The Golem and the Jinni

Yet another fantastic debut novel! My husband picked this up at the library; the dark blue edging on the pages had caught his attention, as well as the gorgeous blue and gold cover with its enigmatic title. I am very glad he brought it to my attention, as it was a beautiful, touching read.

The Golem and the Jinni is the tale of two immigrants in early 19th century New York. These aren't your typical immigrants, however. The Golem, created by a mystic in Poland, was made-to-order by a man wanting a wife. He died on the voyage over, hours after awakening her. With her original master-bond broken, the Golem is learning her way around New York and human society, with the help of an old Jewish rabbi who recognized her for what she is.

The Jinni, on the other hand, has been bound in a bottle for close to a thousand years, and is released accidentally by an Arab tinsmith. He is also learning about New York and human society, but where the Golem is coming at it from a place of innocence, he is jaded and old. The two eventually meet, recognizing each other for non-human, and begin a wary friendship built on their mutual lack of needing to sleep and hatred of boredom.

As the novel progresses, their lives begin to intertwine in unexpected ways, and we learn more about their histories from flashbacks; in the Golem's case, the flashbacks are of her creator's life, since we see the beginning of her own at the start of the novel.

As the novel progresses, it builds up momentum until it seems an unstoppable force heading to its surprising conclusion. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, and find myself surprised it was the author's first. It brushed on philosophical questions, moral questions, societal norms – and all of it so naturally. The book delved into human nature and the nature of free will, with both main characters unsure of their own capability for free will for different reasons, and fighting those very limitations on their individuality.

I discovered in a Q&A on Wecker's website that she is Jewish and her husband is Arab-American, which explains partly why she was able to blend the two cultures' mythologies so easily (and to wonderful effect!) in this book.

This was a lovely exploration of the immigrant narrative rewritten through the eyes of mythical creatures. The Jewish immigrants in NYC bring a golem, stalwart, stoic and short-lived. The Syrians ring a jinni, tempestuous, emotional and millenia old. The golem is masterless and wishes for a master, while the jinni is enslaved and wants to be free. They fight crime! Okay, not literally, but they do defeat an evil rabbi and exorcise an ice cream vendor. It's delightful and speculative fiction at its best: using the metaphor of the supernatural to explore the bounds of our wordl

There is no way I can describe this book as something I would like reading. It is not very intellectual but also not exactly a love story, It is just a well written novel with a touch of fantasy. It develops something like the movie Crash, telling the story of a few unrelated characters that at some point in the book meet each other and then realize how their existence is interconnected. The characters are relatable and compelling.

The book deals mildly with some interesting existential questions, like can a man made Golem have a soul? Fall in love? Is destroying her the same as killing someone? It talks about the value of community, loyalty, human nature, religion, friendship, selfishness.

But above it all, the story keeps you interested from the beginning to the end. The peaces of the puzzle are well laid out and things make sense when they are revealed. There is no major plot twist and even the climax is very short.

So, to summarize the story, I just need to talk about the characters. This is just some of them. As this is spoiler free, just remember that all of them are somewhat connected:

- Chava, the Golem: obedient, intelligent and curious. Made out of clay to be the wife of a merchant, she soon finds herself without a master, and must discover what it means to be human. More specifically, an immigrant jew widow female in the beginning of the 20th century England.

- Ahmad, the Jinni: independent, arrogant and reckless. Trapped in a bottle for centuries, released in a distant time and place, forever trapped in a human body. Must also discover how to fit in with the rest of humanity.

- Shaalman: knowledge seeker, corrupted by power. Creator of the Golem. He plays a big role latter in the story.

- Rabbi Meyer: good and pious man, the educator of the Golem.

The plot did have some characters making stupid decisions, but it was in accord with their personality. What I found lacking though was the missed opportunity of more connections between the characters. Two examples:

- I was expecting Maryan to be the descendant of the the Bedouin girl who the Jinni first loved, and that's how she came into possession of his prison flask and also how she somehow knew there was something wrong with him.- Also, the spark Saleh "removed" from a Bedouin girl could have been the in her by the Jinni, and when they met, something different could have happened.

Endearing characters, arcane wisdom(?), and old New York City make this story into a wondrous mixture of history and fantasy. While the story starts out slowly, it unfolds in a delightful way. As the reader, you begin to grasp the connections between characters and their circumstances far before they do, increasing anticipation and keeping the pace. This is a complex tale, well woven by Wecker.

I'd recommend this to middle grades and up. There are some mature topics (an out of wedlock pregnancy, fighting, etc.), but nothing graphic.

This is a delightfully entertaining and thought-provoking book, embracing the cultural ferment of New York City at the turn of the twentieth century from a wholly original point of view. The golem and the jinni are immigrants: one arrives on a boat bereft of the master who has just awakened her and then suddenly died, while the other is accidentally set free from centuries of imprisonment by a tinsmith who tries to repair a flask from the old country. They must negotiate unexpected lives in this new, bewildering place, trying to find a way to survive and be themselves in a world that doesn't even admit that they can exist. Meanwhile, the forces that would rob them again of their newfound self-determination are closing in.

Though the two characters are very different – from the very elements of their being, earth and fire, to their moral outlook on the world – how they draw near to one another and form a kind of sympathetic alliance in their strange quest is a story both touching and thrilling. This is not a lead-footed allegory of the immigrant experience, but an imaginative leap into the questions that make fiction both fun and meaningful. Can free will be manufactured, or earned? Is love a phenomenon of feeling, or of action? What does one do if one literally cannot sleep? Through a wide array of characters and incidents, brought into play with impressive skill for a first-time novelist, Wecker gives the ring of truth to her fantastic story.This review was originally posted on The Emerald City Book Review

DNF at 60%. I ended up googling a summary for the remainder of the book and glad I didn't waste anymore time on this.

