New novel from Dara Horn; monsters loose on Lower East Side

“A Guide for the Perplexed: by Dara Horn, Norton, 2013

Josie Ashkenazi is at the top of her game. She is the chairman of a software company that markets Genizah, a product she invented, that archives virtually everything in a person’s life. She has a loving husband who is her partner in the company, a 6-year-old daughter, and a bitterly jealous sister, Judith, who was never as smart or successful as Josie.

This plot line echoes the biblical story of Joseph. Judith convinces Josie to accept an invitation to consult at the newly restored Alexandria Library in Egypt; and when Josie is kidnapped, Judith takes over Josie’s life. However, Dara Horn — an amazing novelist who never tells a simple story when she can intertwine two or even, as in the case of this novel, three stories — also introduces the Egyptian experiences of two historical Jewish thinkers: Maimonides and Solomon Schechter.

In 12th century Cairo, Maimonides is mourning the loss of his beloved brother David, the victim of a shipwreck en route to India. Schechter, in the late 19th century, is in the process of rescuing Jewish history in the form of the documents in the Cairo Genizah, which he has purchased and is shipping to Cambridge. One of those documents is David’s last letter to Maimonides before the shipwreck. During her captivity, Josie has one book with her that she reads at night, and the book keeps her sane. It is Maimonides “Guide for the Perplexed.” The manner in which the author combines these disparate Egyptian narratives into an amazing whole is beyond masterful.

Asthma, too, is a strand of this novel. The need to be able to breathe freely is an issue with which all the protagonists must deal.

Dara Horn’s previous novels, “In the Image,” The World to Come” and “All Other Nights,” melded Jewish history and tradition with the history of the era in which the novel was set. In “A Guide for the Perplexed” she has succeeded again. This novel is essential for Dara Horn fans; and with its complex plot and flawed but heroic protagonists the book should win her many additional readers.

“The Golem and the Jinni” by Helene Wecker, Harper 2013

In 1899, an unlovable Jewish bachelor hires a shady wonder-working hermit to make him a golem wife that he plans to take to America. However, in Helene Wecker’s absorbing first novel, plans rarely come to fruition.

The bachelor dies en route, but not before bringing the golem to life. Having no papers, the golem cannot pass inspection at immigration. The solution is simple. She walks into the water of the New York Harbor, appears to have drowned and emerges a little damp in lower Manhattan.

In a parallel story, a Syrian Christian metal worker is asked to repair a metal urn. When he polishes the urn, a jinni emerges; however, this jinni is controlled by an iron bracelet on his wrist, which severely limits his powers. This novel is the story of what happens to each of these supernatural beings on the loose in New York City at the beginning of the 20th century.

The Jinni, now named Ahmad, is a creature of fire, and he can assist the tinsmith in the repair of broken frying pans. The golem is recognized by a saintly old rabbi who takes her home, names her Chava, and instructs her in human behavior. How these two creatures meet, how they survive the strange world in which they find themselves, and how they deal with the evil stalking them is a fascinating, page-turning adventure.

It would be unfair to readers to spoil the plot by revealing the ins and outs of Ahmad and Chava’s adventures. But the reader can expect to visit saloons, posh Central Park mansions, tenements, jails, a Jewish bakery, a Syrian coffee house, see murders committed and marriages arranged, and watch our hero and heroine deal with Chava’s creator, the ominous hermit who has arrived in New York with evil intentions.

Although the novel is not a serious intellectual work, with its monsters and humans both good and evil, it is a fast-paced story that brings to life the immigrant culture of the Lower East Side. “The Golem and the Jinni” is great recreational read.

Andrea Kempf is a retired librarian who speaks throughout the community on various topics related to books and reading.