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

A wonderful story enhanced by great voice work

This was such a pleasant audiobook. The author has an amazing empathy with the characters. And this empathy shines through in a brilliant narration.

wow

wow. congratulations ms. wecker. that was great on every level. the kind of writing that spec fic needs, the kind romance needs, the kind drama needs.

Feels long, but you still really care about them.

I felt like this book took a long time building the characters. It was nice, to have such intense stories and know each one so well - but it took quite a while for things to "come to a boil" and the end....while alright, left me a bit unsatisfied. The author wrapped it up sufficiently, I suppose I just felt more invested in the characters by that time I was left feeling a little unrequited.
It was a great read though, probably won't do it again but I would read another if this were a series.

Enchanting story and wonderful narration

A beautiful, wonderous story with fascinating characters, and the perfect narration of George Guidell. Is already one of my favorites- one to listen to again and again.

Read this, even if you think it's not for you!

Like many others, I'm typically not that into fantasy (Harry Potter books aside). But I downloaded this one based on all the positive reviews. And wow and I glad I did. I love a book with interesting relationships that is not shallow that doesn't leave me completely depressed, and often that's a very hard thing to find. But it's exactly what I got in this story. The story and characters were wonderful. Although it's fantasy (obviously) it doesn't feel that way. You just get to experience the wonderful relationships that develop between the characters in a way that you can relate to. The characters in the story are real and sympathetic, and I found myself attached to them easily.

I'm glad I got this as an audiobook, because the performance was great, and it kept me going when I might have put down a printed copy. This is an epic novel centered around many characters, so the first several hours were spent introducing and setting up these characters. I am not sure I would have been able to read through this long set up, but listening to it, I enjoyed it (I might have enjoyed reading it too, I'm not sure).

All in all, I loved it.

entertaining

I loved this story. I will listen to it again. it had humor and some suspense

A diamond in the rough

I am not one who would normally pick up a period piece nor a romantic story. However, I am very happy that I took a chance on this story. It is a sprawling story of circumstances that lead to an ending I am happy to say I did not see coming. The narration was spot on and delivered with such matter of fact that you might think it was a man narrating a true story and not one of fiction.

Satisfying but could have been even better

This story had many elements which I enjoyed; mythology, ancient middle-eastern culture/mystique, forbidden love, the nature of love... I enjoyed it's fairytale style paired with adult themes. I found it a little slow to develop and not completely satisfying how it ended and specifically, how the story line of the (very well developed) characters ended up. If asked whether I would listen to this again, the answer is, "Yes. Absolutely." simply because I enjoyed the description of the characters and the nature of the story. I am not a big fan of book series, but this book leaves me wanting to see the sequel because many of the elements were so well developed but not followed through on.

Delightful

I loved this book. the only reason it got less than 5 stars was because I have a hard time giving anything 5 stars.

Outstanding

I was concerned initially that I would find the narrator's voice grating, but quickly came to enjoy it. It's a wonderfully colorful story with complicated characters in which you become completely invested. I will probably buy a printed copy to read again in the future.