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The Best Place on Earth: Stories
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Random House Publishing Group 2016
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Description
Reminiscent of the early work of Jhumpa Lahiri, Ayelet Tsabari’s award-winning debut collection of stories is global in scope yet intimate in feel, beautifully written, and emotionally powerful. From Israel to India to Canada, Tsabari’s indelible characters grapple with love, violence, faith, the slipperiness of identity, and the challenges of balancing old traditions with modern times.
These eleven spellbinding stories often focus on Israel’s Mizrahi Jews, featuring mothers and children, soldiers and bohemians, lovers and best friends, all searching for their place in the world. In “Tikkun,” a man crosses paths with his free-spirited ex-girlfriend—now a married Orthodox Jew—and minutes later barely escapes tragedy. In “Brit Milah,” a mother travels from Israel to visit her daughter in Canada and is stunned by her grandson’s upbringing. A young medic in the Israeli army bends the rules to potentially dangerous consequence in “Casualties.” After her mom passes away, a teenage girl comes to live with her aunt outside Tel Aviv and has her first experience with unrequited love in “Say It Again, Say Something Else.” And in the moving title story, two estranged sisters—one whose marriage is ending, the other whose relationship is just beginning—try to recapture the close bond they had as kids.
Absorbing, tender, and sharply observed, The Best Place on Earth infuses moments of sorrow with small moments of grace: a boy composes poetry in a bomb shelter, an old photo helps a girl make sense of her mother’s rootless past. Tsabari’s voice is gentle yet wise, illuminating the burdens of history, the strength of the heart, and our universal desire to belong.
Praise for The Best Place on Earth
“It’s impossible not to be awestruck by the depth and power rendered in Tsabari’s stories.”Elle
“Tsabari creates complex, conflicted, prickly people you'll want to get to know better.”Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“There’s remarkable scope in Ayelet Tsabari’s The Best Place on Earth, which interweaves stories of discrimination, loss, displacement, sex, death, religion, and a host of other issues. And yet, despite the range of viewpoints and the different facets of Israeli society explored, this is a collection that always stays intensely personal, the broader forces of history moving not merely across nations but within the souls of her beautifully conceived characters.”—Phil Klay, National Book Award–winning author of Redeployment
“With incredible compassion and a delicate touch, Ayelet Tsabari explores the heartbreak inherent in forming bonds, whether with another person or with a whole country. The Best Place on Earth, a complicated love song to Israel, is a sure-footed and stunningly skillful debut.”—Shelly Oria, author of New York 1, Tel Aviv 0
“Powerful . . . brilliant . . . These stories . . . depict minorities so skillfully, with such a light and accurate touch.”The Daily Beast
“Highly recommended . . . Compelling and compassionate; [Tsabari’s stories] speak out from the heart of Israeli society and experiences. . . . The stories of The Best Place on Earth leave you wishing they wouldn’t end.”The Times of Israel

“This short story collection is a fiction debut for Tsabari, but it demonstrates that she is already a talented storyteller. . . . Her writing has an...
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Format:
Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read
Street Date:
03/08/2016
Language:
English
ISBN:
9780812988949
ASIN:
B00Z3FYQ7K
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APA Citation (style guide)

Ayelet Tsabari. (2016). The Best Place on Earth: Stories. Random House Publishing Group.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)

Ayelet Tsabari. 2016. The Best Place On Earth: Stories. Random House Publishing Group.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)

Ayelet Tsabari, The Best Place On Earth: Stories. Random House Publishing Group, 2016.

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Ayelet Tsabari. The Best Place On Earth: Stories. Random House Publishing Group, 2016.

Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
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      • bioText: Ayelet Tsabari was born in Israel to a large family of Yemeni descent. After serving in the Israeli army, she traveled extensively throughout Southeast Asia, North America, and Europe, and now lives in Toronto, where she teaches creative writing at the University of Toronto. The Best Place on Earth won the prestigious Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature and was long-listed for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award. In addition to writing, she has worked as a photographer and journalist.
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Reminiscent of the early work of Jhumpa Lahiri, Ayelet Tsabari’s award-winning debut collection of stories is global in scope yet intimate in feel, beautifully written, and emotionally powerful. From Israel to India to Canada, Tsabari’s indelible characters grapple with love, violence, faith, the slipperiness of identity, and the challenges of balancing old traditions with modern times.
These eleven spellbinding stories often focus on Israel’s Mizrahi Jews, featuring mothers and children, soldiers and bohemians, lovers and best friends, all searching for their place in the world. In “Tikkun,” a man crosses paths with his free-spirited ex-girlfriend—now a married Orthodox Jew—and minutes later barely escapes tragedy. In “Brit Milah,” a mother travels from Israel to visit her daughter in Canada and is stunned by her grandson’s upbringing. A young medic in the Israeli army bends the rules to potentially dangerous consequence in “Casualties.” After her mom passes away, a teenage girl comes to live with her aunt outside Tel Aviv and has her first experience with unrequited love in “Say It Again, Say Something Else.” And in the moving title story, two estranged sisters—one whose marriage is ending, the other whose relationship is just beginning—try to recapture the close bond they had as kids.
Absorbing, tender, and sharply observed, The Best Place on Earth infuses moments of sorrow with small moments of grace: a boy composes poetry in a bomb shelter, an old photo helps a girl make sense of her mother’s rootless past. Tsabari’s voice is gentle yet wise, illuminating the burdens of history, the strength of the heart, and our universal desire to belong.
Praise for The Best Place on Earth
“It’s impossible not to be awestruck by the depth and power rendered in Tsabari’s stories.”Elle
“Tsabari creates complex, conflicted, prickly people you'll want to get to know better.”Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“There’s remarkable scope in Ayelet Tsabari’s The Best Place on Earth, which interweaves stories of discrimination, loss, displacement, sex, death, religion, and a host of other issues. And yet, despite the range of viewpoints and the different facets of Israeli society explored, this is a collection that always stays intensely personal, the broader forces of history moving not merely across nations but within the souls of her beautifully conceived characters.”—Phil Klay, National Book Award–winning author of Redeployment
“With incredible compassion and a delicate touch, Ayelet Tsabari explores the heartbreak inherent in forming bonds, whether with another person or with a whole country. The Best Place on Earth, a complicated love song to Israel, is a sure-footed and stunningly skillful debut.”—Shelly Oria, author of New York 1, Tel Aviv 0
“Powerful . . . brilliant . . . These stories . . . depict minorities so skillfully, with such a light and accurate touch.”The Daily Beast
“Highly recommended . . . Compelling and compassionate; [Tsabari’s stories] speak out from the heart of Israeli society and experiences. . . . The stories of The Best Place on Earth leave you wishing they wouldn’t end.”The Times of Israel

“This short story collection is a fiction debut for Tsabari, but it demonstrates that she is already a talented storyteller. . . . Her writing has an...
reviews
      • premium: False
      • source: The Times of Israel
      • content: "There's remarkable scope in Ayelet Tsabari's The Best Place on Earth, which interweaves stories of discrimination, loss, displacement, sex, death, religion, and a host of other issues. And yet, despite the range of viewpoints and the different facets of Israeli society explored, this is a collection that always stays intensely personal, the broader forces of history moving not merely across nations but within the souls of her beautifully conceived characters."--Phil Klay, National Book Award--winning author of Redeployment "With incredible compassion and a delicate touch, Ayelet Tsabari explores the heartbreak inherent in forming bonds, whether with another person or with a whole country. The Best Place on Earth, a complicated love song to Israel, is a sure-footed and stunningly skillful debut."--Shelly Oria, author of New York 1, Tel Aviv 0 "Powerful . . . brilliant . . . These stories . . . depict minorities so skillfully, with such a light and accurate touch."--The Daily Beast "Highly recommended . . . Compelling and compassionate; [Tsabari's stories] speak out from the heart of Israeli society and experiences. . . . The stories of The Best Place on Earth leave you wishing they wouldn't end."
      • premium: False
      • source: Publishers Weekly
      • content: "This short story collection is a fiction debut for Tsabari, but it demonstrates that she is already a talented storyteller. . . . Her writing has an immediacy and power that invites readers into her characters' psyches. . . . Tsabari's characters will step off the page to captivate readers."
      • premium: True
      • source: Publisher's Weekly
      • content:

        May 6, 2013
        This short story collection is a fiction debut for Tsabari, but it demonstrates that she is already a talented storyteller. An Israeli of Yemeni descent who immigrated to Canada in 1998, she perceptively observes life and its differences in Israel and Canada while skilfully inhabits a broad range of characters and voices. A man longs for his lost love. A Yemeni-Israeli grandmother travels to Toronto to see her first grandson, only to discover that her daughter and son-in-law refuse to have him circumcised according to their tradition. A Filipina caregiver lives a precarious existence as an illegal worker in Israel. Tsabari writes about her characters' near misses when suicide bombers fulfill their mission, marriages stung by unfaithfulness, and sisters struggling to reconnect and close the distance between their lives in Jerusalem and Vancouver. Her writing has an immediacy and power that invites readers into her characters' psyches: "Reuma lost her daughter over and over again: first she became Ashkenazi, then Canadian; it was in her melody of speaking, the polite words she'd started peppering her sentences with, the way she smiled at passersby on the street…. A stranger. And now she was no longer Jewish." Tsabari' characters will step off the page to captivate readers. Distribution: HarperCollins Canada

      • premium: True
      • source: Kirkus
      • content:

        Starred review from January 15, 2016
        Where is the best place on Earth? The characters in Tsabari's debut collection (winner of the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature) are searching for somewhere to feel at home, whether they're travelers, emigrants, or just restlessly living in the place they were born.Tsabari was born in Israel to a family of Yemeni descent, and she moved to Vancouver in 1998; she only started writing in English 10 years ago. Her Israeli characters feel out of place in their own country because, like Tsabari's family, they come from Arab backgrounds and aren't Ashkenazi, like most Israeli Jews; some have left for Canada or Britain. In "A Sign of Harmony," Maya travels to India with her new boyfriend, Ian, who has an Indian father and an English mother and has never been to India before. It's her fourth trip--she travels there each fall to buy fabrics and other merchandise to sell in Europe--and she feels more at home than he does. Several of Tsabari's characters are traversing the foreign land of adolescence, trying to make friends and test their sexuality while dealing with larger forces. Lily moves from Canada to Israel to live with her aunt after her mother dies, and is scared and thrilled when her new friend Lana kisses her. But her family's identity is always in the background when she's in Israel: "My grandparents came from Yemen, so we are Arabs in a way, Arab Jews." Seeming contradictions like that are everywhere in Tsabari's world. In "Invisible," Rosalynn is a Filipino immigrant who's overstayed her visa; she takes care of an old woman she calls "Savta," Hebrew for "grandmother," who also takes care of her. Characters embrace their mandatory army service, run away from it, or use it to their own ends. In the stunning opening story, "Tikkun," the first-person narrator runs into his ex-girlfriend, whom he hasn't seen in seven years, and is surprised to see she's become an Orthodox Jew. As they sit down to share a coffee, the narrator scans the patio, taking in the other patrons: "We are all trained to identify potential threats." One woman grew up in a small town in the Sinai, which she was forced to leave when Israel returned the peninsula to Egypt, but she doesn't want to label her family as "settlers"--"It was different then. They didn't go there for ideological reasons." But is it possible to be innocent in this world?Tsabari creates complex, conflicted, prickly people you'll want to get to know better.

        COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

      • premium: True
      • source: Library Journal
      • content:

        November 15, 2016

        The Sami Rohr Award encourages and promotes outstanding writing of Jewish interest by awarding a $100,000 prize to an emerging writer. Tsabari won in 2015 for this captivating collection that focuses on characters of Mizrachi background--Jews of Middle Eastern and North African descent. The Israeli novelist of Yemeni descent, who moved to Canada in 1998, uses her stories to explore growing up amid conflict and how it shapes identity and one's search for home.

        Read-Alikes Danit Brown's Ask for a Convertible: Stories, Nomi Eve's Henna House, Lucette Lagnado's The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit, and Shelly Oria's New York 1, Tel Aviv 0: Stories.

        Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

      • premium: True
      • source: Library Journal
      • content:

        October 15, 2015

        Born in Israel of Yemeni descent and now living in Toronto, Tsabari offers a story collection ranging from God-drenched Jerusalem to chill-swept Canada and featuring characters in search of meaning and belief. It recently won the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature and was nominated (in its Canadian edition) for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award. Random has also bought a memoir and a novel from Tsabari.

        Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

      • premium: True
      • source: Publisher's Weekly
      • content:

        January 18, 2016
        This debut story collection daringly takes on complexities of Israeli life and its diaspora. In “Tikkun,” Lior and Natalie, once a couple, meet by chance on a Jerusalem street at the height of the second intifada. Natalie has since become devoutly Orthodox, forbidden to touch any man besides her husband; “We don’t hug, the space between us thick with past embraces, with a history of touching.” Yet when a terrorist attack occurs, their fate is altered. In “Invisible,” Tsabari gives voice to the often-marginalized members of Israel’s Filipino community in a tender love story. “Brit Milah” pits Reuma, a tradition-minded Yemeni Jewish mother against Ofra, her daughter, who has left the holy land for the cold of Canada and has defied tradition by choosing not to circumcise her son. The title story is the collection’s most ambitious and most successful. When Naomi’s marriage is in crisis, she decides to pay a visit to her sister in Canada, a place where “Vancouver was as blue as Jerusalem was golden.” But rather than being a refuge, as in the past, Naomi must adjust to Carlos, her sister’’s non-Jewish partner, and their own changed dynamic. This story—and the whole collection, for that matter—elegantly navigates the complex themes of sibling bonding, marital infidelity, and religion. Whereas David Grossman and Amos Oz have been adept at writing about a narrow segment of Israeli society, Tsabari’s first collection is rich with many stories from across all of Israel—and beyond. A remarkably assured debut. Agent: David Forrer, Inkwell Management.

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Reminiscent of the early work of Jhumpa Lahiri, Ayelet Tsabari’s award-winning debut collection of stories is global in scope yet intimate in feel, beautifully written, and emotionally powerful. From Israel to India to Canada, Tsabari’s indelible characters grapple with love, violence, faith, the slipperiness of identity, and the challenges of balancing old traditions with modern times.
These eleven spellbinding stories often focus on Israel’s Mizrahi Jews, featuring mothers and children, soldiers and bohemians, lovers and best friends, all searching for their place in the world. In “Tikkun,” a man crosses paths with his free-spirited ex-girlfriend—now a married Orthodox Jew—and minutes later barely escapes tragedy. In “Brit Milah,” a mother travels from Israel to visit her daughter in Canada and is stunned by her grandson’s upbringing. A young medic in the Israeli army bends the rules to potentially dangerous...
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