Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
Loading... The golem and the djinni (edition 2013)by Helene Wecker
Work InformationThe Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
Best Fantasy Novels (171) » 40 more Best Historical Fiction (179) Books Read in 2013 (13) Books Read in 2016 (135) Books Read in 2014 (38) Gaslamp Fantasy (7) ALA The Reading List (23) Summer Reads 2014 (29) Books Read in 2015 (493) Books Read in 2023 (565) Historical Fiction (397) Female Protagonist (420) KayStJ's to-read list (161) Carole's List (193) Books Read in 2022 (2,706) Historical Fantasy (16) Female Author (996) First Novels (175) 5 Best 5 Years (18) Absolute Power (8) mom (509) Best Mythic Fiction (28) Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. 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. ( ) Magical realism set at the turn of the 20th century in New York City. Combining Hebrew and Mideastern myths into a beautifully written tale. Blending different character narrations into an immersive story with many philosophical questions. A Golem, a creature made of clay, is brought to life on a ship heading to NYC when her master dies. A Djinni, a creature made of fire, captured in a lamp in Syria but which over the generations traveled to NYC where he is released. Both find themselves in unfamiliar situations and fortunately find guides who keep the secret of who they are and teach them about life. The Golem and Djinni by chance find each other while out at night. As they can share with each other their secrets without it leading to consequences, they have exploratory night excursions in which their very different personalities clash and benefit from each other. As the writing comes from different perspectives, slowing down the reading in order to adept to the perspectives but it builds the story. This is more a story for personal reflection into how different people respond to similar situations, rather than a story full of quick successions of action. This was a fascinating book about what makes a person. The jinni and the golem transcend their assigned natures to meet in the middle. It was also a fascinating book about the clash of cultures, and a fascinating historical novel about turn-of-the-last-century New York, and what life was like for immigrants then. (Again with the clash of cultures). It was a book about how one man's self absorption had repercussions far beyond what anyone could have imagined. It was well-written and vivid, and I eschewed several much-anticipated other books in order to finish it. The ending fit perfectly to the story, leaving the reader with hope for the future. I'm glad I read it.
The title characters of “The Golem and the Jinni” are not the book’s only magic. The story is so inventive, so elegantly written and so well constructed that it’s hard to believe this is a first novel. Clearly, otherworldly forces were involved. You think a relationship is complicated when a woman is from Venus and a man is from Mars? Trust me, that’s a piece of cake compared with the hurdles that a modest golem and a mercurial jinni face when they fall in love. The sometimes slow pace picks up considerably as the disparate characters decipher the past and try to save the souls variously threatened by the golem and the jinni, as well as by the Jewish conjurer and (surprise) a Syrian wizard. The interplay of loyalties and the struggle to assert reason over emotion keep the pages flipping. AwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
Chava, a golem brought to life by a disgraced rabbi, and Ahmad, a jinni made of fire, form an unlikely friendship on the streets of New York until a fateful choice changes everything. No library descriptions found. |
Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |