"Songs for the Brokenhearted" by Ayelet Tsabari is an incredible book, and a very timely read given the current turmoil in Israel. It is not a light read, delving into subjects such as generational trauma, racism, and loss of a loved one.. The author does an admirable job portraying differing viewpoints with sensitivity and respect. Told through dual timelines and different points of view, the author skillfully weaves a beautiful tale of historical fiction and romance. The language is gorgeous and almost poetic at times. I loved the strength of the women characters and their perseverance through adversity. This is an emotional read, so be ready to shed a few tears.

Many thanks to NetGally, the publisher, and the author for the privilege of reading an advanced copy of this tremendous work of literary fiction. Five stars well earned!

When the State of Israel was created in 1948 and Jews from around the world flocked to its new hope, the country struggled to keep up with the influx of immigrants. Transit camps were erected but quickly became overcrowded and unsanitary. When Saida and her husband arrived from Yemen in 1950, they found themselves assigned to one of these camps, a place where many of their children were removed, never to be seen again. Saida’s son will be one of them.

The ancient heritage of North Africa and Arab Jews, or Mizrahis, predates Islam when Jewish communities settled in areas that would later become predominantly Muslim. But in their new and promising country, their Arabness was viewed as inferior, ignorant, and primitive. Saida’s daughter Zohara will later grow up ashamed of her heritage and her mother after she receives an elite education in a mainstream Israeli school. She moves to the United States through opportunities this education provides.

When Saida passes away, Zohara returns to Israel to help her sister sort through their mother’s home and personal belongings. Through this process, she will meet the woman her mother was and begin to reexamine her views of her heritage.

This well-written and moving story highlights the cultural divide between the Ashkenazi and Mizrahi Jews, an example of prejudice that is all too common in the world. The story of the missing Mizrahi children will eddy at the center of this novel as it ironically demonstrates the thoughtless cruelty one group will justify when seeing the other as inferior.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group—Random House and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

A heavy book, lots of grief and things to wade through. Good writing.
Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review

Songs for the Brokenhearted (This review is taken from a NetGalley ARC)
by Ayelet Tsabari
The author has two storylines, the first of which is set in the overcrowded squalor of an immigrant camp in the early years of Israeli statehood. The beginning of a great but forbidden love between two young people
Yaqub, an orphan from North Yemen, comes across a girl his age and is immediately infatuated. Their poignant and intense attraction is just one of the many colorful threads forming this novel’s rich mosaic.
Set in the volatile summer of 1995, the second storyline is narrated by Zohara, who has been living in New York and struggling with a dissertation project she no longer finds inspiring.
While on vacation in Thailand, she learns of the sudden death of her mother in Israel. Returning to her mother’s house in a Yemini neighborhood in central Israel to mourn and clean, Zohara uncovers intriguing tapes of her mother’s singing as well as artifacts testifying to a startling secret. Gradually, Zohara gains a deeper appreciation of the complexity and quiet heroism of her mother’s life, and the beauty, joys, and sorrows of a culture she has often resisted. Yemeni women were taught to be quiet and they believed their stories had no value.
Zohara’s return also brings her closer to her sister Lizzie and her extended family, especially Yoni, a well-intentioned nephew who falls under the ominous influence of a far-right youth movement. Then there’s Nir, a Mizrahi grocery worker Zohara barely remembers from their school days, whom she gradually sees in a much different light.
The murder of Yitzhak Rabin is not the only traumatic episode in Israel’s history addressed in this emotionally intense novel; Tsabari also chronicles the still barely recognized kidnapping of Jewish Yemenite babies by the Ashkenazi establishment.

I love a good family saga, especially if it involves someone uncovering a secret past that forces them to reassess everything they thought they knew.

Zohara's mother has died, and she is returning home to Israel to mourn. But cleaning her home, she uncovers some hidden letters and a story that causes her to realize she never really knew her mother.

This is a story about love, family, and the effects of assimilation. I have never read anything from a Mizrahi perspective, and it was very enlightening. I love a story with multiple timelines, so I thought the back-and-forth between 1950 and 1995 was very well done. I might have liked a bit more of the 1950 plot, but I still really liked what I did get. I also loved the emphasis on songs and singing. Now, I want to listen to traditional Yemeni music and read some poetry.

I thought this was a well-done generational story, and I found the perspective of Yemeni Jews on what it was/is like for them to live in Israel very interesting. I think we Ashkenazi Jews like to envision Israel being a sort of Jewish utopia where everyone gets along, and we are all equal. I think stories like this one are so important to read.

A though provoking look into a culture and part of the world that I am unfamiliar with. A young woman, Zohara, mourns the loss of her mother as she navigates big changes in her own life. Her mother’s hidden past and struggles are slowly revealed when Zohara returns to Israel from New York. Slowly, through conversations, songs, poems and hidden letters she begins to understand her mother and herself in a way she never was able to while growing up.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

When I first downloaded this book, I was a tad apprehensive. Contemporary books set in Israel can prove highly derisive in today’s politically charged market. My fears proved unfounded, for although religion does feature prominently in this novel, politics does not.

