Aa very deeply moving story. I loved the culture the customs and history.. ia definite recommend.

Thank you netgalley and publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Told in dual timelines, the first is the stories of Yaqub and Saida who are Yemeni and meet in an immigration camp in Israel in 1950. The second timeline is set in 1995 and is the story of Saida's daughter, Zohara, who has moved to the United States but returns to Israel when her mother dies. We learn more about Yaqub and Saida as the book progresses, and Zohara learns more about her mother and her story as she comes together with her family and clears out her mother's house. She has always had a distant and complicated relationship with her mother but begins to learn much more about her mother and the secrets she kept.

This is a well written and deeply moving story about a young woman who finds love in Israel's early days and her daughter, who discovers that her people and her home matter more than she realized. Also, I found the customs, history and political tidbits compelling, particularly since the region continues to be in a state of war today. However, the personal struggles are even more captivating because of the social, religious customs, and the differences between generations.

Highly recommend!

This is a story about the bonds that pull apart and pull together a mother and daughter. The dual timelines begin with Saida. In the 1950s she was a young Jewish Yemeni immigrant to Israel where she lived in a refugee camp. Although sharing a religion with other Israelis, Saida’s experiences and culture was very different.

In 1995, her daughter who has been living abroad, learns that her mother has died. When Zohara returns to Tel Aviv in 1995, she discovers secrets about her mother and family that ultimately changes her perspective on herself, her family and how she will now live. Great insight into Yemeni culture, women’s issues, and the political scene in Israel during those times.

Both character and plot driven, all the characters are well-defined as they struggle to cope with the death of this matriarch who they thought they knew and understood. Informative, well-written and moving. Highly recommended. Thanks to Netgalley and publisher for providing this title.

Songs for the Broken-Hearted is a beautiful look into women’s lives, intergenerational misunderstandings and traumas, and the hidden histories of women’s communities and their art. Above all, it’s the story of a woman processing grief over the loss of a mother she never fully knew, learning more about herself through learning about her mother’s life. Gorgeous, evocative writing and unforgettable characters make this is a can't-miss book for fall -- highly recommended.

This was a great good. It was hard at first to see 4 different characters lives and keep them understandably different until about halfway through the book when they started crossing paths with the same information. It wrapped up nicely and we got to see the struggles of family living and religions and what was culturally acceptable and not acceptable. What happens when a wife can’t give birth and the top “woman of the house” is actually the grandmother & the decision of picking a new wife for children is dominated from the grandmother/mother in law.

It was very interesting to read as I don’t have alot of knowledge with the Yemeni Jews and that culture.

This is a marvelous novel, filled with music, stories, and a deep-dive into several little-known aspects of if Israeli history.

It's 1950. Yemenite Jews have joyfully accepted the opportunity to come to Israel. A highly traditional people with clothing and practices that would seem at home in the 15th century, they are shocked to be dumped in a refugee camp with shoddy tents, meager food and skimpy (to them) donated clothes. Their children spend most of their time in communal childcare. The Israelis seem too secular, too western. It is a bitter disappointment.

Yacub hears something beautiful for the first time since leaving Yemen--a young woman singing a Yemeni song. He wants to respect her modesty, but he cannot resist returning to hear this beautiful song.

In 1995, Zohara returns to Tel Aviv following the death of her mother Saida. Zohara is at a rough spot in her life and has a grating personality that, well, grates on her Israeli family. She takes on clearing her grandmother's house and finds a box of cassette recordings of a woman singing Yemeni songs., some traditional, some she has never heard. She doesn't remember ever hearing her mother singing, so who could this be?

Put some of the great Yemeni singers on your Spotify and prepare to be astonished. This full-throated singing has been women's art for centuries, with songs passed down orally since most Yemeni women were illiterate. Women created their own songs to express the things they could never have in a rigid society where girls were often married as children.

Life in Zohara's Israel is as fraught as life in Saida's. Many Israelis are outraged at Yitzhak Rabin for signing the Oslo accords while others see it as a chance for peace. Where will the Yemenis fall, with their sense of otherness?

"Songs for the Brokenhearted" is a glorious reading experience. Don't miss it. Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book is so lovely in so many ways. The richness of the culture, both Israeli and Yemeni, that this story draws, the depth of the emotion, simultaneously heartbreaking and hope-filled, and keep observation of human nature and interpersonal relationships. I also love the theme of discovering facets of our family and friends that we didn’t know existed mainly because the ones closest to us don’t always show us their whole selves. This is a beautiful book that humanizes Israel and Israelis at a time when that is sorely needed. Bravo!

This is a beautiful book about a number of topics, some I feel unqualified to write about, but I may touch on them briefly. Largely this book is about grief in its many forms. Its about oppression and how there are many little ways to break through that oppression.

