Book Review: “The Golem of Brooklyn” by Adam Mansbach
Adventures in Judaism
When I was in my first year as an undergraduate at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, I took an introductory Canadian history course (which I aced — I got the only A+ I ever received for an overall subject in school in that class). I was speaking in the class’s auditorium one day, asking a question of the professor perhaps, when I referred to Jewish peoples as “the Jews.” I had meant nothing by it, but my Jewish Teaching Assistant then rebuked me in front of the class, insinuating that I had made an anti-Semite slur. I have not forgotten that lesson, and I try to refer to those who are of this race and religion as “the Jewish people.” You can imagine my slight surprise that a publisher would approach me to give a fair and honest review of Adam Mansbach’s The Golem of Brooklyn. This is a very Jewish book, as it is also a very American one, and I had to wonder if I’m the most qualified to write about it given my position as a white, Anglo-Saxon Canadian Christian who knows not enough of the Jewish culture and way of life in the U.S. Well, perhaps in retrospect, this might have been working in my favour, as I got to identify some blind spots within me and also perhaps learn a thing or two. And the book is (mostly) a comedy, and laughter is something that anyone can relate to. Even if the book features a cameo by Larry David as himself (I’m not a big fan of the kind of sarcastic humour that David exhorts, alas — but that’s just me and my preferences, and is in no way meant to be a reflection on the quality of this novel or of Jewish cultural touchstones.)
The Golem of Brooklyn is about Len, a high-school art teacher, who creates a 400-pound, nine-foot-and-change Golem in his apartment while stoned, using stolen clay. However, The Golem (and the definite article is capitalized throughout the book) comes to life. The problem is the Golem of Jewish tradition exists to protect the Jewish people in a time of crisis. What does The Golem need to protect in the year 2023? Well, as it would turn out, there’s an anti-Semite rally being held in western Kentucky in a manner of days, so Len, The Golem, and Miri, a Jewish lesbian bodega clerk who tags along to help translate what The Golem is saying in Hebrew, set out to give these self-professed “Jew haters” a scare and a real run for their money. However, as such things go, complications abound and Len and Miri must convince The Golem to not kill anybody at the rally, as they deal with problems that crop up that prevent them from making the journey. This includes an overzealous police officer who stops the group for being in the middle of the road (and that may be a comment that the author is making there).
Adam Mansbach may not be a household name, per se, but he’s the author of the bestselling and immensely popular picture book for adults, Go the Fuck to Sleep. In The Golem of Brooklyn, the humour is often profane and somewhat juvenile (if you’re looking for the Hebrew way of saying “dick,” look no further). It also takes some time to get going, plot-wise, which means that there are lulls in the action, particularly in the first half of the read. However, things pick up as the book goes along, culminating in a satisfying but open-ended climax. Overall, this is an enjoyable book and one with multiple messages. It reminds readers — and I suspect this is aimed at so-called goys like me — that anti-Semitism has almost always been around historically, and is becoming especially prevalent in the present day again through groups such as the Proud Boys and MAGA-loving supporters of Donald Trump. That Jewish people need to be protected is something of a given. However, the book is also aimed at Jewish people who have forgotten their traditions and culture. Len, for one, does not speak Yiddish or Hebrew and needs the help of someone else to, at the outset, understand what The Golem is saying. It’s also something of an indictment against orthodox Jewish people who seek to protect themselves at any cost — even if it means hurting or killing others. So there’s much to graze on here other than the humour, and the book is a deeply philosophical and sobering one.
All in all, The Golem of Brooklyn is a work of some brevity — I was able to read the whole thing in a couple of sittings. However, it is an unqualified success. I suppose the stoner humour wasn’t my proverbial cup of tea, but Mansbach knows his presumably Millennial audience and those into light recreational drugs and Jewish humor will find much to smile at here. None of this is “laugh out loud” funny, but it probably shouldn’t be: the elimination of the Jewish race does not lend itself to humour very well, especially with the horrors of the Holocaust being so relatively fresh. In any event, The Golem of Brooklyn is a treat for those into this sort of thing and might be instructive and thus useful for those who aren’t or wouldn’t conceive of reading a very Jewish work of literature. A lot of thought and care has gone into this work of staggering genius, and it’s ripe to be discovered by those seeking something a little different and off the beaten path. Adam Mansbach may be best known for writing children’s stories for adults, but here he has written a very adult story for grown children — and this may ultimately prove to be the thing that he may come to be among what he is best remembered for.
Adam Mansbach’s The Golem of Brooklyn will be published by Random House / One World on September 26, 2023.
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