We begin with Chava, a golem-wife custom-made for her master (who dies before their life together can begin), as she winds up alone on the shores of Manhattan. Wecker’s rich mythology, culled from the myriad real-world legends of golems and jinn, establishes an effective groundwork that immerses readers in her world within the first few pages. The Golem and the Jinni relies on a kind of slow, reflective storytelling, but the novel always crackles with energy that Wecker taps out evenly, building to an electrifying conclusion that pulls the main players into collision. As the two try to adapt to the temporal world of nineteenth century America, they contend with the question of whether they should accept those natures-destructive tendencies and all-or whether they can find something worth emulating in the fragile, fallible humans they encounter every day. Although they can conjure flame, run faster than trains, and inhabit human minds, their mortal flaws and limitations utterly define them.

“We’re our natures, you and I,” says the Golem to the Jinni, and with that, Helene Wecker cracks open the principal question of her debut novel: What does it mean to change our nature? Various elemental forces propel Wecker’s fantastic beings-the Jinni, a wandering, restive spirit made of fire who shirks responsibility for his actions the Golem, a clay creation meant to operate without free will, who longs for stability and kindness. When Chava finds him, she searches through his pockets, stealing back the paper listing the commands to destroy her.Review | The Golem and the Jinni, by Helene Wecker Before he can do that, the rabbi suddenly dies of a heart attack. The rabbi decides that instead of killing her, he will find her a new master to keep her in check. Michael sets her up with a job at the local bakery, where Chava flourishes – she seems more alive than ever. Chava bakes for a week on end and gifts the rabbi’s nephew, Michael, some sweets. The rabbi names her Chava and gifts her a cookbook. He found a list of commands instructing him how to do so, but he can’t bring himself to since he thinks the golem might actually have a soul. Meanwhile, the golem and rabbi also learn how to live together, but one thing weighs their friendship down: the rabbi can’t stop thinking about whether or not to destroy her.

However, Saleh can see Ahmad’s, exposing him as non-human. Saleh was cursed back home in Egypt and possessed by an ifrit, meaning that he cannot see faces. It seems that the only person who doesn’t like Ahmad is Saleh, the local ice-cream shop worker.

The golem and the jini