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A review by tensy
The Best Place on Earth by Ayelet Tsabari
4.0
Most people's ideas of Israel revolve around front page news. Ayelet Tsabari, in this collection of short stories, tells us about the everyday Israel, focusing on characters who share many of her own characteristics. Many of the characters are of Yemeni descent, have been soldiers in the IDF and in some cases have emigrated to Canada, like the author. The sounds, smells and diverse population of Israel are vibrantly depicted.
These eleven stories are beautifully written, cover a wide range of issues from illegal immigration to orthodoxy vs. modernism, and engage you in the lives of the characters from the first paragraph. Many of the protagonists share a sense of loneliness which often imbues the stories with a terrible sadness. I rate the quality of character driven books by how well the writer describes interactions between characters. In every one of these stories, the relationships rang true and resonated in a very real way that felt more like memoir than fiction.
I often wanted to have the stories continue and see what happens to these characters after the story ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. Tsabari could easily have developed full novels from several of these stories. I have to admit that after reading the book fairly quickly, the constant theme of displacement and loneliness started to become depressing, but the writing was superb and I strongly recommend a wider American readership of this writer.
Thank you, Net Galley, for the ARC of this book.
These eleven stories are beautifully written, cover a wide range of issues from illegal immigration to orthodoxy vs. modernism, and engage you in the lives of the characters from the first paragraph. Many of the protagonists share a sense of loneliness which often imbues the stories with a terrible sadness. I rate the quality of character driven books by how well the writer describes interactions between characters. In every one of these stories, the relationships rang true and resonated in a very real way that felt more like memoir than fiction.
I often wanted to have the stories continue and see what happens to these characters after the story ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. Tsabari could easily have developed full novels from several of these stories. I have to admit that after reading the book fairly quickly, the constant theme of displacement and loneliness started to become depressing, but the writing was superb and I strongly recommend a wider American readership of this writer.
Thank you, Net Galley, for the ARC of this book.