Starting off, there is some beautiful atmospheric writing in this novel. In that regard, it reminded me of The Night Circus. Rich, evocative vocabulary that transfixes you.

Now to the characters... A Golem who has no master and a jinni with no master are living in New York, trying to blend in, while also exploring the world around them.

Now why the low rating? The plot and pacing had me bored. I kept going hoping the story would get more engaging, but it didn't. It was just so.... dull. Which is disappointing because the summary sounded very promising, the atmospheric writing was beautiful, but the pacing and characters were unfulfilling.

Uma clássica “fantasia no mundo real”, mas com um toque agradável de maturidade e originalidade.

Senti aqui a familiar sensação de presenciar magia, mas, diferente das sagas da minha adolescência, esse ambiente é usado para contar uma história mais orgânica, fugindo na maior parte do tempo da “longa missão importante” ou do “grande vilão apocalíptico”. Em The Golem and the Jinni, Wecker prefere falar, direta ou indiretamente, sobre as dificuldades da imigração à grande Nova York, as relações entre judeus e muçulmanos, o que é sua própria natureza e até que ponto vale à pena aceitá-la (ou negá-la). Todas temáticas interessantes que tornam a história densa e reflexiva, além de mágica.

A história me perdeu levemente ao tratar o antagonista de forma um pouco unidimensional, beirando o fim, mas o clímax em si foi uma conclusão tão satisfatória de todas as pontas tecidas ao longo do texto que isso foi rapidamente encoberto.

A narração também é interessantemente dinâmica: em terceira pessoa, mas sempre focando na perspectiva de alguma personagem. Apesar de, na minha opinião, tirar o foco de momentos importantes em alguns pontos, as mudanças de perspectiva mantêm o texto vivo e sempre cumprem um propósito.

I must've picked up this book at bookstores a couple dozen times and put it back with a, “No. No more buying books till you read what you have.” Like that has ever stopped me. Then it got picked for Sword & Laser, so shucks darn, I had to get it. I'm really glad I did.

The Golem in the Jinni is a story of parallels, two undocumented immigrants forced to live exactly the opposite as they were born to be. The Golem, a creature whose very nature is defined by servitude, living in terrifying freedom. The Jinni, an embodiment of fire and freedom, bound to human form and forced to serve the masses to pay bills and live a life of quiet desperation. It's a brilliant concept, brilliantly executed.

The story takes place during the Ellis Island immigration era of New York, primarily in the Jewish district and Little Syria. The two main characters are a pleasure to read, but almost equally enjoyable are the cast that surrounds them, each nuanced and unique portraits of people who might actually existed. I think I especially like Sophia Winston, who gives some depth to the idea of a Jane Austen style heroine and Arbeely, who really was doing just fine until a naked man appeared on the floor of his forge... really he was.

By far, Chava and Ahmad carry this story, though. Their struggles to understand what they are, where they are, and eventually who they are, made these 500 pages fly by all too quickly. I can't recommend this book enough to people who love mixing their mythologies. It is a fine piece in that tradition.

I was so excited for this well-received story about two beings from Middle Eastern folklore living as humans at the turn of the 20th century in New York City. Unfortunately, it has significant pacing issues (often dragging until it hurtles forward at breakneck pace in the last 100 pages) and the characters felt flat. I couldn't really get into it.

I heard this was good, but I had no clue what I was in for. The romance is sweet and gentle mostly. The historical parts really set the scene very well. We get a good visit with different cultures as well. I didn't know I wanted to read a historical romance about a golem and a jinni, but I really did want to read it.

I really enjoyed the writing however it felt incredibly long and at times superfluous - especially the parts with Fadwa and her father (took me 2 months to get through!), but the story kept me going back for more. I appreciated the relationship between the Golem and Jinni and liked how it ‘all come together in the end.' Will I read the sequel? Undecided.

I really enjoyed the book. All of it. The mixture of different cultures and legends and even ages, the characters that are easy to imagine and so lovable (even with all their flaws).
I'm happy that they got their almost happy end and looking forward to reading the second book.

Oh yes, all my highly intelligent predictions turned out to be wrong and it was fabulous )))

This was great! It's a bit slow for the first 30% of the book but I didn't mind because we get backstory and the daily lives of our titular Golem and Jinni as they try to fit into human society. The story really starts to pick up after the two main characters meet. There are several different perspectives and all the characters we follow in those chapters play an important role in the larger story so I was never confused or feeling like certain viewpoints were meaningless. I loved the intermixing of both Arabic and Jewish mythology and felt like I was learning some interesting things. I wouldn't call this first installment a love story because there is very little romance in this book, but I think the second novel is going to focus more on the relationship between Chava and Ahmad.

I think it was wonderful. :-)
Of course. I gave it 5 stars.

I think Helene Wecker managed to make golems and jinnis well-rounded creatures, without taking anything away from their traditional nature. In fact, I think she explains their traditional nature, without diminishing or what-s-it-called weakening, making it bland or boring, or less dangerous and terrifying.
I love the fact that she uses old traditions, mainly Jewish, that's not that usual in Fantasy.
The solution was not the best, though... it kind of fizzled a little towards the end. Started going down from the dance hall. The beginning was perfect.