The book has two timelines. The “present day” timeline is set in 1995. The “past timeline” is set in 1950 in an immigrant camp. In the 1950s, Yaqub meets Saida. Actually he hears her first singing and is immediately smitten. Their short story is broken into a series of bursts throughout the novel and is in third person.

The present day starts with Saida’s daughter Zohara, now in New York. She receives a phone call from her sister Lizzy informing her of her mother’s sudden death. She must travel back to Israel for the shiva. Zohara’s story is in first person.

I would be highly remiss if I didn’t mention a historical event I knew nothing about. Apparently during the time of the camps, young children were taken from their parents by the government. Some were killed and others were adopted out. This is a heartbreaking story that we certainly were not taught and deserves to be firmly in the spotlight.

The death of a parent is an issue especially prevalent in modern literature. Zohara arrives in Tel Aviv to find a place both familiar but also completely different. We meet Lizzie, her husband Motti and their son Yoni. Yoni is the only male heir and as such has an important role to play. He also discovered the body and was extremely close to his grandmother.

I read this book in small doses. It isn’t the most uplifiting novel. These characters have quite a bit of unresolved baggage. But the characters are also richly drawn, deep and relatable. I took breaks periodically to let the characters marinate in my head.

Having multiple points of view illustrate how family is messy and death makes things even more complicated. It makes us confront the ideas and people we normally run from - whether within the same house or on the other side of the planet. There is growth but the overarching message of the novel is acceptance. There is even a small twist at the end but that serves to sew the tapestry shut.

I am extremely glad I read this novel. I learned quite a bit about history and about the customs of a people that are especially relevant now. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for sharing the galley of this incredible novel. All opinions expressed are mine.

I downloaded this book quite some time ago so when I finally picked it up to read I was happily surprised to see that it represents Israel and Judaism and that the author is a Yemeni Israeli Jew.
Songs for the Brokenhearted covers the 1950’s pilgrimage of Yemeni Jews to Israel via Saida, a young girl who is married and has a baby and unwilling falls in love with another man while at the camp in Israel for Yemenites. Knowing nothing can come of this they go their separate ways. In 1995, around the time Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated, Saida’s youngest daughter, Zohara, comes back to Israel to sit shiva after Saida’s death. While there she discovers secrets about her mother that she sets out to solve.
At first glance I felt like this should have been 3 separate books since the three storylines seemed to have nothing to do with each other except for the relations of the characters, but as the book continued the I realized each storyline is actually dependent on the others. While I enjoyed the historical factors I thought Zohara’s recent past was a bit slow and found myself skimming those parts. That being said overall I really enjoyed this and thought it was an excellent way to tell about several factors of Israeli history that some people (ahem, me) might not know about.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an advanced copy of this. Songs of the Brokenhearted hit the shelves on September 10th.

Set in a part of the world I know little about, this is a dual timeline story of Yemeni Jews who immigrated to Israel soon after its founding. Regarded as crude and uncivilized by European Jews, they struggled to find a true home in the land they’d long dreamed of. The 1950 storyline of Saida is intertwined with that of her daughter Zohara who returned to Israel from NY in 1995 after learning of her mother’s death. I’m inspired to read more about Israel’s early years and made note of several titles a teacher in the novel recommended to Zohara’s nephew Yoni.

I always love reading books with characters from different cultures. I didn't really know much about Yemeni Jews before reading this, but I definitely gained a deeper understanding of the culture (especially those that immigrated to Israel after World War II). I felt like these characters were really realistic and relatable (even in their mistakes). The only criticism I have is that the book felt repetitive at times (some of the characters' journeys felt like they had been described many times over). I would have liked a little bit less exposition in the middle of the book and maybe one or two more chapters at the end to tie up everything. I do think Tsabari is a talented writer, and I'd be interested in reading more of her work in the future.

I really enjoyed this beautifully written book. A love story on hold for over 40 years and mother/daughter dynamics. I found this story to be very timely for a deeper understanding of the formation of the Israeli state in Palestine given the current state of affairs in that part of the world.

3.5 stars rounded up. This was a quiet, well-written family saga spanning multiple generations and storylines. It wasn't a particularly exciting book, but I liked the characters and the cultural element. It's a very Jewish tale, in the best way possible. It's not a light read and was often sad, but there's definitely a lot to like here.

