The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
Reviewed by Consuelo
I definitely judged this book by its appearance. Simply stated, it’s gorgeous. It has a beautiful illustration of the Washington Square Arch on the cover and rich, navy blue edged pages. Just the look of the book made me excited to crack it open and see if the story would match in grandeur. And it sure didn’t disappoint.
Wecker’s debut novel is about two supernatural creatures who both end up alone in 1899 New York City. She breathes new life into the mythologies of golems and jinn (or genies) by mixing them together. While the novel does build up to a big climax in the end, it spends most of its time exploring these two characters. The Golem, for the purposes of this story, is made by her creator to be a reserved, hard-working , but curious woman to serve as a wife. The Jinni is a hot-headed loner now having to cope with being trapped in human form. It’s fascinating to see how these two react to their new surroundings and to each other. Wecker doesn’t shy away from making them face the reality of life’s troubles and each must come to grasp their own sense of humanity, even though they are not human.
I’ve read tales of both golems and genies before, and none of them were quite like this. They are taken out of their usual contexts, but the history of each is respected and the Jewish and Arabic folklores woven together in a beautiful way. It’s a debut novel worth the praise and a fantasy story that leaves a big impression.
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Another one for my books to read list,: great review.
Oooo, this sounds interesting!
Blast it, my pile of books is ever-growing. Yet another book I need to throw onto it. Somedays, I wish I didn’t need sleep. =)