Benjamin Libman's work, The Third Solitude, is a deeply personal memoir about Libman's learning more about his own identity as a Jewish man; and that is where I ran into problems with the work. With memoir, although it is certainly not a requirement, one wants to be able to relate to the author and their journey, whether funny, tragic, or otherwise. Libman's work is so self-reflective, it is hard to take journey with him, similar to that of Henry Thoreau's Walden, my White Whale). Of course, I will never be able to whole-heartedly connect with another person's physical and emotional journey, and I recognize that I am reading this from the perspective of a Catholic man; however, in cases such as this, I want to feel like I am with the person, listening and learning from the experiences they are going through. Unfortunately, I was not and could not connect with Libman's experience, as well researched and written as it is.

Thank you to Net Galley for the advance copy of The Third Solitude. This book will speak to many I think. I would not say that I did not like it, but I definitely did not love it.
I like the idea of the three solitudes, his history as a Jewish individual with a family history of Holocaust and his life as a Jewish Montrealer. This brings to question, where does he fit, which gets him considering the Third Solitude.

I liked reading about his family history. This brought forth quite a Jewish history, that included the Holocaust. He fast forwards to the issues for Israel today and recognizes that we cannot ignore how they got there.
In doing this, we see the near impossible task (nothing is impossible) of figuring out the conflict
He talks about appropriation of land
"never intended for the Palestinians to be displaced." How can anyone even say that was possible. He indicates that in 1948, 750 000 Palestinians were removed. He talks about the goal of assimilation....wow. We can make many connections to this with Indigenous People around the world, particularly in Canada

There is an Email from a friend: Page 111 that highlights the attacks by Israel.......saying
"No matter what your opinion, the attacks are heinous, unforgivable and unforgettable"

The end of the email goes on to say that an answer is not easy.
Palestinians are a reality and noone has a solution
He goes on to discuss some of the things the Israelis are doing

Then it moved to New France??
Started to veer towards how oppressed French Canadians were and are??? You lose me on the oppression of French Canadians.

He believes that the situation in Montreal is actually the gap between the rich and poor.
While he talks about the two solitudes being Jewish, French Canadian. The two solitudes is the difference between cultural and economic

Moving forward, I found the material to be interesting, and informative. However, presented in a way that bored me for large portions of it.