The Golem and the Jinni: A Novel
(Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read)
"An intoxicating fusion of fantasy and historical fiction. . . . Wecker's storytelling skills dazzle." —Entertainment Weekly
A marvelous and absorbing debut novel about a chance meeting between two supernatural creatures in turn-of-the-century immigrant New York.
Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay by a disgraced rabbi knowledgeable in the ways of dark Kabbalistic magic. She serves as the wife to a Polish merchant who dies at sea on the voyage to America. As the ship arrives in New York in 1899, Chava is unmoored and adrift until a rabbi on the Lower East Side recognizes her for the creature she is and takes her in.
Ahmad is a jinni, a being of fire born in the ancient Syrian desert and trapped centuries ago in an old copper flask by a Bedouin wizard. Released by a Syrian tinsmith in a Manhattan shop, Ahmad appears in human form but is still not free. An iron band around his wrist binds him to the wizard and to the physical world.
Chava and Ahmad meet accidentally and become friends and soul mates despite their opposing natures. But when the golem's violent nature overtakes her one evening, their bond is challenged. An even more powerful threat will emerge, however, and bring Chava and Ahmad together again, challenging their very existence and forcing them to make a fateful choice.
Compulsively readable, The Golem and the Jinni weaves strands of Yiddish and Middle Eastern literature, historical fiction and magical fable, in a wondrously inventive tale that is mesmerizing and unforgettable.
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Helene Wecker. (2013). The Golem and the Jinni: A Novel. HarperCollins.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)Helene Wecker. 2013. The Golem and the Jinni: A Novel. HarperCollins.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)Helene Wecker, The Golem and the Jinni: A Novel. HarperCollins, 2013.
MLA Citation (style guide)Helene Wecker. The Golem and the Jinni: A Novel. HarperCollins, 2013.
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There are 7 holds on this title.
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Helene Wecker received a BA from Carleton College in Minnesota and an MFA from Columbia University in New York. A Chicago-area native who has made her home in Minneapolis, Seattle, and New York, she now lives near San Francisco with her husband and daughter. The Golem and the Jinni is her first novel.
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"An intoxicating fusion of fantasy and historical fiction. . . . Wecker's storytelling skills dazzle." —Entertainment Weekly
A marvelous and absorbing debut novel about a chance meeting between two supernatural creatures in turn-of-the-century immigrant New York.
Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay by a disgraced rabbi knowledgeable in the ways of dark Kabbalistic magic. She serves as the wife to a Polish merchant who dies at sea on the voyage to America. As the ship arrives in New York in 1899, Chava is unmoored and adrift until a rabbi on the Lower East Side recognizes her for the creature she is and takes her in.
Ahmad is a jinni, a being of fire born in the ancient Syrian desert and trapped centuries ago in an old copper flask by a Bedouin wizard. Released by a Syrian tinsmith in a Manhattan shop, Ahmad appears in human form but is still not free. An iron band around his wrist binds him to the wizard and to the physical world.
Chava and Ahmad meet accidentally and become friends and soul mates despite their opposing natures. But when the golem's violent nature overtakes her one evening, their bond is challenged. An even more powerful threat will emerge, however, and bring Chava and Ahmad together again, challenging their very existence and forcing them to make a fateful choice.
Compulsively readable, The Golem and the Jinni weaves strands of Yiddish and Middle Eastern literature, historical fiction and magical fable, in a wondrously inventive tale that is mesmerizing and unforgettable.
