Rounded to 4.5 stars.

CONTENT WARNING: grief, death of a parent (off-page), antisemitism, violence

I first learned about this book on Jinstagram (the Jewish corner of Instagram) and absolutely had to read it. A Jewish book featuring a golem with humor? Bestill my Jewish heart. I had high hopes going into this, and this story far exceeded them.

This book had such an appealing summary that I couldn’t wait to start reading. Reading Jewish books featuring golems are a secret weakness of mine; they’re an endless source of fascination to me. A golem is referenced in the Middle Ages and was intended to protect Jewish people from a threat, and continues to hold a place in Ashkenazi folklore.

I loved the plot. It has a current of dark humor running throughout the story, and has mingled periods of joy and pain. Although it was a really funny book, Kander also touches on some heavy themes throughout the story, mainly grief and antisemitism, and she handles the topics beautifully. Eve’s grief has taken over her life after her father’s death, and she felt like her father and her bubbe (Yiddish for grandmother) were the only people that really got who she was, leaving her disconnected from her mother and sister. But what most impressed me was Eve’s character arc and how she worked through her emotions and grief, and even her fears. Not being able to process her grief with her family was exceptionally difficult on Eve, who was so detached from any supports in the family. On top of all of that, her life is basically imploding due to her repressing her grief and outside situations that she has no control over. It would make sense that she’d find something to exert control over, and it turned out to be a golem.

After reading this on audiobook, I loved Gail Shalan’s narration. She did wonderful accents, particularly for Eve’s flashbacks to things her grandmother said or did. The only thing I didn’t like about the book was the way the narrator pronounced Hebrew words. She made them sound unfamiliar and exotic. While reciting the blessing over the Chanukah candles, Shalan mispronounced it. While she was able to read the words, she struggled to make the ‘ch’ sound and used the ‘h’ sound instead, such as when saying challah as opposed to hallah. The Chanukah prayers are said for eight consecutive nights, every single year, so having a narrator that couldn’t pronounce certain words took me out of the story.

There are romantic elements in the story, along with the humor, which is why it’s labeled as a ‘darkly funny rom-com,’ but that isn’t all it is. There’s also a lot of emotional baggage involved with Eve, and she’s easy to love as her life feels like it’s crumbling around her. I cringed at more than a couple of interactions between Eve and her crush, but she was perfectly fine when talking to anyone else.

Despite the romance, this is a closed door read with not so much spice to it, so it can also appeal to readers of clean romance. There is LGBTQ representation, with Eve’s sister marrying a woman, and one of her two best friends is a married gay man, and the other is a Black Jewish woman.

Overall, that was a tiny blip on an otherwise incredible story. Judaism is a closed religion, and since we’re such a small part (0.2%) of the world’s population, many people have never met a Jewish person or learned about our ethnoreligion. Kander did an outstanding job of making Jewish traditions and holidays accessible to people outside of our communities. She explains the meaning of the Yiddish and Hebrew words that pop up throughout the story. With her sister’s wedding looming, Eve decides to find out why the groom traditionally breaks a glass at the end of the wedding, and it is so indicative of Judaism—we celebrate joy at every opportunity, but even on a day that is hyped as the happiest of our lives, we have a symbolic reminder of our people’s pain. I can’t say enough great things about this book, but don’t rely on the pronunciation of Hebrew and Yiddish words in the audiobook version. I highly recommend this book, and rather than specify an audience, I’m just going to say everyone should read it!