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A review by bandgeek3997
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
5.0
I try to pretend sometimes that I pick books to read because I read the brief summary and found it compelling, or that I heard so many wonderful things about it. I'll be honest, though. I picked this book up because it was pretty. I was right: it was pretty.... awesome! (It's okay, you can hate me for that.)
The story focuses on Chava, a golem, and Ahmad, a jinni. I am not one who knows much about other cultural folklore, so I did have to look up what those two creatures were. The both were explained within time, though, but impatience gets the best of me sometimes. These two magical beings are brought to live in circumstances beyond their control, and though being of different nature completely, experience the same struggles in their own way. It isn't until almost half of the 500 page book that our two main characters finally meet. Some might call that slow, but the story of how they each live their life in different communities of late 19th century NYC is completely needed.
This is a hard book to review. I don't want to give too many details away, and then again, there are so many intricate and important details that I would run out of space if I listed them all. But you should read this book. The entire time is such a magical experience of both Arabic and Jewish folklore. (How she was able to masterfully tell it from perspectives of multiple cultures is beyond me.) The characters are so real that you experience everything with them. The story so captivating that you never want it to end.
It felt like a fairy tale, and there hasn't been a book since The Night Circus to be such a magical read the entire time. I definitely look forward to more works by Helene Wrecker in the future!
The story focuses on Chava, a golem, and Ahmad, a jinni. I am not one who knows much about other cultural folklore, so I did have to look up what those two creatures were. The both were explained within time, though, but impatience gets the best of me sometimes. These two magical beings are brought to live in circumstances beyond their control, and though being of different nature completely, experience the same struggles in their own way. It isn't until almost half of the 500 page book that our two main characters finally meet. Some might call that slow, but the story of how they each live their life in different communities of late 19th century NYC is completely needed.
This is a hard book to review. I don't want to give too many details away, and then again, there are so many intricate and important details that I would run out of space if I listed them all. But you should read this book. The entire time is such a magical experience of both Arabic and Jewish folklore. (How she was able to masterfully tell it from perspectives of multiple cultures is beyond me.) The characters are so real that you experience everything with them. The story so captivating that you never want it to end.
It felt like a fairy tale, and there hasn't been a book since The Night Circus to be such a magical read the entire time. I definitely look forward to more works by Helene Wrecker in the future!