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"Set against the vivid backdrop of New York City's immigrant neighborhoods in the late 19th century, Helene Wecker's tale of two fabled creatures has the intimate feel of a story handed down from generation to generation. With a delightful blend of the prosaic and the fanciful, The Golem and the Jinni explores what it means to be human as Chava and Ahmad struggle to live and find love while overcoming the powerful adversary who threatens to destroy them." — Deborah Harkness, author of A Discovery of Witches
"Original and fresh. . . . A fascinating blend of historical fiction and Jewish and Arab folklore" — Library Journal
"[A] spellbinding blend of fantasy and historical fiction." — Publishers Weekly
"The premise is so fresh. . . . A mystical and highly original stroll through the sidewalks of New York." — Booklist
"Wecker begins with a juicy premise. . . and great adventures ensue. . . . She writes skillfully, nicely evoking the layers of alienness that fall upon strangers in a strange land." — Kirkus Reviews
"Magical thinking comes alive in an enchanting allegory of the immigrant experience as two mythical beings try to make sense of themselves and the world around them." — Family Circle Magazine
"THE GOLEM AND THE JINNI is recommended to adults who enjoy a good story and have a childlike sense of make-believe." — New York Journal of Books
"It sounds like the setup for a really strange joke: 'A golem and a jinni walk into a bakery in early 19th-century New York....' But this debut novel—part fantastic tale, part historical fiction—is one of the most highly anticipated fiction releases of the spring." — Christian Science Monitor
"The most exciting fantasy debut since Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell. Helene Wecker must be a born writer; there is no other way to account for the quality of her prose, as phenomenal as any of the supernatural wonders she delivers in the glorious The Golem and the Jinni." — BookPage
"In the best instances, you don't merely read a book—you dive in and happily immerse yourself, forgetting the troubles of daily life for a while. The Golem and the Jinni offers just such an absorbing experience. " — USA Today
"One of the joys of the novel is in watching two strangers develop a relationship that, while it's rooted in their shared magical natures, echoes the way ordinary humans can form bonds starting with a random encounter on a busy street." — Dallas Morning News
"An intoxicating fusion of fantasy and historical fiction. . . . Wecker's storytelling skills dazzle...The book's magic, filtered through the old-time hustle and bustle of the Lower East Side, lingers long after the final page." Grade: A — Entertainment Weekly
"The tale is meant to be magical, and it is, but Wecker's real sleight of pen is recreating Manhattan as it was then. She has a historian's grasp of detail and a novelist's flair." — New York Daily News
"The author makes you care enough about the humanity of these magical spirits to not only see them through to the end but also to regret that you've reached the last page." — New York Times
"From its eerie opening pages to its shattering conclusion, The Golem and the Jinni is an astonishing debut novel that sweeps us into a gaslit alternate reality rich enough to get lost in." — Tom...
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March 11, 2013
Wecker's first novel is a magical tale of two mythical creaturesâa golem from a Polish shtetl and a jinni from the Syrian Desertâstruggling to fit in among New York's turn-of-the-19th-century immigrants. The golem is brought to America by poor furniture maker Otto Rotfeld, who had her built from clay to be his wife, but he dies en route. Elderly Rabbi Avram Meyer, recognizing the tall and hardworking young woman's supernatural character, gives her a nameâChavaâand a job in a bakery, but ponders whether to destroy her or let her fulfill a destiny that legend dictates includes mayhem and destruction. Meanwhile, a tinsmith, Boutros Arbeely, releases the jinni from a thousand-year-old flask and names him Ahmad. Proud, handsome Ahmad proves a gifted metalworker, seduces a Fifth Avenue heiress, and pines for his long-lost glass palace before meeting Chava, his unlikely soul mate. Wecker deftly layers their story over those of the people they encounter, including a Jewish baker and his wife, a Maronite coffee shop owner and his wife, a doctor turned ice cream vendor, and an apostate social worker. The ending dips into melodrama, but the human touches more than compensate in Wecker's spellbinding blend of fantasy and historical fiction. Agent: Matt McGowan, Frances Goldin Literary Agency.
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December 1, 2012
After a fierce auction, lots of in-house enthusiasm for this debut novel, which blends Jewish and Arab mythologies to create a magical novel set in 1899 New York. A golem named Chava, brought to life by a renegade rabbi, loses the husband who had commissioned her on the voyage from Poland, while the jinni Ahmad is released by a tinsmith from captivity in a copper flask (where he'd been put centuries before by a Bedouin wizard). As Chava and Ahmad unite against a terrible threat, denizens of their lower Manhattan neighborhood swirl about them intriguingly. With a reading group guide and a 75,000-copy first printing; I'm betting on this one.
Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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February 1, 2013
In 1899 two very different creatures find themselves in New York City. Chava is a golem, a woman made of clay and brought to life by a Polish magician to be the perfect wife. Ahmed is a jinni, a being made of fire, who has been released from a flask he's been bound in for centuries. Forming an unexpected friendship, Chava and Ahmed must learn how to survive undetected while preparing to battle a dangerous adversary. First-time novelist Wecker introduces readers to an immigrant community of kindly rabbis, skillful tinsmiths, and possessed ice cream venders that serves as an excellent backdrop for the debates between Chava and Ahmed about the use of power and the meaning of freedom. VERDICT Full of quirky characters and philosophical and religious musings, this fascinating blend of historical fiction and Jewish and Arab folklore excels when it comes to its gorgeous descriptions and the intriguing flashbacks to the jinni's earlier life, but it lacks some relationship development to ground Chava and Ahmed's romance. Overall this original and fresh story will attract fans of historical fantasy or folktales. [See Prepub Alert, 11/19/12.]--Katie Lawrence, Chicago
Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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"An intoxicating fusion of fantasy and historical fiction. . . . Wecker's storytelling skills dazzle." —Entertainment Weekly
A marvelous and absorbing debut novel about a chance meeting between two supernatural creatures in turn-of-the-century immigrant New York.
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