This is a very good book. I have looked at lots of other reviews of it and they are almost all brimming with praise, and I totally agree. It is a very rich, thoughtful, heart wrenching, gripping, satisfying wonderful and beautiful story.
Set in New York at the turn of the twentieth century mostly in two immigrant communities – Polish/German Jews, and Syrian Christians. Chava is a Golem – a created creature of clay designed to be a dutiful, proper but curious and intelligent wife and awoken for the first time by her ‘husband’ on the sea crossing to America because he is near death from a burst appendix. After his death, she is cast adrift, with no master she is drawn to serve the needs of everyone around her, a cacophony of thought voices that nearly drive her mad. She is spotted in the street by a kindly old Rabbi, who realises her nature and takes her in to care for her.
Ahmed is a Djinni (Genie or Jinni) who is unwittingly unleashed from the prison of a metal lamp by a tinsmith who befriends him and takes him on as an apprentice/partner when he sees how skilful he is at working metal.
The book is full of in depth characters and historical detail. Chava and the Rabbi, and later Chava and the Djinni have lots of interesting philosophical questions about free-will verses slavery and if faith is a form of slavery and if it is good or bad to be content to do the bidding of others.
There is also a lot about the experience of being an immigrant, or just different and trying to fit in. (When I was sixteen, my family had a year in California and my best friend turned out to be a girl whose family moved just after us from New Zealand – both of us fish out of water and bonded by being new and different).
Chava and Ahmed eventually meet and form a very strong bond, in spite of their different characters – Chava being humble and servient, Ahmed being initially arrogant and driven by desires. They learn from each other and grow as people and their bond grows too.
There are of course dangers and struggles they must over come – a character who is linked to both of their pasts finds them and could be their undoing, making for an exciting ending.
I’m excited to read the sequel, but will wait until it gets cheaper or I can pick it up in a deal.
Sarah Wray Writer 