fantasy, historical fiction
Picking up where The Golem and the Jinni ended, Chava (the golem) and Ahmad (the jinni) attempt to build an acceptable life together in New York City at the beginning of the 20th century. Helene Wecker does a good job reminding the reader about the events of the first novel which I really appreciated since it had been seven years since I’d read it!
While I wanted to keep reading because I loved The Golem and
the Jinni so much, The Hidden Palace was very slow-paced for the first third of
the novel and I had trouble finding the motivation to pick it up and read.
Chava and Ahmad were living mundane lives and there was no growth, no action,
nothing to pull me in. A few additional characters were introduced but they did
not have storylines that were overly interesting either. Finally, the plot
kicked into gear around the ¾ mark. But that sure was a long slog considering I
gave The Golem and the Jinni 5 stars and listed it as one of my favorite novels read in 2014! This one was nowhere near as satisfying. In fact, I might’ve
abandoned it if not for my love of the original novel.
I alternated between reading the novel and listening to the
audiobook. The audiobook narrator, George Guidall, spoke in a clipped manner, sometimes
sounding as if he’s got a slight speech impediment (dentures maybe?). I
sometimes had trouble understanding him and had to rewind to listen again.
After looking him up, I was shocked to learn he’s “widely recognized as the
world’s most acclaimed and prolific audiobook narrator” (per his website). I
honestly did not appreciate his narration. He has almost no vocal repertoire.
He takes breaths at odd places within sentences and rushes through the text in
between these breaths. Perhaps he was better in his younger years. His vocal
acting isn’t terrible but it’s not what I view as worthy of “acclaim” either.
Since I am only grading him on this performance, I have to give him a C+. I’ve
had a string of really terrific narrators lately and he is not in the same
league as them, in my opinion.
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