October Book of the Month: The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker

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chaos

Buzzfeed Editor
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Reading begins... oh, 3 days ago!

spoil stuff up until the 7th. As I said in the poll, if anyone has a suggestion for a theme please let me know. We need a theme for next month, and I think we have one for the following month.

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The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker - 2014 World Fantasy Award Winner

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?In The Golem and the Jinni, a chance meeting between mythical beings takes readers on a dazzling journey through cultures in turn-of-the-century New York. Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay, brought to life to by a disgraced rabbi who dabbles in dark Kabbalistic magic and dies at sea on the voyage from Poland. Chava is unmoored and adrift as the ship arrives in New York harbor in 1899. Ahmad is a jinni, a being of fire born in the ancient Syrian desert, trapped in an old copper flask, and released in New York City, though still not entirely free. Ahmad and Chava become unlikely friends and soul mates with a mystical connection. Marvelous and compulsively readable, Helene Wecker's debut novel The Golem and the Jinni weaves strands of Yiddish and Middle Eastern literature, historical fiction and magical fable, into a wondrously inventive and unforgettable tale.
 

chaos

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I need to get more into this book. I am still only about halfway through. It is book, I don't know why I'm not more into it, just busy with life I guess.

Maybe war or survival next month, that could work.
 

khalid

Unelected Mod
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6,775
Well, I read this a few months ago, and really enjoyed it. I liked how in many ways Ahmed was a horrible "person", but yet I always liked him. I found both of their attempts to understand their "humanity" or lack of it interesting. I loved the rabbi, and even the antagonist was very well done. In fact, the golem maker's motivations were very well done. The mixing of mysticism and religion was well done.

One of my favorite books this year so far.
 

Agraza

Registered Hutt
6,890
521
Yea, I'm like 2/5 through it. It's not bad, it's just not really my thing. I'll finish eventually. I'm not sure what the climax is going to be. Feels a bit like pinocchio atm.
 

chaos

Buzzfeed Editor
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I'm more than half through but I just don't have the motivation to finish. Or to start a new thread for November,a s you can see. I am starting a new job on Monday and have been dealing with that, along with school and just whatever else.

Yeah I like the book, I like the themes, for some reason I just can't get super into it.

I was thinking of just doing a holiday theme halfway through the month that covers both Nov and Dec.
 

khalid

Unelected Mod
14,071
6,775
Yeah, do what you want. I like how it opens me up to other authors, so I hope you don't stop. Too bad we have so many people vote for shit and not read even what they voted for.
 

chaos

Buzzfeed Editor
17,324
4,839
Yeah, I feel bad when it is like this month and, even with a good book, for some reason it just doesn't click and I'm not powering through it but shit happens. I mostly do this for me, because I am not the reader i was 20 years ago (jesus christ dude... I am old) and these are books I never would have been exposed to otherwise. I'm glad people are at least into it enough to vote, maybe some people are reading but just don't really feel like posting.
 

Aevry

Mobile Game Hunter
462
15
I'm about halfway through the book, and it's just not grabbing me. Ended up starting to read the Prince of Thorns series and haven't been able to pick it back up.
 

Ko Dokomo_sl

shitlord
478
1
I was waiting for the longest time to get a copy from my library. It was fairly slow to start, but consistent in the pacing. Today I started reading, and the two characters met and that is where it took off for me. It's a really amazing novel where it's hard to say who the villain is. Even the Wizard/Mystic I have a hard time hating.

I was also impressed at how subtly the duality between freedom and service is handled. It could have been written a lot more overtly, but the author did a great job not turning the characters into caricatures. All in all, one of my favorite fantasy novels to portray truly fantastical creatures outside of human understanding.