The Golem and the Jinni

A Novel

By: Helene Wecker

Narrated by: George Guidall

Length: 19 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award Finalist, Fiction, 2014

Helene Wecker's dazzling debut novel tells the story of two supernatural creatures who appear mysteriously in 1899 New York. Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay, brought to life by a strange man who dabbles in dark Kabbalistic magic. When her master dies at sea on the voyage from Poland, she is unmoored and adrift as the ship arrives in New York Harbor. Ahmad is a jinni, a being of fire, born in the ancient Syrian Desert. Trapped in an old copper flask by a Bedouin wizard centuries ago, he is released accidentally by a tinsmith in a Lower Manhattan shop.

Struggling to make their way in this strange new place, the Golem and the Jinni try to fit in with their neighbors while masking their true natures. Surrounding them is a community of immigrants: the coffeehouse owner Maryam Faddoul, a pillar of wisdom and support for her Syrian neighbors; the solitary ice cream maker Saleh, a damaged man cursed by tragedy; the kind and caring Rabbi Meyer and his beleaguered nephew, Michael, whose Sheltering House receives newly arrived Jewish men; the adventurous young socialite Sophia Winston; and the enigmatic Joseph Schall, a dangerous man driven by ferocious ambition and esoteric wisdom.

Meeting by chance, the two creatures become unlikely friends whose tenuous attachment challenges their opposing natures, until the night a terrifying incident drives them back into their separate worlds. But a powerful menace will soon bring the Golem and the Jinni together again, threatening their existence and forcing them to make a fateful choice.

Marvelous and compulsively listenable, The Golem and the Jinni weaves strands of folk mythology, historical fiction, and magical fable into a wondrously inventive and unforgettable tale.

©2013 Helene Wecker (P)2013 HarperCollins Publishers

Unique and Refreshing

The Golem and the Jinni was an interesting book. It had something unique about it that I haven’t really read in other books. The tone seemed similar to The Night Circus with a bit of Frankenstein tossed in. I enjoyed seeing the different views of the two main characters, you have a Golem that is new to the world and a Jinni who has been around and locked up for thousands of years. I’m not quite sure what time period the book was supposed to take place in but it felt like the early 1900s.

One thing that was refreshing with this book was that most of the characters seemed to be pleasant people that generally cared about each other. There weren’t a whole lot of ulterior motives and hidden agendas. Of course there were one or two bad guys but everyone else seemed like a decent human being. I know some people like their hard core, everyone is bad Game of Thrones type characters but there’s too much of that now days and it’s nice to see someone write characters that are truly decent.

The book does start off a bit slow and I don’t think the main two characters really meant up until a third of the book. Even then a lot of the story is just seeing how these characters deal with the world not about their interactions with each other. Besides the two main characters we get to see the stories of multiple side characters and their point of views. Most of these were just as entertaining as the main characters. I really enjoyed the ice cream man’s story.

Overall this was a good book with refreshing characters. I enjoyed how it ended with a bit of sadness and a bit of happiness as well. This is a really good stand-alone story but I heard there’s also going to be a follow up book. I’m interested to see where the author takes the story of these characters.

I thought George Guidall was an excellent narrator. There were a lot of accents in this book which are sometimes hard for me to understand when listening but he did a great job making the voices clear well maintaining the tone of the story.

Prose! Story! Performance!

Great story....great writing. Performance...awesome! Loved everything about this story. There were spots where I think the author could have elaborated. The characters were rich and multifaceted, and I wanted more.

Wonderfully unique!

I was searching for something different, and this certainly fit the bill. This story held my interest, left me guessing, and surprised me on several occasions. It is both unique and imaginative.

Awesome story!!

Great adventure! Interesting story! Engaging performance by the narrator! Will be looking forward to more books by this author!

Beautiful, Absolutely Beautiful

What an amazing story. The take is engrossing, and beautifully haunting. It's is delightfully narrated. I was so sad to see it end. I recommend wholeheartedly. I'd give it ten stars if I could!

Must listen

Where does The Golem and the Jinni rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Outstanding book that had me hooked from the get go. I would highly recommend this book.

Exceptional

I've never been so enraptured by a story. With the narrator's charming tones, I found myself lost in the author's beautifully woven tale.

Wonderful Unique Book

This was my favorite audio book so far. I chose it because I love the sound of George Guidel's voice, but the story was rich and so interesting.

Lovely story and an excellent narrator

I really enjoyed this book, which strikes a delicate balance between fantasy and romance. And I just love Guidall (the narrator).

Exquisite world and moving characters

Helene Wecker has created an amazing world of magic and the real. The setting of late 19th Century New York is painstakingly painted for the reader, and her supernatural characters felt all too human. The story languished in the middle, but a thrilling conclusion washed that away.

George Guidall is excellent as the audiobook narrator. Sometimes his female voices were a little too airy, but overall his performance dripped with pathos.