Monthly Archives: March 2014

This is the first book I finished for the Once Upon a Time VIII Challenge hosted by Carl@stainlesssteeldroppings. More reviews can be found on the review site.

A being made of earth. Another made of fire. Magic, a quest for immortality, religion, love and sexuality, this novel has them all and they are blended so perfectly together, the whole experience of reading the book made me go from six hundred pages, that’s a big book, to what, how many more pages left, less than a hundred, nooooo!

The golem is a creature made of clay, given life by an old rabbi whose path had long strayed from the Jewish faith. He molds her according to the instructions of the one that would be her master, a man bound for America in search of a fresh start. She was supposed to be the man’s wife, obedient, attentive to his wishes, curious and modest. And she comes with instructions, as her maker tells her new master – one command to bring her to life, one to destroy her, for golems are strong, unpredictable creatures whose nature can get the better of them. Later on in the story she is named Chava – life.

The djinni is a being of fire that can change shape at will. Roaming the desert, not bound to anyone or anything, his long years are spent building a glass palace in the desert and, because his curiosity is strong, following the caravans and trying to find out more about people. It is this curiosity and ultimately his involvement in the life of a young Bedouin girl, that will change his life, and forced into a human form he has to get used to new things and living among people with rules which he finds distasteful. He is named Ahmad.

The book is a wonderful story from beginning to end. The main characters, the golem and the djinni, are multidimensional, interesting, and faced with decisions that make them sympathetic to the reader. Both of them have to build a new life for themselves among people, hiding their true nature – the golem, her great strength and the ability to hear people’s thoughts, the djinni – his ability to melt metals with his bare hands and create beautiful metalwork. For a while, both manage to live a normal, quiet life, until their true natures begin to chafe at the rules imposed by human society and restlessness threatens to upset their carefully constructed lives. Also, they discover that some people can see they are not human, and an enemy with a plan of his own is threatening their existence. They find some unlikely allies, a man possessed by a djinni, a metal smith who proves to be a good friend, an old rabbi whose research is about to bring about a new discovery.

They become friends by accident, and their conversations are interesting and thought provoking, revealing details about themselves that I found fascinating. These conversations highlight their fundamental differences – while the golem is prudent, calm and composed, the djinni is impatient, passionate and given to reckless actions. Reading their conversations made me think that someone had deliberately split human characteristics and given them to the two creatures. At first it is hard for both of them to accept each other’s traits and imperfections but spending time together affects them both and forces the golem to be more bold and the djinni to accept the consequences for his actions.
The story moves back and forth in time, giving the reader plenty of details into the life of the djinni before he was captured by an old wizard, and the life of the golem’s creator. Because of this, the story feels complete, as there are no major questions left unanswered, except perhaps the one right at the end.

Under the magical beauty of the story, there are some threads worth exploring: living according to the rules vs following one’s instincts, hiding one’s special abilities for fear of rejection, and not in the least, trying to be happy in an unfamiliar and strange world. It’s an interesting analysis of feelings and actions seen from the perspective of two very different creatures that each have to learn compromise and that living among people means they have to adapt and in doing so, give up a part of themselves.

My rating: 5/ 5 stars

*Read in March 2014

I thought that I would start the Once Upon a Time challenge with a book review but I’m not yet done with The Golem and the Djinni, so I thought I’d watch and write about a movie instead.

Frozen follows the story of two sisters, Anna and Elsa, the daughters of the king and queen of Arendelle. Elsa, who is older, can create ice and snow, a magic ability she finds increasingly difficult to control as she grows older. No locked rooms or gloves can stop this magic ability from bursting through and on one fateful day Elsa can no longer control her powers and brings winter to the kingdom of Arendelle. Scared by what she has done, she runs and hides high up in the mountains, but her sister Anna is determined to bring Elsa back and put an end to the winter. On her quest she receives help from Kristoff, a young man who earns his living from cutting and delivering ice, his loyal reindeer Sven, and Olaf, a talking snowman.

This is roughly the plot of the story and even though there are a multitude of other tangents, to say more would spoil the surprise. While the story employs the classic fairy tale elements, with a prince and a princess falling in love at first sight and planning to marry, the dreamy beginning punctuated by a few songs gives way to a harsher reality as things are not what they appear to be. The heroine is not a helpless damsel in distress waiting to be rescued by prince charming. She is strong, determined (even if a little clueless at first) and possesses the ability to save herself and others if need be. Olaf provides most of the funny and heart-warming scenes, as he is a most unusual snowman and a true, loyal friend. The men play secondary roles. The Duke of Weselton (just wait until you actually hear his name) and Prince Hans of the Southern Isles are interesting characters whose true nature is revealed as the story nears its climax.

