The Golem and the Jinni (The Golem and the Jinni, #1) in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Sep 07, 2017 katy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club

I was surprised by this one, both that book club picked it and that i enjoyed it so much. It was a little slow at times, but the way it all came together made so much more sense.

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Apr 22, 2014 Sharlene rated it it was amazing

Shelves: library, ebook, fantasy, once-upon-a-time, 2014

The Golem and the Jinni was one of the best books I’ve read so far this year. It was such a great story that I was so caught up in it. I would’ve stayed up past my bedtime (all too easy as I sleep before 1030) but with two kids demanding all my energy I need my sleep. Still I managed to read and read this, while pushing the 1yo on his tricycle, while the kids napped in the afternoon, in between doing chores, and during my reading time after the kids went to sleep. I didn’t want this story to end ...more

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May 22, 2014 Jeff Scott rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobooks, fiction, magical-realism, fantasy, new-york

The immigrant experience brought many traditions to the new world. Ancient myths and beliefs hold true, but it is only the oldest of those who remember, who may have even seen the origin of these beings. The Golem is a creature from Jewish Mysticism. Created from clay they are there to serve and protect the Jewish people. However, that protection can backfire when the Golem runs amuck. The Jinni is something more familiar in popular culture (I Dream of Genie). The stories of wishes and the trick The immigrant experience brought many traditions to the new world. Ancient myths and beliefs hold true, but it is only the oldest of those who remember, who may have even seen the origin of these beings. The Golem is a creature from Jewish Mysticism. Created from clay they are there to serve and protect the Jewish people. However, that protection can backfire when the Golem runs amuck. The Jinni is something more familiar in popular culture (I Dream of Genie). The stories of wishes and the trickster stories are well known. Helene Wecker is able to take these traditions and combine them into the immigrant experience. As both creatures attempt to navigate New York, they are out of place and unmoored from their people the same as immigrants. The story reminded me a great deal of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. In that story, Neil Gaiman takes these traditions of the old world and demonstrates how difficult it is for a god or legend to navigate in a world that has forgotten them.

A failed businessman seeks to make a new life in America. He needs a wife so he sees a Rabbi of dark magic who creates for him a Golem as a wife. A Golem must serve a master and the businessman is set to be just that. When he dies on the voyage, she must find a way to resist the pull of a thousand minds, a thousand needs, now that she no longer can focus on her dead master. In another part of New York, a tinsmith repairs a lamp and therein releases a genie trapped there for 1000 years. However, this genie isn’t here to grant him wishes. He has been bound by a human wizard and must find a way to break the chains.

The story follows both the Golem and the Jinni. The Golem’s perspective echoes the needs of the people around her. She can read minds and understand the deepest wish. As a result, she struggles to not fulfill every desire she hears. The Jinni is quite the opposite, selfish and brazen; it’s his dangerous attitude that may have put him in the situation in the first place. Both sides can learn from another and they do, but they both can fall prey to an even more powerful creature, human kind. It’s a wonderful and thorough exploration into culture, myth, and connections to the past.
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Nov 18, 2020 Cecily rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, historical-fiction, audiobook, 2020

I tried to read this as a physical book a few years ago, and couldn't get into it...but as an audiobook, I couldn't stop listening. It could be that the narrator was terrific, and one of my favorites. :) ...more

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May 04, 2015 Astrid Lim rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Unusual, mystical and enchanting, this book introduced us to a new world where spirits and mystical creatures exist and even have their own fear, problem and feeling. With the setting of NYC is early 1900, i can actually imagine that this story really happened...

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Jun 23, 2022 Nicole added it · review of another edition

Shelves: dnf

This is a deep character study based around the myths that might have been enjoyable during winter when I could settle into it, but in summer, I just wasn't that interested. ...more

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