The Golem and the Jinni / Helene Wecker 486 pp.

I really wanted to like this book.  It's the story of Chava, a freshly-made Golem who finds herself all alone on the streets of late 19th century New York until she meets Ahmad, a centuries-old Jinni in much the same circumstances.  And Wecker wrote a terrific beginning, setting the stage for a story that promised suspense, romance and fairy tale magic.  The end was not bad either, wrapping things up in a satisfying if unsurprising way.  But the middle!  It went on for far too long so that finishing the book became a chore.  More disappointing was the inability to warm to either of the main characters. Yes, Chava is meant to be a destructive automaton made of clay, and she transcended that, but not by enough.  And Ahmad is peevish and 2-dimensional.  (A good trick, since his essence is fire.)  Wecker also seems to have backed away from the promise of the title: shouldn't such a book have something to say about the intermingling of the two cultures represented by all the Golems and the Jinnis of the world?  I couldn't find any strong contemporary resonance here, only hints of a better book that never materialized.