Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

The Golem and the Djinni by Helene Wecker

12 reviews

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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adventurous emotional reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This story is beautifully written. From the disparate characters who blossom through the prose to the details of old New York that transport you to is streets, the story Chava, Ahmad, and the people whose stories are interwoven with theirs is vibrant and thoughtful.

Questions of inherent nature, self-determination, fate, and true affection are threaded throughout this epic tale.

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adventurous informative sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book started promising but ended up just being "meh." This book would have done better with an edit. It was rather long and since it has no real plot, it ended up dragging on. The characters were interesting, but not interesting enough for a whole story. If I wasn't reading for book club, I would have DNF'd it. By the time I decided it was not worth it, I was most of the way there and book club is approaching. This book has rave reviews, so maybe it's just me but many of the low star reviews I agree with. If I had read it rather than listened, I would have been more lost than I was. I think the back and forth in time for the Jinni was a tad confusing and I thought some of the present was the past and vice versa. Overall, it was distinctly meh. Not bad, but also not captivating. I like slice of life, but maybe not almost 600 pages of it. I also was a little weirded out by the minor/adult relationship in the book. A bit of a turn off I don't see in any of the reviews.

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

It was good but I don’t think I liked it enough to read the sequel. I’m okay with the story ending where it did. 

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dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

tremendously well-written and surprisingly funny historical fiction fantasy about immigrants in New York at the turn of the 20th century. it can get rather heavy at times, but its darker themes are handled with great care.

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

There is no getting around the fact that this book is incredibly slow. Part of that comes from an abundance of detail in the writing style and careful introspection of each character. But if you are patient with the narrative you will find an incredibly rich and meticulously plotted story that wraps itself up into a neat and elegant bow by the end. 
I am not incredibly into the historical genre but this story plays to several of my specific interests. I very much enjoyed learning about the not-oft utilized myth creatures of golems and jinn and appreciated how thoroughly grounded in cultural contexts the author aspires to present them. The author seems to take great care giving detail to the Jewish and Syrian communities, both New and Old World, featured in the story, and every character is unique and grounded. I also deeply appreciate that main characters Ahmad and Chava, while not exactly being *not* romantically interested in each other, have factors to their relationship outside of romantic intrigue and are allowed to organically come to value and enjoy each other's company rather than being smashed together out of obligation of being the male and female leads. In closing, this is a lovingly and meticulously crafted book. Slow as it is, I would not begrudge someone being impatient with it but I greatly appreciated my time with it. 

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adventurous informative lighthearted mysterious relaxing sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I wish everyone, especially the jinni and the golem a very happy and peaceful life ahead in this story. 



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adventurous emotional hopeful reflective tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I'm not entirely sure how to review this book without it soundly like a rambling jumble of unconsidered praises, but trust that I have considered and The Golem and The Jinni has earned its praise, and my brevity here is to save myself from sounding like a monologuing child.

The Golem and The Jinni is the kind of magical realism that lets you forget your grounding in reality. Wecker's characters are familiar, not in the sense that they are retellings of known "characters," but in their easy ability to fit into the world as one has known it. Yes, there are magical creatures and spells in this world, but life is life, and the experience of it persists. 

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adventurous inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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