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

I am a long time fan of Tsabari but her newest work takes her writing to another level. This book will end up on my top 10 for 2024 for sure. Tsabari tells the story of Zohara - a young aimless occasionally unlikeable Israeli of Yemeni descent who returns to Israel from a life of exile abroad when her mother dies. It is 1995 and the country is riled by the threat and promise of peace. Zohara knew her family was complicated but like many children preferred not to ask questions and only comes to understand her mother through death. The primary - but not only vehicle - for this knowledge comes through her mother’s secret recordings of her Yemeni songs. But there is a bigger story here - one of dualities. Tsabari tells us about the Yemeni Jewish emigration experience in the 1950s and their rude welcome by Israelis of Eastern Europe descent - discrimination that persists today. Tsabari paints a portrait of Israeli society riven into division by the 1995 peace process. We come to understand what it means to be an Israeli Jew living among diaspora Jews in NYC. We also keenly observe the mother / daughter relationship (among Zohara and her mother but also with Zohara and her much older sister, and a cast of supporting characters each with a story to tell). Highly recommend. Thank you NetGalley and Random House for the ARC.

Courtesy of Netgalley and Random House, I received the ARC of Songs for the Brokenhearted by Ayelet Tsabari. This well researched debut novel transported me to Israel and the Yemen community airlifted there in 1950. Focusing on the history and culture of the women and their place in families, their creative songs that captured their emotions, Tsabari portrayed them so that I became immersed in their stories. Reading about the search and revelation of lost family memories and secrets was like following a mystery trail! The timeline into 1995 and the Oslo Accords showed how these families changed and remained the same. Great characters!

I absolutely loved this lyrically written book about the Yemeni Jewish experience in Israel. Told through the eyes of Zohara in the 1990’s, and Yaqub in the 1950’s and Yoni in the 1990’s, their stories relate the challenges by this community in keeping their traditions while assimilating into Israeli society. Zohara’s mother, Saida, was air lifted to Israel from Yemen, but Zohara never truly understood her mother. At the first opportunity Zohara left Israel for NY, only to return at Saida’s death. Yoni is Zohara’s nephew, lost after the sudden death of his grandmother, and unsure what direction to take. Yaqub was Saida’s true love but their fate was not to be realized for many years. The tradition of songs by the Yemeni women was their way to express themselves in a patriarchal society. I never knew about the Yemenite, Mizrachi and Balkan Children’s Affair, and was shocked to learn about it. I highly recommend this excellent book. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Ayelet Tsabari's Songs for the Brokenhearted begins with Zohara, a grad student in 1995 New York who is suddenly called back to Israel when her widowed mother , Saida, dies. As Zohara cleans out her mother's house, she encounters items that reveal to her a part of her mother's life that had been hidden from her. There are cassettes of her mother's singing, yet she never knew her mother sang. There are puzzling papers, and documents that hint of a hidden life. As Zohara tries to find out who her mother really was, she also reconnects with the community and extended family that she left behind,
The reader is treated to two absorbing intertwining narratives: that of Zohara in 1995, during the time of the Oslo Accords and Rabin's assassination, and that of Saida, as a vulnerable Yemeni girl who has been married off to an older man who loves someone else, about her own forbidden love in the refugee camp, and the shocking kidnap of her first child.

Tsabari crafts an immersive and eye-opening novel with characters and settings that are rarely explored in fiction.

This is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time! It is beautifully and sympathetically written about family and traditions and love. This is a book to get immersed in. It was also quite an education about my own history and family. The story takes place primarily in Israel and New York, in timelines from the 1950s and 1990s. Highly recommended!

This review is really difficult for me to write. I was SO excited for this book. It is on such a fascinating topic, especially given the climate around Israel and Jews today. But, I was just kind of bored and not invested in the characters or the story at all. Maybe because it is a topic that touched so close to my heart that I struggled with it. Or maybe I just overhyped it up in my head - and my expectations were completely unreasonable. All that being said, I did find that the historical aspects of this book were well done and they were fascinating. The story just did not do it for me and I did not like the characters. Dual timelines - a forbidden love story between two Yemeni Jews who immigrated to Israel for a better life in 1950. And 1995 - the daughter of one of these Jews who lives in New York City and has rejected many of the strict religious lifestyles that she was raised with. When she returns to Israel after her mother's death, she uncovers secrets that make her question everything she once believed. If it sounds interesting to you though, give it a try. And share your opinions... I am rarely the unpopular opinion so enjoy hearing other perspectives.

Thank you Netgalley for my advanced reader copy.

Songs for the brokenhearted tells the story of a mother in 1950 and her daughter in 1995. The daughter uncovers secrets of her mother’s life and has to grapple with the reality of the life she thought she knew so well. The stories unfolds against the background of Israel and explores the concept of identity, family, religion, ethnicity, race, love, etc. the backdrop and setting of Israel and the Jewish people coming into Israel was fascinating and timely. A character-driven historical story that will please many readers of historical fiction and family stories.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Songs for the brokenhearted by Ayelet Tsabari

PROs: Informative about history, politics, cultures and religions. Well written. Great job depicting what it was like living in Israel and Yemen. Character AND plot driven.

CONs: it was a bit slow for me; second half of the book was a quicker pace. Longer than it should have been.

The story is told in two timelines and multiple POVs. The main characters were unlikable at times but I find that it makes the story more relatable.

Thank you NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.