Zohara is what I would call, our guide. She's our guide through a very difficult time in Israel and our guide through grief. Its not only the grief of losing her mother, but of rediscovering herself. That is a grief because in many ways Zohara is reconnecting to her roots through what she learns about her mother's past. She learns so much about her mother, in a very short period of time, that she is forced to change her outlook on so much.

Tsabari wades into cultural identity, into the Israeli/Palestinian peace process, into the culture of the Jews that came from far and wide to settle in Israel only to find their way of life looked down upon and their very selves lessered. There is a lot being said about how women (in so many cultures but we're focused on the Yemeni culture here) are kept down and how that affects them. The women in Yemeni culture sing the women's songs, relegated to a lesser form of artistry simply because they are sung and written by women, in order to release some of their pain and anger and passion into the world. I think its beautiful they are called Poetesses.

So, too, does Tsabari touch upon a sort of assimilation, forced or otherwise. Zohara comes to grips with what damage her education away from home did to her sense of self, to her sense of community with the Yemeni, to the way she even looked at her own mother. This feels not dissimilar to what Americans did with the Indigenous in our country. Because of her desire to be like the "right" Jews, Zohara sacrificed parts of herself, including her relationship with her mother.

Tsabari also touches on religious extremism and, i think in a sense, indoctrination. Through his grief, Zohara's nephew Yoni is ripe for the picking for those who would shape that grief into a weapon. Its difficult to talk about with any level of authority for me because I am not qualified or equipped to wade into a centuries old conflict. But I do feel it was handled with extreme care. Its plain to see how big of a conflict this is, and with the books set in the early '90s there is a real sense of hope warring along side the anti-peace factions (calling it anti-peace is distilling it down to a very basic level and isn't anywhere near what was happening).

A beautiful story about a perspective I do not know much about. Such an interesting culture and I loved the time period chosen.

Israel – to ancient Jews, it was “the land of milk and honey.” To millions since 1948, it has been the State of Israel. The country and the region have been in the throes of conflict in which the loss of life, limb and property has been horrific. It is in this land that Ayelet Tsabari has set her historical fiction novel, Songs for the Brokenhearted.

There are two threads to this story. One is set in 1995. Zohara is a Jewish Yemeni woman who is estranged from her husband and has been pursuing a post-graduate degree in New York. Now she returns to Israel for her mother’s funeral, to clean her house, and to be close to her family. Her homecoming opens the door to all sorts of unexpected experiences, emotions, and revelations.

The other thread is set decades earlier. It is 1950. A young woman named Saida is in a camp, Rosh Ha'Ayin immigrant camp, when she meets a young man named Yaqub. The two meet privately for talks. Yaqub writes stories and reads them to Saida. There is an obvious attraction between them, but Saida is married. Despite their attraction and feelings for each other, the two cannot be together. Later, we learn that the unthinkable happens to Saida, her husband, and their infant son. (view spoiler)

As someone who’s lived for much of this history but remembers only bits and pieces of it, I found the political tidbits compelling, particularly since the region continues to be a continuous state of war today. However, the personal struggles are even more captivating because of the social, religious customs, and the differences between generations. There is also the fact that Zohara has been studying in the U.S.; now she’s returned home to a family whom she has missed but hasn’t really felt close to. She’s becoming involved, enmeshed even, in the lives of others. For Zohara, at times, it feels like a hot mess! I love her family and friends, particularly teenage nephew, Yoni and friend, Nir Ozeri.

Initially, I was uncertain about picking this book to read, but I’m glad I read it. It’s a different culture and a tumultuous time. There are so very many brokenhearted in this book. And there are songs that speak to them, maybe to one at a time, or maybe to all.

I received a digital copy of Songs for the Brokenhearted in exchange for my honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own. Thanks to NetGalley, Harper Collins, and Ayelet Tsabari

4 stars

I’m very grateful to Random House for making an ARC copy of this fine book available through NetGalley.

The book tells us, from several points of view, about a family of Jews who emigrate from Yemen to Israel in 1950, and follows three generations of one family through 1995. On their arrival they look to Israel as “the promised land” but find themselves relegated to tents in a crowded, poorly resourced refugee camp. Even after obtaining housing, they are treated as second-class citizens by the Israelis of European origin (Ashkenazi Jews). The main character, Zohara, is pushed to assimilate after winning a scholarship to a prestigious high school dominated by Ashkenazi Jews, and eventually goes to New York for graduate school. She returns to Israel when her mother dies suddenly, and her immediate and deep re-exposure to her family and old friends brings to the fore her conflicts about who she is and where she belongs. As Zohara cleans out her mother’s house she learns, slowly, about her mother’s rich and complex past, including this illiterate woman’s creation of poetry through song, a Yemeni tradition.

