The Wrong Body

In this timely, devastating comic novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Golem of Brooklyn, the millennia-old monster grapples with the occupation of Palestine, Zionism both Jewish and Christian, and what it means to save a people.

“Perhaps only a novel this dark and absurd could meet the darkness and absurdity of the current American and Jewish condition. A remarkable achievement.”—Peter Beinart, author of Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza

After being decommissioned for his intervention at a white nationalist rally, the creature known as The Golem has, as is his habit, returned. Only this time, the U.S. government is pursuing him as a weapon of mass destruction, the State of Israel is looking to recruit him as a national hero, and it’s up to Len Bronstein—the art teacher who brought him to life in the first place—to protect The Golem.

When an emergency military court is convened to decide the Golem’s fate, Len and his friends Miri and Waleed take a road trip from New York to Washington, accompanied by a convoy of federal agents. Along the way the Golem gets lost in dramatic memories of his past incarnations—and begins to question what it means to protect a people through violence.

For the first time in his long history, it seems The Golem may have a choice about how to live—but not if a secretive crisis management firm, a powerful congresswoman, the restless spirit of a long-dead Talmudic sage, and the Israeli government have anything to say about it.

Just as he did in the first Golem of Brooklyn novel, Adam Mansbach brilliantly weaves cutting humor, Jewish history, and a giant clay monster into an exploration of the deepest questions of identity, violence, and morality.