Rave Review: "Songs for the Brokenhearted" by Ayelet Tsabari

Quick Summary

Type: Standalone novel

Genre: Literary fiction, historical fiction

Back Cover: "A young Yemeni Israeli woman learns of her mother's secret romance in a dramatic journey through lost family stories, revealing the unbreakable bond between a mother and a daughter—the debut novel of an award-winning literary voice.

1950. Thousands of Yemeni Jews have immigrated to the newly founded Israel in search of a better life. In an overcrowded immigrant camp in Rosh Ha’ayin, Yaqub, a shy young man, happens upon Saida, a beautiful girl singing by the river. In the midst of chaos and uncertainty, they fall in love. But they weren’t supposed to; Saida is married and has a child, and a married woman has no place befriending another man. 

1995. Thirty-something Zohara, Saida’s daughter, has been living in New York City—a city that feels much less complicated than Israel, where she grew up wishing her skin were lighter, her illiterate mother’s Yemeni music quieter, and that the father who always favored her was alive. She hasn’t looked back since leaving home, rarely in touch with her mother or sister, Lizzie, and missing out on her nephew Yoni’s childhood. But when Lizzie calls to tell her their mother has died, she gets on a plane to Israel with no return ticket. 

Soon Zohara finds herself on an unexpected path that leads to shocking truths about her family—including dangers that lurk for impressionable young men and secrets that force her to question everything she thought she knew about her parents, her heritage, and her own future."

Read Time: 5 days

Rating: 5 stars

Review

Disclaimer: I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway, and I want to thank Random House for sending me this ARC. However, that has not influenced my rating or review in any way.

This was a beautiful exploration on the themes of grief and family secret. I loved watching Zohara reclaim her heritage after losing first her marriage, then her mother. I also enjoyed the discussion surrounding the tensions between Israel and Palestine in the 90s from the perspective of several different characters with different life experiences, ideals, and politics. I think the author treated the subject with nuance, and the juxtaposition of different perspectives made me think more deeply about the current situation in Israel and Palestine. I learned a lot about how certain groups were radicalized in favor of the right, which gave me a deeper understanding of how Netanyahu eventually came to power.

However, I was most interested in the story of Saida's lost son, set in the 40s. I thought I knew the history of Israel's creation - the British took a piece of land in the biblical home of the Jews and created a new state for the survivors of the Holocaust. After the creation of the Israeli state, Jews from surrounding Arab states journeyed to Israel to become part of the Jewish state. This is the story of Israel I learned. What I didn't know was that the Arab Jews - Jews who came from Egypt, Yemen, Lebanon, Algeria, Morocco, etc. - were very poorly treated by the European Jews who were in control of the government. I learned that Arab Jews were put into camps, then later - as the country became more established - faced significant racism, being treated as second-class citizens in a country they thought was their Promised Land.

But the most shocking thing I learned about was the theft of children by the European elites of Arab-Jewish (primarily Yemenite) babies. After reading this story, I googled the issue, and the Israeli government has reluctantly acknowledged the issue, and has only recently (within the last five years) agreed to pay reparations to the victims. But even that feels like an insult: for a taken baby whose fate remains unknown, the government is paying the family of the child 200,000 shekels, or just about $55,000. That's the price of a stolen baby: $55,000.

Aside from the outrage of a history I had previously not known, this novel was incredibly well-written. Tsabari is clearly a very talented writer, and her command of language is excellent. The plot of the novel is quiet - there is a little mystery, a little tension, but it's beautifully subtle and the focus is much more on the characters' struggles with grief, and with life and their choices. This is a novel that has stayed with me for months, which is why I'm now adding it to my all-time favorite list. It was truly, truly, an amazing read and one I would recommend to anyone and everyone.