Added to the mix are Israelis' conflicts about the peace process and Palestinians, leading to the murder of Prime Minster Rabin.

The characters are fully developed; I found myself understanding/empathizing with almost all of them. This is a rich and very touching historical novel.

Note: I did benefit greatly by reading the Kindle version of the book. There were a number of words, terms and references that I was unfamiliar with, and it was very helpful to be able to look them up instantly.

Who are our parents? Growing up, we see them a certain way. Do we ask questions as we get older? Are those the ones that will help us later on? Are we even interested in knowing the people they are and how they became that way? Only after we are older and they are gone do we think of those questions. But is there anyone left who knew them when they were young and who can give us the answers we seek?

"Songs For the Brokenhearted", is about these very issues. Zohara, our protagonist,returns to Israel upon the death of her mother, after years of living in America. Fortunately, for her, there are people who can give her the answers she seeks. But does she really want to know? This novel is well written and deals with a universal topic. That it addresses the Yemeni immigrants in Israel who faced similar issues that immigrants to the US had to face, makes it all the more interesting. They were always thought of as other, a blight, an embarrassment, even though they were Jews who moved to the holy land at the invitation of the Israeli govt. This is a compelling story and I do recommend it.

There are two story lines here…
Yaqub and Saida meet in 1950 at a water fountain in an immigrant camp in Israel after coming over from Yemen.
Yaqub fell in love as soon as he saw her… and more so when he heard her singing ..sitting along the waters edge. Heartbreaking Yemeni songs. Saida ended up in love with him too.
Well.. they could not be together as Saida was already married and had a baby boy.
The other story is about Saida’s granddaughter Zohara in 1995..who is in college in New York.. comes home to Israel after her mother Saida dies and learns much more about all her family history.
I LOVED this story!
Highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the ARC!

This is a complex story of a mother and her daughter and really highlights the Jewish Yemeni culture and the differences between these two generations. The story skips around so that the reader needs to pay attention. I often found myself putting this book down to go research a name, event, or place. This added to the richness of the book for me. It's an unforgettable story and done so well that it leaves you feeling as if you're still right there in Israel. I love that it was both a great story and that it brought to the forefront some of the issues of the Sephardi Jews.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this novel. It's a ten star read for me!

4.5
An unexpected look at loss and belonging, family, identity, home, and history. The characters in this novel were so well developed and real.
Zohara returns ' home' to Israel after the loss of her mother and has to grapple with the question -- can you ever really go home? All complicated by changing dynamics in the rest of her family and in the landscape of the nation, as well as her identity as a Yemeni Israelite. The story is overlaid with the back story of her mother's emigration and growth in the 1950s along with Zohara's discovery of some her mother's written and recorded songs as part of the Yemeni women's songs. Just...really well done.

There’s much to learn from stories that are passed down from generation to generation. This book takes us from NYC to Israel in the 1990s where one girl returns to discover secrets from her mother’s past.

Zohara was working on her PhD in NYC when she got the call to come back home to a town close to Tel Aviv as her mother had just died. It’s a familiar plot where the daughter finds out all kinds of new information. But this one is different with the Jewish traditions that are followed during shiva. Zohara discovers all kinds of unknowns about her mother, sister, nephew, and boyfriend from years ago. There was a reason she left: to search for the person she wanted to become. And yet, it felt good to be back home with those she loved.

The author takes the readers to a time when her mother, Saida, and husband came from North Yemen with thousands of others from the Middle East to Israel and settled in temporary refugee camps. The Law of Return had just passed and granted those of Jewish ancestry the right to settle in Israel and gain citizenship in the 1950s. However, they weren’t fully prepared for all the people. They were hungry, living in tents and trying to survive in the bitter cold.

Since I’m not as familiar with the Jewish culture, it was somewhat of a learning curve where I had to look up words to understand the meaning. Parts were slow and yet the author’s stories were well written and engaging. No doubt, she did a lot of research. I was fascinated of how the Jewish women, years ago, followed strong traditions with their young marriages, singing songs, keeping their husbands happy and so much more.

My thanks to Random House and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book with an expected release date of September 10, 2024.

"Songs for the Brokenhearted" by Ayelet Tsabari alternates between two time periods; Saida and other Yemini Jewish woman, who immigrated to the newly founded Israel and Saida’s daughter, Zohara, who has returned to Israel from New York City following her mother's death in 1995. The book discusses the differences in values and cultures between parents and children, whether you can ever go home, how Israel was formed, what groups immigrated there as well as the discrimination of Arab Jews by Ashkenazi European Jews, and the controversy over the Oslo Peace Accords which led to the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin. I learned a lot about patriarchal ways of the Yemini Jews and the challenges they had assimilating into the Israeli culture and the tradition of the Yemeni female singers. Most surprising to me was the unresolved topic of the Yemini children who disappeared or were stolen from the Yemini refugee camps. While I learned a lot about this time period,

I didn’t love the writing and thought portions were a bit uneven. However, I found the history very interesting and liked the characters.

