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A review by slightlyliterary
The Best Place on Earth by Ayelet Tsabari
5.0
This is definitely my favourite short stories collection out of all the ones I've read so far (though to be fair, I haven't actually read many aha).
The Best Place on Earth is a collection of short stories written by Ayelet Tsabari, an Israeli-Canadian author of Yemeni descent. Exploring themes such as displacement, belonging, family and culture, Tsabari's stories are ones that have an array of complicated emotions weaved into the prose—a mother's indignance and confusion at her daughter's refusal to follow Jewish tradition, a brother's simultaneous love and resentment towards his free-spirited sister, the distance that has grown between once-inseparable sisters.
As someone who doesn't know much at all about Israel, reading this was really interesting and eye-opening; Israel is such a diverse country with so many people of different descents and religions, and the landscapes of the cities and outskirts of it are written so beautifully: there are marketplaces and apartments bustling with life, deserts with its intermingling sounds of nature and people. Moreover, though terrorist attacks (pigua), bombings, and army conscriptions are all mentioned in these short stories, they are never really the focus. Instead, what comes through is the people, who, like everyone else, go through their own personal battles, living life as it is.
Honestly, I wasn't expecting to like this collection as much as I did. Usually, when it comes to short stories, there are some that I enjoy and some that fall flat for me. However, I found myself enjoying all of them—they touched on the lives of people of different backgrounds both in and out of Israel, and there were many characters that I became attached to within a few pages. Often, I found myself wishing that some of these stories were longer because many had rather open endings (which also has its charm! Just that, I wanted to know the fate of these characters).
Below is a list of the stories I really enjoyed:
1. Brit Milah
2. The Poets in the Kitchen Window
3. Invisible
4. Below Sea Level
5. Borders
6. The Best Place on Earth
The Best Place on Earth is a collection of short stories written by Ayelet Tsabari, an Israeli-Canadian author of Yemeni descent. Exploring themes such as displacement, belonging, family and culture, Tsabari's stories are ones that have an array of complicated emotions weaved into the prose—a mother's indignance and confusion at her daughter's refusal to follow Jewish tradition, a brother's simultaneous love and resentment towards his free-spirited sister, the distance that has grown between once-inseparable sisters.
As someone who doesn't know much at all about Israel, reading this was really interesting and eye-opening; Israel is such a diverse country with so many people of different descents and religions, and the landscapes of the cities and outskirts of it are written so beautifully: there are marketplaces and apartments bustling with life, deserts with its intermingling sounds of nature and people. Moreover, though terrorist attacks (pigua), bombings, and army conscriptions are all mentioned in these short stories, they are never really the focus. Instead, what comes through is the people, who, like everyone else, go through their own personal battles, living life as it is.
Honestly, I wasn't expecting to like this collection as much as I did. Usually, when it comes to short stories, there are some that I enjoy and some that fall flat for me. However, I found myself enjoying all of them—they touched on the lives of people of different backgrounds both in and out of Israel, and there were many characters that I became attached to within a few pages. Often, I found myself wishing that some of these stories were longer because many had rather open endings (which also has its charm! Just that, I wanted to know the fate of these characters).
Below is a list of the stories I really enjoyed:
1. Brit Milah
2. The Poets in the Kitchen Window
3. Invisible
4. Below Sea Level
5. Borders
6. The Best Place on Earth