Kadomi reviewed The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
Review of 'Golem and the Jinni' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
I loved every minute of this magical book. I can say that the atmosphere grabbed me in a similar way to The Night Circus.
Set in the last years of the 19th century, this is the story of a woman made out of clay, a golem. A Jewish emigrant who cannot find a wife, finds himself a magic-user to create the perfect woman for him. But soon after his golem comes to life on the voyage to New York, he dies from appendicitis, leaving the newly raised golem confused and alone, without a master. In New York a friendly rabbi recognizes her as a golem and takes her under his wing.
At the same time, another magical creature comes to New York. Trapped for hundreds of years in a copper bottle, a jinni is released from the bottle in the Little Syria part of New York by a tinsmith who …
I loved every minute of this magical book. I can say that the atmosphere grabbed me in a similar way to The Night Circus.
Set in the last years of the 19th century, this is the story of a woman made out of clay, a golem. A Jewish emigrant who cannot find a wife, finds himself a magic-user to create the perfect woman for him. But soon after his golem comes to life on the voyage to New York, he dies from appendicitis, leaving the newly raised golem confused and alone, without a master. In New York a friendly rabbi recognizes her as a golem and takes her under his wing.
At the same time, another magical creature comes to New York. Trapped for hundreds of years in a copper bottle, a jinni is released from the bottle in the Little Syria part of New York by a tinsmith who was to mend the bottle. Cuffed with a band of iron, the jinni is trapped and starts working as apprentice to the smith.
Those two very different creatures meet and befriend each other, and find out that ultimately their lives are incredibly entwined, as in flashbacks we learn how the jinni came to be bound like this.
Absolutely wonderful and captivating. Cannot recommend enough.