I received a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley and Random House in return for an honest review. This book will be published September 10, 2024.

Two timelines [which I quite like!].

Saida, 1950, a married Yemeni Jew living in an overcrowded immigrant camp in Rosh Ha'ayin, meets Yaqub. He hears her singing, They fall in forbidden love; they go their own ways.

Zohara, thirty-something, 1995, returns from New York City where she is a graduate student, upon her mother's [Saida's] death. She has been estranged from both her mother and sister Lizzie, as well as her past life in Israel. Married although separated from her American husband, she feels lost between two worlds especially as she discovers her mother's past and tries to make a connection with who she was and who she is.

This is about heartbreak and broken people. And how Yemeni Jews feel betwixt and between.

Just a few of the bases covered: Love and friendship and lost opportunities. Discovery. The Mizrahi [Yemeni] Jews vs the Ashkenazi. The community of Yemeni women who are known to sing and write songs as part of their tradition and to record history [they didn't have a voice so they used song]. The treatment of women. Prejudice against those with dark skin. Promises with what would be in Israel and realities. Palestinians. Lots of backstory on both Zohara and Saida. And Yoni, Zohara's rebellious teenaged nephew caught in the maelstrom of Israeli politics, bereft at the death of his beloved grandmother. The disapearance of young children from the camps--very belatedly investigated and to what end? The Oslo Accords and the political conflict in Israel culminating in the death of Rabin.

Some of the descriptions were fabulous:
"friends whom I hadn't seen in years; all had aged into cliches"
"Inside her closet, my mother's dresses hung like ghostly figures."
A description of flight attendants: "Who in their right mind would walk in such shoes? With pointed heels, like small, upside-down pyramids."
And for once humor--when Saida took a plane for the first time and saw her image in the mirror--having never seen one before!

Grudge: so many foreign words that did not show up on the Kindle search; a glossary would have been wonderful!

Tsabari is a Yemeni Jew. She researched extensively for this book though some of it is a memoir.

Beautiful but dense [and sometimes I felt a bit repetitive].

No [real] spoiler; I didn't care for the ending, Still, a recommended read. 4.25.

A woman returns to Israel to grieve the death of her mother with whom she had a fraught relationship and comes to embrace her heritage as a Yemeni Jew which she vehemently rejected when she was younger.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Songs for the Brokenhearted by Ayelet Tsabari is a mixed first and third person multi-POV dual-timeline story across generations of three Yemini Jewish people connected to one woman. In 1947, Yaqub moves to a camp in the newly forming Israel, he notices Saida, a young married Yemini woman who sees him, too. Fifty years later, Saida’s daughter, Zohara, returns to Israel for the funeral and Zohara’s nephew, Yoni, is struggling to deal with his grandmother’s death.

I’m really glad that I gave this book a shot because I learned a lot. I had never heard of the Yemenite, Mizrahi, and Balkan Children Affair, the assimilation of Arab Jewish people in Israel’s history to create a homogenous society and the colorism that carried over from Euro-centric beauty standards, the Jewish refugees who moved to the Philippines during the Holocaust, or the history of anonymous Yemini poetesses and how their songs were changed but lived on in rhythms and unique lines to create a collaborate tradition of oral storytelling. I was very pleased to see Ofra Haza mentioned several times, as she was an iconic part of my own childhood and the childhood of many of my friends for her role as Yocheved in The Prince of Egypt.

A major theme of Songs for the Brokenhearted is critique of the Israeli government. Not only for the Children Affair, but for continued assimilation, stereotyping of Palestinian people, and the radicalization of the youth and the draft. Zohara makes direct reference to how some of the books she read as a kid had harmful ideas of Palestinians and makes a friend who is half-Palestinian and half-Jewish who starts tearing down the boxes many of us subconsciously have that separate Jewish people and Southwest Asians and North Africans when many Jewish people are also Southwest Asian and North African. In his grief, Yoni gets deeper and deeper into radicalization and is angry at the Oslo Accords as well as the Israeli government’s refusal to do anything about the missing children.

Zohara goes on a journey of learning more about her mother and a culture she felt cut-off from. Her parents didn’t pass on parts of their culture and even kept several secrets because they believed their daughters wouldn’t understand. As a teen, Zohara was sent to a private school that she later realized might have been designed to assimilate her further. This alone made the title feel so apt because it is heartbreaking to read an adult slowly start to realize everything that she has lost only after both of her parents are dead.

I would recommend this to fans of literature critical of governments and societal systems, readers looking for a Yemini Jewish POV, and those looking for a book being candid about assimilation.