glidden's struggles with propaganda and perspective lead only to a morass of deepening questions and self-doubt. Her neurotic need for objective truths and struggle to reconcile historical perspectives is hugely gratifying for the reader. This is especially true when the group visits Masada, the site of an epic confrontation between a sect of Jewish rebels and a Roman siege army that culminated in mass suicide. Gruesome fanaticism or a stirring clarion call for the burgeoning Zionism movement? You be the judge. As befits a travelogue, Glidden's drawings have the look of something jotted down on the fly; if it weren't for a haircut here or a pair of glasses there, many of the characters would be indistinguishable. Yet the simplicity of the drawing is offset by bright, delicate watercolors that belie our heroine's unresolved struggle with history and heritage. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
In the Israel-Palestinian conflict, who is right? Glidden thought she knew her mind. Of Jewish heritage but not religious, she held Palestinian sympathies. But after six weeks of reading and ten days on a "Birthright Israel" tour for young Jews, she wasn't so sure. And after 200 pages sweating out emotional and intellectual dissonances with her, perhaps neither are we. Taking a diary approach, Glidden pulls together maps, facts, figures, and ghosts of dead relatives and dignitaries who figure into Middle Eastern politics and the stories she heard during the tour. This part memoir, part political travelog spins out the history of Jewish attraction toward the area that is now Israel and the resulting hostilities involving Arab locals, interwoven with Glidden's personal intellectual journey. VERDICT This graphic novel has a Persepolis feel because of the way it depicts a hot spot through memoir, but it provides more about multiple sides of the issues. The pleasant watercolor conjures semirealism, contrasting ironically with the centuries of bloodshed staining that expanse of land. Strongly recommended for high school and adult collections in company with Joe Sacco's Palestine and Footnotes in Gaza and Rutu Modan's Exit Wounds.-M.C. (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 10 Up-Glidden travels to Israel on a program that offers Jewish young adults first-time trips to the country. She details her two-month excursion through cities and deserts, seeking to view Israel with an objective eye. The soft watercolor palette and realistic art complement this thoughtful exploration of the role that cultural heritage plays in the search for personal identity. (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
This graphic memoir, the author's book-length debut, relates her eye-opening visit to Israel.Before embarking on her "birthright" tour of Israel, Glidden explained to her non-Jewish boyfriend that "I'm ready to go there and discover the truth behind this whole mess once and for all. It'll all be crystal clear by the time I come back!" The narrative sustains that spirit of self-deprecating innocence throughout, making Glidden an effective guide through the trouble spots of the Middle East, though inevitably she returns home with more questions than answers, more ambivalence than assurance. Anticipating propaganda that would attempt to counter what she terms her "left-wing and progressive," pro-Palestinian sympathies, she met Israelis who shared some of her reservations and discovered that people whom she liked could have conflicting opinions on complex issues. "We ask only one thing of you and that is not to be pro-Israel or pro-Palestine, but to be pro-peace," she heard at a speakers' panel of Jews and Muslims who had both lost loved ones to the conflict. By the end of her two-month tour, she realizes that peace in the Middle East is the ultimate goal, but that achieving it will be a very challenging process. She attempts some inventive narrative techniques, but the author would have to show more insight or more of an edge to give readers more than they already know.A primer for those who aren't aware of the complexity of issues and emotions underlying this seemingly interminable strife.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
