Hardcover, 486 pages
Published Oct. 28, 2013 by Harper.
Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay, brought to life by a disgraced rabbi who dabbles in dark Kabbalistic magic, created to be the wife of a man who dies at sea on the voyage from Poland. Chava is unmoored and adrift as the ship arrives in New York harbor in 1899.
Ahmad is a jinni, a being of fire born in the ancient Syrian desert, trapped in an old copper flask, and released in New York City, though still not entirely free.
Ahmad and Chava become unlikely friends and soul mates with a mystical connection. Marvelous and compulsively readable, Helene Wecker's debut novel The Golem and the Jinni weaves strands of Yiddish and Middle Eastern literature, historical fiction and magical fable, into a wondrously inventive and unforgettable tale.
The kind of book you take a day off of work to finish. For lovers of stories as rich and cosmopolitan as the cities they are set in (I found this on a list of books set in our beloved New York City).
I loved this book! Such a cool blend of mystic folklore in Judaism in Islam and a historical account of NYC. Super engaging
This series has many interesting ideas, told in a forward and enjoyable style. The main characters are well developed, some of them likeable, but not really relatable. But I guess it's the main crux of the books: how human can you be if you're a construct of earth made by a human being to serve another human being? How likeable and relatable do you need to be if you're a djinn, imprisonned by a human sorcerer for centuries, and not being able to be truly free and go back to your people? The golem and the djinn are different in every point. One comes from a Jewish Shtetl in Poland, the other comes from the desert of Syria. One wants to be free but can't, the other is free but doesn't want that burden. One is made of fire, the other of earth. One can't comprehend what drives humans, the …
This series has many interesting ideas, told in a forward and enjoyable style. The main characters are well developed, some of them likeable, but not really relatable. But I guess it's the main crux of the books: how human can you be if you're a construct of earth made by a human being to serve another human being? How likeable and relatable do you need to be if you're a djinn, imprisonned by a human sorcerer for centuries, and not being able to be truly free and go back to your people? The golem and the djinn are different in every point. One comes from a Jewish Shtetl in Poland, the other comes from the desert of Syria. One wants to be free but can't, the other is free but doesn't want that burden. One is made of fire, the other of earth. One can't comprehend what drives humans, the other cannot tune out of their thoughts. And yet, they both arrive in New York City at the same time in 1900, both are taken in by one of "their people" who recognizes how different and inhuman they are, and they end up meeting with each other. Then they both have to face their own past and origins. It was a good book, but the mythologizing of New York City as a logical conclusion for all humanity—you cannot be someone if you don't emigrate to New York—left me nonplussed.
It's not a bad book, really. I was, at least, interested in the characters. I never was made particularly anxious for any of their outcomes, however. I had also hoped that 1900 New York would be more fleshed out. I love a good period piece, but this felt like Anytime, USA to me.
