Songs for the Brokenhearted

How does Zohara’s identity change depending on where she is—Tel Aviv, New York, Thailand?

“What an entirely different experience it was to be a boy in this culture,” Ayelet Tsabari writes. Why do you think the Yemeni women’s songs are not as respected as men’s poetry? Similarly, do you think cultures with mostly oral histories are less respected than those written histories? Where do you see misogynist or bigoted biases like this playing out in your life or culture?

How does Songs for the Brokenhearted tell a different story about Israel and Jewish identity than we’ve read before? What did you know about the Yemeni Israeli experience before reading this novel?

What do we gain by hearing stories from marginalized voices? How can we elevate and amplify these stories when we hear them?

Discuss the shame and inferiority Zohara feels—and has been made to feel— about her Yemeni Jewish identity. Where does this shame originate? How does she begin to dissolve it?

If you are comfortable sharing, are there any aspects of your identity that you were made to be ashamed of? Where do you think these feelings originated? How can you combat them? Discuss, as a reading group, different strategies for finding pride in one’s identity or heritage.

How do the recordings—and later, Zohara’s own singing—help her feel closer to her mother? How do these traditions help Zohara through her grief?

What factors contribute to Yoni’s slippery sense of self? Do you think he would have struggled in the same way if he hadn’t lost his grandmother? Discuss.

Many countries are built on founding myths—including the United States. What founding myths does the novel tell about Israel? What truths does it tell about Israel? How do the characters, especially Zohara, reconcile the grey areas between the myth and the truth?

How does Zohara feel when she learns the truth about her parents’ marriage?

What traditions have been passed down in your family? How can you pass them to the next generation?

What did you think of the ending of the novel?