Book: The Golem and the Jinni by Helene WeckerGenre: Historical Fantasy/Magic Realism
Rating:★★★★★
For: Book Club
From: Bought for the Kindle
Short Synopsis: A Jewish wizard creates a golem to be a wife for a guy. He (the guy) brings her to New York in 1899, but he dies on the boat, which leave the golem master-less. Not a good thing for her to be! But she finds friends in New York and makes a pretty good life for herself. Meanwhile, another guy in New York is fixing a copper flask and bam.. a jinni (genie) pops out! He doesn't grant wishes though.He also manages to make a life for himself. When the paths of these two cross, things get so very interesting! Meanwhile, we find what happens to the wizard guy, we find out how the jinni ended up in the bottle in the first place, we learn about several of the people who help these two and how their back story ends up being important. When everything converges, it's quite the climatic ending!
My Response: Of course I loved it! What fascinating characters with all their stories coming down to one crazy breath holding moment! The mythology of these two creatures was also fascinating. I knew pretty much nothing about either of them so that was fun to learn. It's also cool having two religions, the Jewish and the Muslim, come together like this. And going from the Arabic desert thousands of years ago to 1899 New York, also very cool. I'm sorry it took me so long to read this one and I'm so glad to have finally fit it in.
Bottom Line: Fabulous fascinating tale! Don't skip this one!
Let's Talk About: Golems and jinnis. Do you know anything about them? Ever heard of them before? I mean besides Aladdin and all? Have you read this book? Does it do the mythology justice? I hope so. I love learning the "true" things about supernatural characters!
Other Reviews:
I was enchanted by this unusual, imaginative, and heartwarming story, and would love to see a sequel! From Rhapsody in Books
Let me start off by saying that I loved loved loved this book! It has earned a permanent place on my bookshelf (yes, I bought the hardcover (I needed something for the author to sign!)), and I’m recommending it to everyone I know. From Hey Lady, Whatcha Readin'
As much as I enjoyed this glimpse of story-telling in slightly familiar traditions, I was equally intrigued by the realistic portrayal of immigrant life in Gilded Age New York. From Joy's Book Blog
There are a number of side characters and stories happening in parallel narratives as the Golem’s and the Jinni’s but part of what is so compelling is that as a reader (or listener) you know that at some point all of these threads must come together. From A Home Between Pages
I knew about the djinn because of movies and stuff. Not just Aladdin, but other ones. I can't remember their names. But, I didn't know anything about golems. I'm finding it very fascinating and I can't wait to finish it. I hope this week. We'll see.
ReplyDeleteJenni: I hope you do. The ending must be talked about!
DeleteI learned about Jinni and other demons in the books by Jonathan Stroud in the Bartimeus Trilogy. If you liked this book, you should try those. The first is "The Amulet of Samarkand", followed by "The Golem's Eye" and then "Ptolemy's Gate". The audio books are also excellent.
DeleteDebbie: I'd totally forgotten about that book! I read the first one years ago!
DeleteI don't think I've ever read a novel about a Golem so far. Combined with a Jinn that can only be a recipe for fun times. Maybe bookmarking this, because yeah - first golem novel I've seen! I'm sort of hesitant about the setting, I'm not so much for 19th century literature. I prefer the present tense or at least the 20th/21st century.
ReplyDeleteJen: If you're at all interested in golems, you should give it a shot for sure!
DeleteThis has been on my to-read list for ages now! I really must pull it out and read it. It sounds so good!
ReplyDeleteBelle: Bump it up if you can!
DeleteI've heard about jinnis before because one makes an appearance in Neil Gaiman's American Gods. Golems I've heard of too from children's books. One of my favorite things about this book is the writing. It was absolutely enthralling.
ReplyDeleteVasilly: I really need to read that American Gods one of these days! And I agree. the writing was wonderful.
DeleteI knew nothing about Golems of Jinni's until I read this book. I thought it was a great year in the life with a fantasy twist ! Glad you liked it.
ReplyDeleteJess: For sure!
DeleteI've known about both so there's nothing new there. I'm having a hard time with this one. I can see it come together but it's taking forever! Ugh!
ReplyDeleteJenny: Keeping my fingers crossed you pull through it and like it!
DeleteI listened to this one on audio, and I'm glad I did. I honestly don't know if I would have enjoyed it as much if I had read it myself. It was a truly fascinating story, and the narrator won me over!!
ReplyDeleteI'm still planning on read this!!
ReplyDelete