Songs for the Broken Hearted by Ayelet Tsabari

I waited to read this book my whole year. After reading Ayelet Tsabari´s eyes widening memoir and few of her short stories, I knew that this author will be on my TBR for ever. Israeli of Yemeni origin, she is openly sharing stories telling stories that were rarely shared before: the Yemenite babies affair, the cultural clash, the denied identities. 

I was able to fulfill my bookish fantasy this week, except that I did something much better: I got the audiobook which is read by the author with Yossi Zabari and Assaf Cohen, starts and ends with an original song sang with the inflections of the Yemeni dialect, with names pronounced with the right accent. It added so much value to the average reading experience.

Songs for the Broken Hearted is a beautiful secret love story, of Saida, a Yemeni married woman, who met his love Yaqub in the immigrants´ camp in Rosh Ha´ayin, had to leave once their affair discovered only to meet again 40 years after. Love can be so strong and remain lit no matter how many times separate from the encounter. Zohara, the rebelious daughter, is called from Thailand to her mother´s funeral and got enthralled in the search for the secrets of her estranged mother. A typical story of mother and daughter, taking place in the incertainties and tensions following the Oslo Accords.

Every detail of the setting is a revelation for the reader; the ways in which the characters are built, their ambiguities and unexpected private episodes; the political and social context and the ways in which the new identities - Yemeni, Mizrahi - are reshaped, decades after the first arrival and many disappointments that did not diminish however the deep attachment to the land of Israel. Songs for the Broken Hearted is a human chronicle which unfolds in the most genuine possible way. 

Some stories shall be told and once aired they may change completely the way one looks at life, history and love too. Life will be completely different, poorer, without those stories, I am convinced.

Rating: 5 stars

Unforgettable Short Stories by Ayelet Tsabari

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