Ambivalence: Adventures in Israel and Palestine

In this travel memoir, Canadian journalist and author Jonathan Garfinkel recounts his first journey to Israel and the West Bank, a trip prompted by a chance encounter with a Palestinian woman who described a rare instance of peaceful cohabitation between an Arab and a Jew. Motivated by a restless questioning of his own Jewish faith and Zionist upbringing, Garfinkel seeks to find this house and, in doing so, to discover a more nuanced understanding of life in the Middle East.

The book blends personal narrative with reportage, moving between the author’s internal struggles with identity and the external realities of the conflict. Garfinkel’s voice is reflective and inquisitive, using the physical landscape of the region as a backdrop for exploring complex themes of belonging, history, and the possibility of reconciliation. It is a candid exploration of how personal belief intersects with political reality in one of the world’s most contested regions.

Description adapted from Open Library ↗.