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The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years
A New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice
Rebecca meets The House of Spirits in this sweeping, gorgeously atmospheric novel about a ruined mansion by the sea, the djinn that haunts it, and a curious girl who unearths the tragedy that happened there a hundred years previous
Akbar Manzil was once a grand estate off the coast of South Africa. Now, nearly a century since it was built, it stands in ruins: an isolated boardinghouse for misfits, seeking to forget their pasts and disappear into the mansions dark corridors.
Until Sana. She and her father are the latest of Akbar Manzil’s long list of tenants, seeking a new home after suffering painful loss. Unlike the others, who choose not to look too closely at the mansion’s unsettling qualities—the strange assortment of bones in the overgrown garden, the mysterious figure seen to move sometimes at night—she is curious and questioning and finds herself irresistibly drawn to the history of the mansion. To the eerie and forgotten East Wing, home to a clutter of broken and abandoned objects—and to the locked door at its end, unopened for decades.
Behind the door is a bedroom frozen in time, with faded photographs of a couple in love and a worn diary that whispers of a dark past: the long-forgotten story of a young woman named Meena, the original owner’s second wife, who died there tragically a hundred years ago. Watching Sana from the room’s shadows is a grieving djinn, an invisible spirit who once loved Meena and has haunted the mansion since her mysterious death. Obsessed with Meena’s story, and unaware of the creature that follows her, Sana digs into the past like fingers into a wound, awakening the memories of the house itself—and dredging up old and terrible secrets that will change the lives of everyone living and dead at Akbar Manzil.
Sublime, heart-wrenching, and lyrically stunning, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years is a haunting, a love story, and a mystery, all twined beautifully into one young girl’s search for belonging.
Rebecca meets The House of Spirits in this sweeping, gorgeously atmospheric novel about a ruined mansion by the sea, the djinn that haunts it, and a curious girl who unearths the tragedy that happened there a hundred years previous
Akbar Manzil was once a grand estate off the coast of South Africa. Now, nearly a century since it was built, it stands in ruins: an isolated boardinghouse for misfits, seeking to forget their pasts and disappear into the mansions dark corridors.
Until Sana. She and her father are the latest of Akbar Manzil’s long list of tenants, seeking a new home after suffering painful loss. Unlike the others, who choose not to look too closely at the mansion’s unsettling qualities—the strange assortment of bones in the overgrown garden, the mysterious figure seen to move sometimes at night—she is curious and questioning and finds herself irresistibly drawn to the history of the mansion. To the eerie and forgotten East Wing, home to a clutter of broken and abandoned objects—and to the locked door at its end, unopened for decades.
Behind the door is a bedroom frozen in time, with faded photographs of a couple in love and a worn diary that whispers of a dark past: the long-forgotten story of a young woman named Meena, the original owner’s second wife, who died there tragically a hundred years ago. Watching Sana from the room’s shadows is a grieving djinn, an invisible spirit who once loved Meena and has haunted the mansion since her mysterious death. Obsessed with Meena’s story, and unaware of the creature that follows her, Sana digs into the past like fingers into a wound, awakening the memories of the house itself—and dredging up old and terrible secrets that will change the lives of everyone living and dead at Akbar Manzil.
Sublime, heart-wrenching, and lyrically stunning, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years is a haunting, a love story, and a mystery, all twined beautifully into one young girl’s search for belonging.
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First published January 9, 2024
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About the author
Shubnum Khan
8 books349 followersShubnum Khan is a USA Today bestselling and award-winning author. The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years is her international debut and an NYT Editors Pick. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, HuffPost, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern etc. She lives in Durban by the sea.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,492 reviews
July 29, 2023
The House of the Spirits meets Rebecca but with a South African twist. I wouldn't say that The Djinn waits a Hundred Years is quite to the same level as these two modern classics (The House of the Spirits, in particular, is one of my favorite books of all time), but it's still a wonderful book in its own right and I enjoyed it immensely.
First off, the prose in this multi-generational saga is lyrical and the magical realism is, well … magical. The descriptive writing is fantastic and you feel as if you're there at the crumbling mansion with the djinn as he grieves for his lost love. I loved both of the storylines and how they were connected through time by both the house and the djinn. Sana and Meena are sympathetic, likable protagonists, and I particularly enjoyed Sana's timeline and getting to know the modern day inhabitants of Akbar Manzil. Meena's arc, on the other hand, is hauntingly tragic and a much sadder read, although still beautifully written.
Despite everything I loved about it, however, I have to say that this book was hard for me to read at times. The villains of this tale are awful people who don't necessarily get their comeuppance. While the ending isn't completely devoid of hope, it's by no means what you would consider to be a happy story.
This is the first book I've read by Shubnum Khan but it certainly won't be the last. Her writing is beautiful and poetic and I hope that this novel gets all of the recognition that it deserves.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Viking Press for providing me with an advance copy of this book to review.
