About The Golem and the Jinni
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.
Detail
Complete Title: The Golem and the Jinni (The Golem and the Jinni, #1)
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Number of Pages: 486
Publication Time: April 23, 2013
Publisher: Harper
ISBN: 0062110837
ISBN13: 9780062110831
About Helene Wecker
Helene Wecker
Helene Wecker’s first novel, The Golem and the Jinni, was awarded the Mythopoeic Award for Adult Literature, the VCU Cabell Award for First Novel, and the Harold U. Ribalow Prize, and was nominated for a Nebula Award and a World Fantasy Award. Its sequel, The Hidden Palace, was published in June 2021. A Midwest native, she holds a B.A. in English from Carleton College and an M.F.A. in Fiction Writing from Columbia University. Her work has appeared in literary journals such as Joyland and Catamaran, as well as the fantasy anthology The Djinn Falls in Love and Other Stories. She currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and children.
Reviews The Golem and the Jinni
I am trying something a little different here. I found The Golem and the Jinni to be a fun, magical fairy tale of a romance with a fair bit of excitement to it. But it is pretty clear that this is als…
Will Byrnes
All of us are lonely at some point or another, no matter how many people surround us. And then, we meet someone who seems to understand. She smiles, and for a moment the loneliness disappears.
Unsu…
Emily May
This is a very good book. It’s a gentle book, concerned with people, spiced by having both of the main point of view characters being supernatural creatures, namely a newly created golem and an ancien…
Mark Lawrence
Just this once, I wish I could say ‘The Golem and the Jinni is awesome. Trust me.’ and just leave it at that. Not only because it is, but also because Helene Wecker’s debut novel is a hard book to put…
Mitch
Oh man, the book was a little long but it was so worth it. The pacing was excellent and I really enjoyed the unique story line and the way everything comes together in the end. There is nothing better…
Always Pouting
This is one of my favorite books of the year. I didn’t know a ton about it going in, other than the gorgeous cover, and I’m very glad I didn’t. It is a historical urban fantasy of sorts, about a Golem…
Felicia
Sorry it took me so long to write a review for this one but the past weeks have been hectic and not so fun. I still have little time but if I don’t write a few words now, I’ll never do it. I added…
Adina
This is a truly difficult book to rate, mostly because what faults I can find, I find them in myself as a reader.The premise of the story in perfect, Chava is a golem created to become the wife o…
Isa
‘all of us are lonely at some point or another, no matter how any people surround us. and then, we meet someone who seems to understand. she smiles, and for a moment the loneliness disappears.’…