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calarco 's review for:
The Golem and the Jinni
by Helene Wecker
If you find yourself in the mood for a historical fiction that takes place in 1800s New York City, but with fantasy elements and a dash of soap opera drama, then I would have to recommend [b:The Golem and the Jinni|15819028|The Golem and the Jinni (The Golem and the Jinni, #1)|Helene Wecker|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1349205573l/15819028._SX50_.jpg|21547736].
The story opens with the creation of a golem in a Polish town; she is made to be the wife of a young Jewish immigrant bound to Manhattan. On the journey the golem is awakened at sea and finds herself masterless and alone by the time she docks in the new world and ends up at the Lower East Side. I have to say these passages were probably my favorite; I spent a couple years giving historic walking tours east of this area. It was easy to fall into this at times real, and other times fantastical setting.
Having already outlived her intended purpose after day one of being alive, the golem finds herself out of sorts until she meets a local rabbi of the community who takes her under his wing. She was made to serve and now has to completely re-envision her life’s purpose, all while still hearing the desires of other humans in her head.
As the rabbi teaches the golem how to understand and survive, he exclaims, "You must learn how to act according to what people say and do, not what they wish or fear. You have an extraordinary window into people's souls, and you'll see many ugly and uncomfortable things... You must be prepared for them, and learn when to discount them" (49). This exploration of self-determinism in a fantasy immigrant context was probably the most interesting component of this novel.
We are also introduced to the jinni. As the golem made her way from Europe, the jinni arrives in New York’s Little Syria by way of the Middle East. He cannot remember large parts of his past, but lives a relatively unencumbered and free life. His temperament is so different from the golem’s, but their drive to be genuinely understood while living among a different species is the key desire that they both share in this strange new world. Inevitably, their paths cross one day and things don’t quite happen the way you think they will.
Overall, there were parts that reminded me at times of Neil Gaiman’s [b:American Gods|30165203|American Gods (American Gods, #1)|Neil Gaiman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1462924585l/30165203._SY75_.jpg|1970226], though the emphasis on romantic entanglements and emotional longing do make it a very different type of novel. What really drives the novel isn’t necessarily conflict, but a longing for authentic connection and understanding of one’s place in the world. How this spills into musings of religion, I also found to be really fascinating.
“Did its efficacy not prove that the Almighty was the supreme truth, the only truth? But now he saw that truths were as innumerable as falsehoods—that for sheer teeming chaos, the world of man could only be matched by the world of the divine. And as he traveled backward the Almighty shrank smaller and smaller, until He was merely another desert deity, and His commandments seemed no more than fearful demands of a jealous lover. And yet [he] had spent his entire life in terror of Him, dreading His judgement in the World to Come—a world that he would never see!” (441).
You can travel to a new continent, and even live for hundreds of years, but you can never seem to escape deep-rooted existential baggage. Overall, I thought this was a solid novel, if one with a bit of a slow start. Though by the time the pacing speeds up, I did find myself glued to the book until the very end. The characters do also make frustrating choices, but I generally find choices made on sheer reactionary emotional impulse to be frustrating. If that doesn’t bother you though, I definitely recommend this novel. I haven't read many like it.
Rating: 3.5 stars
The story opens with the creation of a golem in a Polish town; she is made to be the wife of a young Jewish immigrant bound to Manhattan. On the journey the golem is awakened at sea and finds herself masterless and alone by the time she docks in the new world and ends up at the Lower East Side. I have to say these passages were probably my favorite; I spent a couple years giving historic walking tours east of this area. It was easy to fall into this at times real, and other times fantastical setting.
Having already outlived her intended purpose after day one of being alive, the golem finds herself out of sorts until she meets a local rabbi of the community who takes her under his wing. She was made to serve and now has to completely re-envision her life’s purpose, all while still hearing the desires of other humans in her head.
As the rabbi teaches the golem how to understand and survive, he exclaims, "You must learn how to act according to what people say and do, not what they wish or fear. You have an extraordinary window into people's souls, and you'll see many ugly and uncomfortable things... You must be prepared for them, and learn when to discount them" (49). This exploration of self-determinism in a fantasy immigrant context was probably the most interesting component of this novel.
We are also introduced to the jinni. As the golem made her way from Europe, the jinni arrives in New York’s Little Syria by way of the Middle East. He cannot remember large parts of his past, but lives a relatively unencumbered and free life. His temperament is so different from the golem’s, but their drive to be genuinely understood while living among a different species is the key desire that they both share in this strange new world. Inevitably, their paths cross one day and things don’t quite happen the way you think they will.
Overall, there were parts that reminded me at times of Neil Gaiman’s [b:American Gods|30165203|American Gods (American Gods, #1)|Neil Gaiman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1462924585l/30165203._SY75_.jpg|1970226], though the emphasis on romantic entanglements and emotional longing do make it a very different type of novel. What really drives the novel isn’t necessarily conflict, but a longing for authentic connection and understanding of one’s place in the world. How this spills into musings of religion, I also found to be really fascinating.
“Did its efficacy not prove that the Almighty was the supreme truth, the only truth? But now he saw that truths were as innumerable as falsehoods—that for sheer teeming chaos, the world of man could only be matched by the world of the divine. And as he traveled backward the Almighty shrank smaller and smaller, until He was merely another desert deity, and His commandments seemed no more than fearful demands of a jealous lover. And yet [he] had spent his entire life in terror of Him, dreading His judgement in the World to Come—a world that he would never see!” (441).
You can travel to a new continent, and even live for hundreds of years, but you can never seem to escape deep-rooted existential baggage. Overall, I thought this was a solid novel, if one with a bit of a slow start. Though by the time the pacing speeds up, I did find myself glued to the book until the very end. The characters do also make frustrating choices, but I generally find choices made on sheer reactionary emotional impulse to be frustrating. If that doesn’t bother you though, I definitely recommend this novel. I haven't read many like it.
Rating: 3.5 stars