Friday Reads: The Golem and the Jinni -- a gorgeously immersive fantasy novel by Helene Wecker

What’s up with Friday Reads?

Have you ever stopped to wonder what’s up with the whole Friday Reads thing? I mean, come on — hands up if you only read on Friday? But since Friday Reads IS a thing, I’ve hatched a plan to start posting here about whatever I happen to be reading when Friday rolls around. If it happens to be the cereal box? So be it. (Bets on how long I keep it up? I’m kinda notorious for bright ideas and then not following through.)

In this case, I did actually happen to be happily reading The Golem and the Jinni on Friday, and I have to tell you — not much in the world makes me happier than being absorbed in an immersive fantasy. And if I happen to be reading it while drinking a freshly made-from-scratch strawberry margarita (which I was) while sitting in my hot tub (which, alas, I wasn’t) all the better!

Discovering the Book

I’m always curious about the ways books and readers find their way to each other (if you’ve got a great story about how you found your favorite book, I want to hear it!) and in this case, The Golem and the Jinni was suggested to me by my writer pal Heather Webb.

We were a couple of days into a two-person writer retreat in Narraganset. I’d had a couple of drinks — okay, maybe three, which is a LOT for this lightweight — and declared my intent to write something just for fun. You know - step away from the constrictions of traditional publishing and the contract book I was working on, and write something for the heck of it. A romance maybe. Even an erotica experiment, just to see if I could pull it off.

At that exact moment, I got a text message from Pam Stack, the brilliant woman who runs the Authors on the Air Radio Network — and, by the way, reads like 400 books a year or some crazy number — and I told her I was considering experimenting with a “Love me Goat Herder series,” since goats are a long standing joke between us (don’t ask. Friendships are weird) and then SHE suggested maybe I try my hand at midlife paranormal instead.

Now, fantasy is my first love. If you’ve read my Kerry Anne King novels you’ll notice I always manage to infuse a tiny little bit of some sort of magic in there, even when I’m writing real world stories, and my Kerry Schafer books are all built around either fantasy or paranormal. So this idea made me sit up and start actually brainstorming.

By the way, if you don’t know about the mid-life paranormal genre, just do a search on Amazon or Goodreads. These are books about women whose mid-life crises get downright magical. They are full of snark and adventure and humor, and learning how to wield unexpected magical gifts, and also romance. Great fun to read.

But what magical gift would my character have? And then I thought - what if she’s a genie? That would be fun. Which was when Heather recommended The Golem and the Genie, and here we are caught up to now. Because obviously I ordered the book and fell in love with it. (And yes, if you’re wondering, I AM playing around with writing a mid-life paranormal romance featuring a reluctant genie.)

About The Golem and the Jinni

Let’s start with the back cover copy:

“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.”

What I Loved About The Golem and the Jinni

Despite the way I came to this book, I need to make it clear that this is not a lightweight, fun, snarky sort of story at all. It is a work of art, from that gorgeous cover through to the very last word, and it deals with deep questions about what it means to be human, and whether or not we are bound by the natures we are born with.

Chava, the golem in the story, reminds me of the android, Data, in the StarTrek Next Generation series, in the way that she is always trying to fit in and find her place in the world. I often read her scenes with my heart in my throat — will she find free will or will she be enslaved? What horrible things might she be made to do and is she capable of resisting the control of an evil man? And the Jinni - a once free spirit of fire now trapped in the body of a man - also has a wonderful character growth arc. Is it possible for him to feel empathy and compassion? Maybe even love? Will he ever be free?

All of these questions are set against the backdrop of turn of the century immigrant New York, in a way that made me feel like I was THERE - seeing the sights, smelling the smells, falling in love with the people. The characters are wonderful — those I was cheering for, and the one I wanted to destroy — and created with such a wonderfully human array of loves and kindnesses and jealousies and weaknesses and strengths.

Anyway. I was sad when I turned the last page, and delighted to discover that there is a sequel, which I will definitely be reading soon.

Check out author Helene Wecker’s website here, for more and to find all the buy links.

Have you read The Golem and the Jinni? Do you have a great story about how a book found you? Tell me in the comments!