Posts tagged books

A Golem, brought to America by her now-dead master, seeks to survive in a world where she is constantly bombarded with the desires and pain of all humans around her.  A kind rabbi watches over her and attempts to keep her busy and in control.  She works at a bakery, has her own apartment, and makes friends.  She has every guise of being a normal human being, but it is all an act.  She is a golem and must keep control of herself or risk her own destruction and the destruction of those around her.  

                A tinsmith is given a flask to repair.  As he begins work, a Jinni appears.  The Jinni, bound within the flask for centuries, is shocked to discover that an iron shackle keeps him in human form.  Without his previous abilities, he is unable to return to his home.  The tinsmith takes the Jinni under his wing , seeking to help him make a life in his new home town, New York City.  But the Jinni is not interested in a new life.  He wants only to be free.

            In Helene Wecker’s The Golem and the Jinni, these two mythical creatures struggle to live in a world completely foreign to them.  Dangers surround them, and it is not until they meet each other that they begin to feel as if they are truly living and not just surviving in this harsh and foreign landscape.   

            As I read The Golem and the Jinni, I was constantly reminded of last year’s The Night Circus.  Obviously, storywise, they are completely different, but a similar tone and storytelling style is present.  I enjoyed the otherworldly quality of both novels because, while the authors might bring the impossible into our world, they keep a sense of wonder and weirdness in their tales.  Wecker’s novel presents two mythical creatures and gives them lives and life of their own.  It is interesting to see the different viewpoints that develop based on each creature’s nature and how these views change over the course of the story.  Wecker’s novel most succeeds when it focuses on these two characters and their development.  Unfortunately, there are many other characters and happenings, and this causes Wecker’s novel to move slowly to its end. 

            At times, I felt as if I had reread passages because similar scenes and thoughts kept coming up again and again.  There were many, many characters in the Jinni and Golem’s life, and it was often difficult to keep them straight.  It didn’t help that I didn’t care about them the same way I did the main characters.  There were just too many of them to be properly characterized.  Wecker tried to tie all these little story ends and persons in at the conclusion, but it felt awkward and forced.   Still, I did enjoy reading the novel, and I would recommend it to others—especially those who love magical realism and are fans of books like The Night Circus.

(Source: img2.imagesbn.com)

It’s library book sale season in my town.  The smaller one starts today, and the big one’s next week.  I’m trying to reel in my happy dance, but it’s not working.

In the 23nd century, every person is fitted with a flower crystal that turns black when its wearer turns twenty-one.  Once the flower turns black, the wearer has only two choices: Allow themselves to be put to sleep or run for their lives.

Read more …