On the surface, The Art of Leaving is the result of the author’s personal journey through grief in the aftermath of her father’s passing. However, Tsabari expands her focus beyond this tragedy ... She offers insight into her identity as a Yemeni Jew of Mizrahi descent, the latter part of which she once rejected due to the prejudices against people of Mizrahi background in Israel. Interspersed between longer passages about her life, Tsabari includes anecdotes on racism, violence, family, and love ... deftly illustrates the ways home can be any or all of the above, simultaneously or at different times in our lives ... Tsabari packs a large amount of research and detail into her essays, yet there remains something lacking. Readers anticipating an in-depth examination of the conflict between Israel and Palestine, which acts as a backdrop in various parts of the memoir, will not find it. Tsabari writes about returning to Israel during the second intifada; suicide bombings made her feel uneasy in public spaces. But even here, the conflict feels lightly skimmed over, and the author displays what appears as a hesitance to tackle the subject on the page. This leaves a reader wanting more ... worthwhile in the way it addresses its central subject: the nature of home in the world. The book pushes readers to examine their own personal and political histories and to question the ways those histories fit into a bigger, global picture.
Tsabari examines the cultural and personal forces that result in alienation and 'self-inflicted exile' ... Linked essays cohere into a tender, moving memoir.
Tsabari’s work is told in self-contained chapters that resemble short stories. They are, by turns, tragic and humorously picaresque, and often both at the same time ... In The Art of Leaving one can sense the author’s long way home: the path toward her father’s literary inheritance...The author’s wanderlust seems in a direct relationship with her complex feelings toward her identity. She humorously recounts that, for years, she called her bank account 'the Wandering Jew fund' ... the relentless travels pay off, allowing the author to acquire 'skills I cannot list on any resume, like rolling joints while driving, bargaining in bazaars, or getting by in foreign countries with hardly any money.' There is no doubt that precisely these “skills” – and her desire to playfully recount them – make up a bag of tricks for this storyteller-raconteur, allowing for flowing and entertaining prose, even while writing about difficult personal matters.
Insightful and kaleidoscopic ... By the book’s end, Tsabari seems contented and her prose feels lighter as she describes how, in her 30s, she met and married a sailor named Sean. Readers will be moved by Tsabari’s colorful, intimate memoir.
