Our book club’s August pick was The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker.
I personally enjoyed the book. The book is on the longer side (20 hours) though it didn’t feel that long most of the time. It was interesting reading about a Golem and a Jinni being…displaced into 1980’s New York; 2 creatures from fable all of sudden showing up in the busy streets of New York and having to learn how to integrate themselves with everyone else without sounding any alarms.
Through these creatures of legend and the resounding surrounding characters. Wecker pokes at themes of immigration, religion, the self, free will, a few others – to which she mostly shows ambivalence instead of outright highlighting her stance on each of these subjects (at least I would argue). This is also where the story fell a bit…short for me. Although there were plenty of discussion points and interesting motifs, most if not all were, in my opinion, a bit superficial. While this may not necessarily be a bad thing (especially if we don’t want this book being 50 hours long…), it did keep me wondering for more of the author’s take on certain things or perhaps more scenes or deeper examples of a few topics.
Overall, I’d recommend the book to anyone looking for a good fable-like story. There is a sequel to the novel that I am very much looking to read (or listen to).