The visuals are stunning – there’s a whole battalion of trolls who can change shape, a giant snow creature that looks quite scary, and beautiful snow and ice artwork that almost made me wish for winter. And even if the story seemed a bit predictable at first, there were two quite shocking moments that quickly turned it on its head and gave it a fresh new direction that was gratifying, sad, and happy at the same time. Love does conquer in the end, but it’s not the kind of love you would expect. A very good retelling of a famous fairy tale that manages to be surprisingly charming and touching without being shallow. If you haven’t figured out which one I’m not going to spoil it for you – I didn’t know it either until the very end. A pleasure to watch and highly recommended.

Click on the link below for a little preview and a great song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moSFlvxnbgk

My rating: 5/5 stars

Spring may be already on the way in some parts of the world, but in Thailand summer is in full swing, and only the occasional breeze can save the days from being uncomfortably hot. This is the mango season, my favorite tropical fruit, but also the time for magic, fairy tales, folklore and fantasy stories.
Carl from stainlesssteeldroppings is hosting the Once Upon a Time VIII challenge which starts today and runs until June 21st. I’ve been waiting for this event since January and collected some interesting books over the last few months.

My friend Vishy recommended The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter and the blurb on the first page makes me want to start reading it right away:

“From familiar fairy tales and legends – Red Riding Hood, Bluebeard, Puss-in-Boots, beauty and the Beast, vampires, werewolves – Angela Carter has created an absorbing collection of dark and sensual stories. Her hypnotic prose breathes new life into these enduring tales, every bit as haunting and disarming here as when encountered for the first time.”

I’ve also discovered Poison by Sarah Pinborough which is a retelling of Snow White. This beautiful hard cover gem is a work of art in itself, just wait until you see that first page.

It’s Snow White, but not as you know her…

…and now read the true story of Snow White, told the way it always should have been…”

Another book I’m excited about (and currently reading because I had just finished Doctor Sleep by Stephen King and just could not wait) is The Golem and the Djinni by Helene Wecker. I saw this one while browsing online but can’t remember where. I don’t know anything about golems and very little about djinnis (apart from the stories in the Arabian Nights) so I decided to give this book a try and so far I’m really enjoying it.

“New York, 1899:

Ahmad is a djinni, a being of fire, trapped for centuries and brought back to life by Arbeely, an impoverished tinsmith who invites him to stay in his workshop in Lower Manhattan.
Together, experiencing freedom for the first time, they form the most unlikely of friendships. But a powerful threat will soon test their bond driving them back into their own worlds and forcing them to make a fateful choice.”

The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye by A.S. Byatt is a collection of five short stories:

The Glass Coffin
Gode’s Story
The Story of the Eldest Princess
Dragon’s Breath
The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye

A few years ago I read Possession by the same author and enjoyed the book so much that I jumped at the chance to read more of her work.

Fate by L.R. Fredericks

Three years ago I read a book called Farundell, the first book in a series. I loved the name and the cover, and the book proved to be equally great and I was so in love with it that I wrote to the author and requested a short interview. You can read it here. Fate is the second book in the series but both can be read as standalone novels. I’ve been waiting to read this one ever since it was published in 2012. This blurb is from goodreads.com:

“Death and Beauty, Magic and Science: Lord Francis Damory’s Quest for the Elixir of Immortality

From Paris to Venice and across the pirate-infested Mediterranean to Egypt, Cyprus and distant Constantinople in pursuit of his mysterious ancestor Tobias the Alchemist, who may yet still be alive.”

Russian Magic Tales from Pushkin to Platonov, a Penguin Classics book. The descriptions of the tales in this book seem vaguely familiar. I may have read something similar as a child. I am intrigued.

“In these tales, young women go on long and difficult quests, wicked stepmothers turn children into geese and tsars ask dangerous riddles, with help or hindrance from magical dolls, cannibal witches, talking skulls, stolen wives, and brothers disguised as wise birds. Half the tales here are true oral tales, collected by folklorists during the last two centuries, while the others are reworkings of oral tales by four great Russian writers: Alexander Pushkin, Nadezhda Teffi, Pavel Bazhov and Andrey Platonov.”

Angelology by Danielle Trussoni

I’ve had this book on my radar for a while but didn’t actually buy it until I realized it would fit in perfectly with the themes of this challenge. Like The Golem and the Djinni, it’s over 600 pages long. I can’t wait to see what this story is really about.

“Abandoned as a child on the steps of the St Rose Convent in New York, Evangeline Cacciatore grew up knowing little of her parents. Assisting a scholar in the convent one day, she uncovers a disturbing secret connected to her family. It relates to a sinister discovery in the Bulgarian mountains: a beautiful humanlike body impervious to decay. Who is it? And what has it to do with her parents?”