Whatcha reading?

Whatcha reading?

Thursday, April 30, 2015

The Golem and the Jinni: Helene Wecker

An original story about a lonely man who buys a "wife" by having a man make him a golem. The man then dies on a boat coming to America right after bringing Chava, the golem, to life. The story that runs parallel to this one is about a tin smith who accidently releases a Jinni when repairing a flask. The story flashes back to the Jinni's life before a wizard trapped him in the flask and also the past of all the other characters in the story. A rabbi meets the golem and takes her under his wing, finds her a place to live and a job, just when he decided he would need to bind her to someone he dies of a heart attack. That night leaving the rabbi's home after fetching the doctor, who pronounced him dead, she meets the Jinni. The story seems to be about the Golem and the Jinni, but it is actually about the wizard and the Jinni through the centuries. The wizard had originally met the jinni in the desert and entrapped him in the flask, once the jinni is released from the flask the wizard finds him again. In the end with the help of the golem and some human friends the jinni is able to trap the wizard in the flask and seeks out a way to destroy it without destroying himself. The book ends with the jinni coming back to New York to be with the golem.

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