The Golem and the Jinni by Helene WeckerMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
It's not so much that I enjoyed it (although I did), it's that it's a good book. One of those where you just sit back and savor the fact that it was well-researched and planned and written. I read it fairl slowly, and enjoyed every minute of it. There were, of course, faults- the writing wasn't so well suited to a few of the more active scenes, I can't say I ever really liked or understood either main character, the pacing was just a bit odd, the ending didn't feel like it necessarily resolved much (and it also didn't feel like it quite fit in with the pacing and themes of the rest of the book)- but in general it was simply a good book.
I can't speak for the Syrian bits, but the Judaism had clearly been carefully researched and checked. I found it mildly annoying that we can't really gauge frumness or that we never go more in depth with the religious aspects, but obviously that would be interesting only to a tiny percentage of readers, so I can't really label it as a problem with the book. The only mistake- and correct me if I misunderstood something- was that at some point the aleph is referred to as the beginning of all creation. Wouldn't that be a bet? Or is it referring to something I don't recognize?
All in all, a good book. I recommend it highly.
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