Review: The Golem by Edward Lee

I’m a huge fan of Edward Lee.  I’ve read most of his books, and while some of them have been kind of “meh”, the majority of them are totally entertaining, twisted gorefests with a healthy dose of sadism and evil.  In fact, I’d say City Infernal is in my top 10 of fun reads of all time.  Its almost a fairytale set in hell, and one of the more twisted, graphic books I’ve ever read.  His subsequent novels have varied in their subject matter and my enjoyment, but I always find myself tearing through them really quickly just to see what kind of perverted stuff he’s going to abuse his characters with.

The Golem,  is still pretty twisted, and if it were read by someone that hasn’t ever experienced his books before, they’d probably be horrified.  But for myself, it just didn’t have the impact of his previous novels.  The book follows two storylines:  in the present day, wealthy game developer, recent widower and recovering alcoholic Seth buys a historic mansion outside a small town in Maryland that he’d wanted ever since his dead wife and him saw it in the past.  Even though she died, he fulfilled his dream and purchased the place and has moved in with his new girlfriend Judy, a rehab-ed crack whore and college professor (yeah, I know ).  The house was built by the towns patriarch centuries ago, a Jewish practitioner of the dark side of kaballah, and, as you may have guessed, something isn’t quite right.

The second storyline takes place in the late 1800′s and chronicles the events of the town’s immigrant Czech-Jewish population as they deal with the anti-semitism that the locals heap on them.  This isn’t your modern day antisemitism:  the immigrants and the locals are in a full-blown war with lots of murder, torture and other messed up stuff occurring on both sides.  As I mentioned before, the Jewish patriarch is a dark sorcerer, and he uses his powers to create a golem to get vengeance on the locals for their persecution, and since he’s evil, he gets rich and all that other good stuff that evil folk like to do.

As the present-day storyline develops, we’re introduced to some seriously bad cops, some disgusting Maryland redneck bagmen, a seemingly peaceful Rabbi and Jewish community, and the mysterious murders–dismemberments– of a whole mess of crack heads and dealers.  Seth and Judy, hoping to start a new life in their new rural digs are inadvertently at the center of a maelstrom of hate, black magic, racism, drugs and a murderous mysterious monster (the golem).

So it seems like the elements were all there for me to enjoy it, but despite that, the book didn’t really do it for me  Don’t get me wrong, it was a fast and fun read, but it lacked the visceral impact of Lee’s past novels that I enjoyed because they almost never failed to shock me in some way.  Nothing in this book ever left me thinking “Damn, thats FUCKED up!” which is a common reaction to his books in the past, and frankly, something I look forward to.  I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and I hate to say it, but the problem might be mine, not Lee’s.  I think I’ve been so desensitized to his violent, sadistic prose that, like the crackheads in the book, I need more and stronger scenes of horror to get my fix.  Which is pretty disturbing.  I’m not a violent guy; quite peaceful and friendly actually and to not be moved or disgusted by some of the stuff that takes in the book is pretty weird  “Oh.  He got his foot, scalp and intestines torn out and shoved down his throat while he was still alive.  That’s nice.”  Make of that what you will; I’m clueless.  I’m hoping this isn’t a sign that I’m “maturing.”  I’ve perfectly enjoyed my 13 year old mind set for the last 30 something years, thank you very much.

All in all, the book was a fun and fast read with a lot of entertaining stuff, particularly if you’re a fan of gory horror.  If you’ve never read Lee before, this book will probably disgust you–and well it should.  But if you’re a Lee fan from way back like myself, I’m curious to see what your reactions to the book are.  I’m still trying to figure out whether I’ve changed, or whether Lee’s writing has.  Either way, it’s perfect for the beach this summer or a plane trip or for any other activity that will let you slip in some “just for fun” reading time.