Ayelet Tsabari's short stories, published under The Best Place on Earth were a literary revelation for me. My aim was to purchase her recently published memoir, The Art of Leaving, but got a bit lost into the recommendations of my Amazon algorithm and challenged by the descriptions of some of the stories. Convinced, I purchased the short stories first and since then - yesterday afternoon - couldn't put them down.
I am not a great reader - and not a writer either - of short stories. I am in love with big, long stories and I rarely get the literary enthusiasm for couple of pages only stories. Especially when it comes to accounts defined by a specific identity and geographic realm, I prefer those boundaries to be journalistically clear, simple in order to allow in the good filling of the story.
Ayelet Tsabari succeeded to achieve it in a very entincing, I dare to say even addictive way. The stories do have a clear geographical reference - Israel - and a frame - Jewish life, mostly of Jews of Mizrahi (Oriental) origin, specifically Yemeni. Within this matrix, memories are created, unique stories are told and existential crisis or questions are occurring. At the end, frequently the reader is left out, as it seems that once you are reading the next one, in the previous one there is still a life going on, you are not privy to. Thus, expectations and inner discussions are created.
There is always a tension - mostly between the new and old, the traditional lifestyle versus the modernity liberation, the silent revolt against the Askenazi establishment - around which each of the stories are created, but those tensions are gently, fuel the story and nicely make the balance.
After becoming familiar with Tsabari's writing, I am very curious to read more about the sources of her writing, her own life story and therefore can't wait to start reading her memoir.
Rating: 4 stars
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