Saturday, March 01, 2014

The Golem and the Jinni:

The Golem and the Jinni By: Helene Wecker
Fiction: Fantasy 484 pages
Book Count: 10

This is the story of a female golem (clay person brought to life to serve their master in Jewish mythology.) and a male jinni (based largely on the original jinni found in Muslim stories.)  They both end up in New York City at around the turn of the century (1900's) The golem was made to be the wife of a man who brought her to life on the boat ride over to America and then died of a ruptured appendice.  She is found by a kindly old rabbi after she accidentally steals food because without a master she can hear the wants of everyone and a small boy was hungry. The jinni pops out of an oil bottle in a metalworkers shop having no memory of how he got there or why he is stuck in his human form.  From there the story is of two fish out of water in an intertwining circle with an unexpected ending.

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