The Golem and the Jinni

I love how this book is constructed, how Wecker holds all the cards in her hand and deals each one out with just the right timing. The setting---New York City at the turn of the 20th century---is beautifully rendered and easy to see. Some of the twists border on too twisty for me, but the events all make sense with the characters and the story. Another great title from the Level 12 Build Your Library curriculum. ( )

I loved the beginning and the end, but the middle kind of drug along for me. ( )

I really appreciated a historical/urban fantasy that wasn't rooted in the standard modern vampires/werewolves story. While it had a very slow, meandering start (and I mean SLOW, there's not much until 2/3rd in), it nailed the fairy tale tone well enough that my interest never flagged. The supporting cast was also great, although they had a habit of dying rather conveniently for the plot.

My issue is entirely with the ending, for several reasons:
-The Jinni displayed character growth, but never the Golem. She is unchanged from the beginning of the novel.
-After the slow, slow, slow burn of the rest of the book, the climax happens incredibly quickly.
-The ending hinges on mistaking coercion for consent. The Big Bad finds a spell to bind the Golem to a new master, but a caveat of the spell is that it requires consent on the part of the Golem to work. The Big Bad threatens the lives of others to coerce the Golem into agreeing to the spell....which isn't fucking consent. Its coercion. And the spell works. It would be one thing if the Big Bad, being evil, makes this mistake and the spell fails. That would perhaps be a great ending - for all his knowledge, his lack of understanding of basic ethical principles causes the spell to fail, he doesn't realize it, and the Golem breaks free with her newfound independence. That doesn't happen. Instead, evil is correct, coercion is no different from consent, and the man has to step in to save the woman whose only desires are to placidly serve (even though she hated it). That's bad storytelling and bad messaging.
-Too much hinges on determinism. I know that's weird for me, as a behaviorist, to say it, but...the Golem is literally created to be Good. Virtuous. It is her nature and she cannot overcome it. Similarly, the Big Bad is implied to be trapped in Evil and literally cannot escape it no matter what. Its ultimately unsatisfying because it means the characters don't get much in way of nuance, development, or motivation. It feels cartoony. And, to quote a wise dragon, "What is better - to be born good, or to overcome your evil nature through great effort?" The latter makes for a better story/character. ( )

In late 19th Century New York City, a Golem from Poland and a Jinni from the Syrian desert find each other and become friends. Chava is masterless in that the man for whom she was created died of a burst appendix on the sea voyage from Poland; Ahmad has spent a millennium trapped in a copper container, but once he is freed from that, he finds that he is still bound to the soul of the wizard who initially captured him. The wizard, in his turn, has lived many, many lives during that time because he bound his own soul to Ahmad’s life, which might be very long indeed…. On its face, the concept of a Golem and a Jinni hanging out together sounds like the beginning of a joke (“Golem and Jinni walk into a bar….”), but this novel is actually a beautifully drawn story about a certain time in the history of New York City, about the nature of good and evil, and, in the end, about what constitutes a soul. Really fine; recommended! ( )

This was an interesting blend of mythologies and a compelling story, as well. The pacing was a little uneven, but the writing is good, and it reads fairly quickly for being an enormous book. ( )