Here is the greatest mystery about this novel: How in any world have I not read this in the nine years since it was published???
Maybe I was the one trapped in a flask.
I loved this story. It is very hard to believe that this is a debut novel. Wecker is an exceptional writer and certainly found her genre and style right off the bat. The way she blends the very human struggles of belief, assimilation, personal history, acceptance, worry, change and empathy really does boggle the mind upon reflection. And she does it seemingly effortlessly. You can tell that a lot of thought, research, and emotion went into writing this novel. The webs of the differing storylines are complicated at first; the reader has no idea why we jump from a girl in the desert in the year 900 and something, to a bakery in 1899 New York City. The Goodreads summary for once is definitely lacking in description (and is also surprisingly NOT a copy of the inside flap! Update, please!! I probably would not have picked this one up just with that as incentive. But, the cover is so beautiful that maybe I would have anyway.)
This is a long book at 484 pages, including one of the longest Epilogues I remember reading, plus an additional 16 pages of author interviews, notes, and further reading, which I always read - lots of interesting tidbits here about how Wecker came to this story, and her own background's influence. And, I will say it took a while to gather steam. The title characters don't even meet until almost a third of the way in. Their back stories are worth it though; trust the author that not one word was unnecessary here. This book was beautifully edited as well, I think, which is something you don't really notice unless it is done poorly. The tone is very reminiscent of The Alchemist - a bit of parable, fable and fairy tale all mixed together with historical locations to make it seem that much more real.
The character development here is stellar. I felt their emotions, I saw their facial expressions, I felt the heat and the sand of the desert and the spray of water from the New York harbor. Billed as historical fantasy, the story is set a thousand years ago, and a hundred years ago. Turn of the century (1890's-early 1900's) New York City serves as the main location. But we get flashbacks to the Syrian desert of the late first century as well. How all this comes together as a tightly woven story is half the fun. The rest of the fun is in the imaginative storyline - a Golem is created as a wife for an immigrant and they head for NYC. A Jinni is released from his imprisonment by a struggling tin worker trying to "rub out" the damage to the flask owned by a friend. How they each struggle to fit in to their new environments, how they meet and help each other, and how their friendship grows is central to the story. Secondary characters like the ice cream man (based on a real photo the author found in her research!), the matriarch of Little Syria, a Jewish man who has rejected his faith while serving the immigrant community, a small boy fascinated by the Jinni, a teenage girl who spies a castle made of glass in her desert home, a flirty NYC society girl or two, and a man on a mission to find eternal life all come to life as they help, hinder, hurt and support each other.
The novel's slow build toward what seems to be a tragic ending kept me guessing. I have purposefully left some plot out of this review because it is all revealed so beautifully in the book that I don't want to risk spoilers. I loved the Golem's gentle nature versus her strength and constant fear of losing control; the Jinni's transformation from free spirit to humanlike empathy; and mostly the unfolding of their connection and how their one similarity - difference - trumps their opposite natures. So much to discuss here - immigration, religion, showing your true self, loyalty, friendship, and of course, macaroons. A fantastically fantastic story that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys fairy tales that truly come to life.
