The Golem and the Jinni Characters

Golem, Golem, Golem, He Made Her Out of Clay…This book is called The Golem and the Jinni, so, obviously, the Golem is one of the main characters. (Just like a mockingbird is one of the main chara...

He's a Jinni in a BottleThe Jinni is a less complicated character than the Golem. We're not sure how he came into being, but we're sure how he comes to New York: He pops right out of an old flask,...

What's His Name Again?Schaalman is like the Voldemort of this world, except instead of He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, he's He-With-Too-Many-Names. When we first see him, he is Yehudah Schaalman. He mak...

Slow ChurnedMahmoud Saleh was once a doctor, but becomes an ice cream maker after his wife and daughter die and he moves to New York. Oh yeah, he's also possessed by an ifrit (like a subspecies of...

Drove the Chava to the Levy Michael is probably the most tragic character in the book. Not only is he shunned by his uncle before the book starts (his uncle is the Rabbi, and Michael shuns rel...

Our Rabbi Has a Second Name, It's M-E-Y-E-R The Rabbi isn't in the book very long before he succumbs to a heart attack, but he's a huge influence on the Golem and on us. So let's hang out with...

Real Housewife of the 19th CenturySophia Winston is the only character who could arguably be seen as a love interest in the story, although the Jinni loves her as much as the Golem loves Michael—...

All the Single Ladies…Anna traveled to New York from Cincinnati with the hopes of joining the theater. Instead, she works at a bakery and gets knocked up, and not in a funny Katherine Heigl sort...

Boutrous… Boutrous, Golly Arbeely, the tinsmith, is to the Jinni what the Rabbi is to the Golem: He's the first human man the Jinni encounters upon being unleashed in New York, and their rel...

Jinni's ApprenticeMatthew is a young kid who discovers the Jinni's secret when he walks in and sees the Jinni molding metal links for a necklace with his bare hands. The Jinni swears him to secrecy...

Finely GroundMaryam is the coffee shop owner and resident gossip mistress of Little Syria. Even though she doesn't have a huge presence in the novel, if it weren't for her, we wouldn't have a book...

Whole GrainMoe and Thea Radzin are the owners of the bakery where the Golem works… and we don't know much else about them. We're told that Thea Radzin is "a formidable complainer" (6.103), but th...

Desert RoseWe only get to see these desert Bedouins in the flashbacks that conclude most of the book's chapters. They're humans, spending their days hunting, sewing, and milking goats—and this mu...