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The Hidden Palace by Helene Wecker
Oct. 15th, 2022 07:23 amThis is a sequel to The Golem and the Jinni, which I wrote up here. I don't know if this book is objectively a lot more depressing than the first one, or if I was in a more emotionally resilient mood when I read the previous one, but wow this book was hard going at times. Absolutely nobody has a good time.
A large part of the crushing depressingness is due to the timespan - this book takes place over the first 15 years or so of the 20th century, which not only incorporates a number of wrenching political events - ranging from the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire to the outbreak of WW1 - but also, due to the longer time frame than the previous book, shows more of the outcomes of the working-class poverty of the immigrant community in which the book is largely set, and the way that it wears down, breaks, and sometimes kills people who are trapped in it. But it's not just that; it's also that the time span of the book is long enough that the two central protagonists (the Golem and the Jinni) are starting to have to deal with their own immortality re: the people around them. They cannot have a normal life with friends and family not only because their otherness sets them apart on a personal level, but also because other people begin to notice their strangeness and lack of aging, so they are forced to intentionally sever even those ties they've managed to make. On top of that, while in the previous book their friendship was new and tentative, with their bonding based largely on their shared experience of strangeness, sleeplessness, and immortality, now they're becoming aware of their possibly insurmountable differences. Golems are inherently creatures of earth (steadfast and loyal) while jinni are selfish, capricious, and ever-changing. They both have to face the worry that they might be incapable of having lasting relationships not only with humans but with each other as well, the only people even remotely like themselves that they've ever met.
IT'S JUST A REALLY DEPRESSING BOOK, OKAY. The mood is not entirely tragic (there's a lot that's hopeful and even funny, and it eventually makes its way to a fairly optimistic ending), but I kept putting it down and genuinely not being sure if I was going to pick it back up again, thinking maybe I'd better read something less bleak. But then I'd think that if I stopped reading it I'll probably never be able to push through the 200 depressing pages I'd already read to finish it. And it *was* really engrossing and definitely worth it, just very harrowing.
It's really impossible to talk about this book in any detail without not only spoilers for this one but also the previous one, so under the cut gets into that a bit.
( Random spoilers )
A large part of the crushing depressingness is due to the timespan - this book takes place over the first 15 years or so of the 20th century, which not only incorporates a number of wrenching political events - ranging from the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire to the outbreak of WW1 - but also, due to the longer time frame than the previous book, shows more of the outcomes of the working-class poverty of the immigrant community in which the book is largely set, and the way that it wears down, breaks, and sometimes kills people who are trapped in it. But it's not just that; it's also that the time span of the book is long enough that the two central protagonists (the Golem and the Jinni) are starting to have to deal with their own immortality re: the people around them. They cannot have a normal life with friends and family not only because their otherness sets them apart on a personal level, but also because other people begin to notice their strangeness and lack of aging, so they are forced to intentionally sever even those ties they've managed to make. On top of that, while in the previous book their friendship was new and tentative, with their bonding based largely on their shared experience of strangeness, sleeplessness, and immortality, now they're becoming aware of their possibly insurmountable differences. Golems are inherently creatures of earth (steadfast and loyal) while jinni are selfish, capricious, and ever-changing. They both have to face the worry that they might be incapable of having lasting relationships not only with humans but with each other as well, the only people even remotely like themselves that they've ever met.
IT'S JUST A REALLY DEPRESSING BOOK, OKAY. The mood is not entirely tragic (there's a lot that's hopeful and even funny, and it eventually makes its way to a fairly optimistic ending), but I kept putting it down and genuinely not being sure if I was going to pick it back up again, thinking maybe I'd better read something less bleak. But then I'd think that if I stopped reading it I'll probably never be able to push through the 200 depressing pages I'd already read to finish it. And it *was* really engrossing and definitely worth it, just very harrowing.
It's really impossible to talk about this book in any detail without not only spoilers for this one but also the previous one, so under the cut gets into that a bit.
( Random spoilers )