The Golem and the Djinni
Ratings317
Average rating4.2
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.
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2 primary books#1 in The Golem and the Jinni
The Golem and the Jinni is a 2-book series with 2 released primary works first released in 2013 with contributions by Helene Wecker.
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This is a DNF for me. I have to give up on it because there is no point in having a current read which one is finding any old reason to avoid picking up to read.
The concept seemed interesting, but after several hundred pages I am entirely uninvolved. That it has taken me over a week to read just a few hundred pages says it all. Clearly, it is not for me.
This is my second attempt, and I had the same issues as the first time around.
The Humans of New York vibe didn't work for me. I enjoyed it, but I felt that it was wrong for the story. The first time around, I stopped at the Djinni infodump. It got worse. I felt like Wecker was showing her hand, because only Major Plot characters get a backstory. I honestly felt she could have weaved it all through a little more deftly.
Because, she deftly weaves information throughout the rest of the story, in a delightful way. She tells us obviously the Djinni doesn't need to carry matches. Later, she shows, instead of tells, us why. From 1/3 of the way through, when Things start happening, it is a lovely story. You all know I'm a sucker for religion in a story, and even better they're “real” (as opposed to secondary-world ones). In fact, the biggest disappointment was the end, but I can live with it.
Ok, I can't. Spoilers for literally the last pages: WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE A ROMANCE?? UHGH.
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