Beth Kander's I Made It Out of Clay is a lovely, absorbing novel of grief, dark humor, and love and friendship, with a dash of magic.
In contemporary urban Chicago, as the holiday season approaches, Eve is struggling: layoffs are threatened at work, her best friend has been distant, she's begun hallucinating her dearly departed grandmother, and she's nowhere near done grieving her beloved father, who died just over a year ago. Eve is not close to her mother (overbearing) or her younger sister Rosie (overly perfect), who's scheduled her wedding for Eve's 40th birthday weekend. Eve has (foolishly) promised to bring a plus one to Rosie's wedding, but she's so far failed to find a date.
In desperation, a rather drunk Eve recalls a story told by her grandmother, ventures into the dank corners of her apartment's basement, and builds herself a golem out of foundation clay. A golem serves as protector and companion in Jewish tradition, and she feels in dire need of both. The next morning, Eve wakes up to find a handsome (and very naked) man in her apartment. She is horrified, in disbelief, and attracted to him. Heading into Rosie's wedding, all of Eve's crises crash together. A golem is either the best or worst idea she's ever had.
I Made It Out of Clay is a charming rework of a traditional tale. Kander gifts her readers with a novel that is often serious and sad, but ultimately uplifting, as Eve learns, "This isn't the end of anything. It's just one more beginning, like every damn day can be if we just let it." --Julia Kastner, blogger at pagesofjulia