The Golem and the Jinni

I just finished THE Most Amazing book!  It was written by a brand new author, Helene Wecker and is called The Golem and the Jinni.  I spotted it on the new shelf at the library and was intrigued by the title because those are two very uncommon mythological beings to write about.  I'm always a little leery of a new author because I don't know them.  I don't like to stop books in the middle so I plan on investing some time and effort in their work and I kind of want it to be worth it.  This time it so was!

The book is set in New York in the 1890s and deals with...everything.  It's about immigration, community, life, love, etc.  Now, normally that would be Way too much going on in one book, but this is so seamless.  And the background-oh!  It was described so beautifully and realistically, I could lose myself in the setting.

I want to read it again to really get all the subtlety and social and cultural minutiae cause I was so absorbed in the story that I know I didn't catch it all.  I can't decide who I should recommend the book to.  It's fantasy in some aspects, but not in a geeky way.  It's a love story, sort of, but not in a sappy way.  It's historical fiction, but golems and jinnis are kind of not real or historical.  It's different than most anything I've ever read.  So try it; if you like any of those you should read it.  So get on that.