By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
“Songs for the Brokenhearted”
Israel from a Yemenite Jewish point of view: that describes Ayelet Tsabari’s short stories and memoir. While those works were excellent, they may leave readers unprepared for her moving and powerful first novel, “Songs for the Broken-Hearted” (Random House). The work, which takes place in the years 1950 and 1995, offers a fascinating look at Israeli life during those difficult and pivotal time periods.
The 1950s were not an easy time for Jews who immigrated to Israel from Arab countries. Although many wanted to come to the Promised Land, life seems far from promising at first: they were forced to live in camps with their only shelter tents that offered little to no privacy. Food was sparse and tasteless. Even worse, the Israelis from Ashkenazic backgrounds treated them as primitive and ignorant. However, some remember those years fondly: at least, Yacob does, as he remembers hearing a woman singing by the river. For him, it was love at first sight. Unfortunately, even when his affection is returned, a life together is impossible. Saida already has a husband and child: there is no way she can leave her family and even innocent meetings are dangerous.
The majority of the novel, though, takes place in 1995, when Saida’s daughter, Zohara, returns to Israel after her mother’s death. Although the two were not close, Zohara now feels lost. Her aimlessness is partly caused by the fact that she and her American husband recently divorced. She’s also lost interest in obtaining the Ph.D. toward which she has been working. Zohara and her older sister, Lizza, have grown even further apart over the years, with Zohara knowing almost nothing about her teenage nephew, Yoni. She does note the growing division in Israel over the Oslo Accords. Yoni, who is distraught over losing his grandmother, becomes part of a group that opposes the accords. Readers with a knowledge of Israeli history will foresee just how dangerous Yoni’s growing attraction to that group might be.
Tsabari brings the two parts of her plot together with great skill, but the work also offers an intriguing and extremely well-done look at Israeli society. There are discussion of the Ashkenazic-centric attitude in Israel, which greatly affected Zohara when she was sent away to boarding school after her father’s death. The novel also mentions the disappearance of Yemenite babies from the immigrant camps: whether these children died as some claimed or were given to Ashkenazic parents is a question that still remains unanswered. What really stood out, though, is the discussion of the songs the Yemenite women sang that allowed them to express their feelings in a societally acceptable way. In fact, Zohara only begins to truly understand her mother when she learns about the music that these women have passed orally from generation to generation.
The depth of plot and character found in “Songs for the Broken-Hearted” marks this book as a major work of literature. It not only shows another side of Israel – including the casual racism against those whose families emigrated from Arab countries – but portrays how even those who are discriminated against can still deeply love the land that is their home. Book clubs interested in serious literature will definitely want to read and discuss “Songs for the Broken-Hearted.”
“The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern”
Some writers start out strong and quickly run out of ideas. That is not true of Lynda Cohen Loigman, whose works have offered a wide variety of plots and characters. Her latest, “The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern” (St. Martin’s Press), is a delight: alternatively funny and moving. Its main characters, Augusta Stern and Irving Rivkin, are wonderful and engaging, both in the sections of the novel that take place in 1923 and those that show life in 1987.
Augusta is finally retiring from her job as a pharmacist at age 70 – well, really 80 – although she is only doing so to prevent discovery of how she changed the dates on documents showing her age. She’s spent her life in New York City, but her niece Jackie has arranged for her to retire to a lovely senior retirement community in Florida. Augusta is not thrilled with the idea, but, at least, there is a pool she can use to continue the exercise – swimming – that keeps her in shape. Unfortunately, her first day at the pool, she hears a voice she never expected – or wanted – to hear again: Irving greets her and acts as if they can be friends. But the two have a history from her teenage years in Brooklyn, where they met at the pharmacy owned by her father.
Augusta’s life radically changed after her mother died in 1920. Her father, sister Bess and Augusta seem lost without her. The worst part for Augusta is that her mother died from diabetes not long before insulin – which could have saved her life – became available. This fuels Augusta’s desire to become a pharmacist, which few considered an appropriate career for a woman. That desire becomes more complex when Aunt Esther arrives. Esther is a wonderful cook and makes their apartment once again feel like a home. She is also an apothecary, although not a formally trained one. Her herbal remedies help people when doctors and drugs fail them. Augusta’s father is not pleased that Esther is dispensing her remedies, but as long as she keeps them out of the store, he is willing to let her continue.
When Irving comes to work for the pharmacy as a delivery boy in 1923, he and August become friends. She begins to fall for him and believes that he feels the same. When she uses a love elixir on him – against Esther’s teachings – things don’t go the way she planned. In fact, Irving breaks her heart and she’s determined that won’t happen again in 1987. As much as he tries to befriend her, Augusta rebuffs him. That makes her a wonderful character: tough, cranky and crotchety. Irving is also interesting because readers soon realize there is more to his story than Augusta knows. The novel weaves the two time lines to show not only what happened in the past, but how life can offer new opportunities no matter your age.
“The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern” celebrates women who were willing to fulfil their dreams, even at the risk of heartache. The novel also shows how it may never be too late to find love, if only one is open and willing to risk being hurt. Book clubs who have discussed Loigman’s previous works will definitely want to add this one to their list. Readers who are unfamiliar with the author may find themselves looking up her earlier works to enjoy once they finish this one.
“The Singer Sisters”
Mothers and daughters taking different life paths: those differences form the undercurrent of Sarah Seltzer’s “The Singer Sisters” (Flatiron Books). At first, it seems that what divides Emma and her mother, Judie, is the choice between a music career or a more conventional life. This simplifies the dilemma since Judie once had an extremely successful music career, performing with her sister and writing songs for her successful musician husband. Emma, who is just starting out in her career, longs for the kind of success her mother had: people still love Judie’s music even though she has long disappeared from the public eye to raise her three children. However, as Emma and readers discover, there is far more to Judie’s story. The novel moves back and forth in time as mother and daughter each must decide what they want from life.
The most interesting section of the novel deals with Judie’s younger life, particularly what occurs after she ran away from home as a teenager. The events that took place formed her worldview and character. To say more would spoil the plot, but most readers will be able to fill in the blanks before the characters in future generation understand what occurred. What Emma does not realize at first is how these events changed her mother’s priorities. When she does discover why her mother acted as she did, she still has difficulty coming to terms with her mother’s choices because what they desire is so different. An additional problem arises when Emma performs songs her mother wrote and never wanted to be performed publicly. That threatens to permanently rupture their relationship.
To this reader, Emma came across as a bit spoiled, partly because she so favors her father, a problematic choice due to his behavior over the years. She is also unable to appreciate her mother’s desire to focus on her family rather than her career. Although I didn’t feel particularly engaged with the characters during most of the novel, its ending proved to be extremely moving, partly because it explores the feelings that music creates in its listeners – how it can make them feel as if the writer was speaking directly to them.