the golem and the jinni by helene wecker

Speaking of golems, Chava is trying her best to be as human as possible, given her natural limitations. Helene Wecker – image from Fantasy Book Cafe Instead of heading across the Atlantic, as planned, this one, Yossele, remains in New York, due to an untimely building fire.

It does seem that Wecker’s golems always run into transit issues. He works day and night to construct a golem for them. He determines to send to a rabbi in Lithuania a weapon that can be used to defend oppressed Jews there. The rabbi, with the help of those old books, can now do something about it. As it happens there is a pogrom underway in one of the usual places in Eastern Europe. She spies on lessons and picks up what she can. Of course, girls were not welcome to imbibe the texts that Jewish boys were encouraged to learn. But she loves her pop and wants to learn, wants to study. She is taken care of by, essentially, a committee of congregation members. He is not the greatest parent in the world, a widower, much more devoted to his studies than his daughter, Kreindel. The story begins with an extremely devout rabbi, Lev Altschul ( very old school) on the Lower East Side (not the guy from the earlier book) He has come across some ancient texts, books with arcane knowledge.

They are also a bit more rounded as characters. Great book, right? So Chava, the golem of book #1 and Ahmad, the jinni of that tale, are a bit older, and a bit wiser. Not yet? Ok, I’ll wait, but not for a thousand years, like some. Read that, then we can talk about the sequel. If you have not yet read The Golem and the Jinni, stop! Right now! Go back.

The golem and the jinni by helene wecker