First off, the prose in this multi-generational saga is lyrical and the magical realism is, well … magical. The descriptive writing is fantastic and you feel as if you're there at the crumbling mansion with the djinn as he grieves for his lost love. I loved both of the storylines and how they were connected through time by both the house and the djinn. Sana and Meena are sympathetic, likable protagonists, and I particularly enjoyed Sana's timeline and getting to know the modern day inhabitants of Akbar Manzil. Meena's arc, on the other hand, is hauntingly tragic and a much sadder read, although still beautifully written.
Despite everything I loved about it, however, I have to say that this book was hard for me to read at times. The villains of this tale are awful people who don't necessarily get their comeuppance. While the ending isn't completely devoid of hope, it's by no means what you would consider to be a happy story.
This is the first book I've read by Shubnum Khan but it certainly won't be the last. Her writing is beautiful and poetic and I hope that this novel gets all of the recognition that it deserves.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Viking Press for providing me with an advance copy of this book to review.
November 24, 2023
This is a highly readable and engaging novel on many levels. Those levels aren't ones I live on, though. I think the story would make for a fun movie, one that I would watch with pleasure, but as a book the prose style and story were too whimsical for my tastes.
January 6, 2024
" . . . life is horrible, get used to it."
Sana, a girl with her own demons to contend with, moves with her father to a seaside town in South Africa to live in a once elegant mansion has been broken up into apartments. As Sana gets to know the other quirky residents, she discovers clues to the lives of the family that once lived in the house, and is repeatedly drawn to a secret room that was home to one of the previous tenants.
"You shouldn't go back there."
"Back where?"
"It was locked for a reason."
"The room?"
Her sister swings her legs down and turns to face her.
"Something happened there.
Something bad."
If you're looking for a book similar to The Golem and the Djinni, this is not it. The Djinn in this story stays pretty much in the background, a silent sentry until circumstances near the end of the book force it to act. The real story here is the sad tale that occurred one hundred years in the past. I was both mesmerized, and horrified by the account of Meena and her baby. Five stars for that story alone.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Viking for sharing.
Sana, a girl with her own demons to contend with, moves with her father to a seaside town in South Africa to live in a once elegant mansion has been broken up into apartments. As Sana gets to know the other quirky residents, she discovers clues to the lives of the family that once lived in the house, and is repeatedly drawn to a secret room that was home to one of the previous tenants.
"You shouldn't go back there."
"Back where?"
"It was locked for a reason."
"The room?"
Her sister swings her legs down and turns to face her.
"Something happened there.
Something bad."
If you're looking for a book similar to The Golem and the Djinni, this is not it. The Djinn in this story stays pretty much in the background, a silent sentry until circumstances near the end of the book force it to act. The real story here is the sad tale that occurred one hundred years in the past. I was both mesmerized, and horrified by the account of Meena and her baby. Five stars for that story alone.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Viking for sharing.
October 30, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of
The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years.
First, the title and cover is eye catching but it's also misleading.
The djinn is barely in the story, a minor character at best, not even a supporting player, and the narrative is definitely not horror.
** Non-magical djinn spoilers ahead **
This is a story about Sana and her dad, and how they recently moved into a rundown-ish building, once a grand home in the past, to recover from a tragic loss.
Sana is only fifteen, an inquisitive young lady who prefers to be alone with her thoughts and her deceased twin sister.
When she discovers remnants of the building's illustrious past, her journey teaches her that hope and love can come from loss and tragedy.
My review is going to be the type where I say I liked something, BUT I also didn't like this.
I liked Sana, and the cast of characters, BUT there were too many people and details to keep track of.
The writing was good, BUT it was metaphor heavy.
I liked reading about both timelines and what happened to Meena BUT I didn't relate to anyone.
There wasn't enough about the djinn; who is this person? Where did it come from?
I recently watched 3,000 Years of Longing so I kept picturing the djinn as Idris Elba, which didn't help with my focus when I was reading!
I wanted to know more about the djinn; it's past, why does it linger in this building?
Why doesn't it speak? Can it speak?
The title made me think the djinn had a major role in the story, interacting with Sana or Meena, or anyone, but it's not given a voice.
It's almost powerless and that's not what I had imagined for a djinn, especially since the djinn is in the freaking title!
The narrative was really about Meena and her husband, the powerful love they shared, and the hate and cruelty their relationship spawned in others.
I wasn't sure of Sana's sister's presence in the story.
Was she a manifestation of Sana's guilt that she was the twin who survived?
Was her only purpose to taunt Sana? Why? For malicious fun?
I was hoping for magic and mystery, not a story about love and heartbreak, though I'm not against romance.
I was sad and horrified by what happened to Meena.
It was good to see some kind of resolution at the end, though not an entirely happy one, the ending was an optimistic one for Sana and her dad.
First, the title and cover is eye catching but it's also misleading.
The djinn is barely in the story, a minor character at best, not even a supporting player, and the narrative is definitely not horror.
** Non-magical djinn spoilers ahead **
This is a story about Sana and her dad, and how they recently moved into a rundown-ish building, once a grand home in the past, to recover from a tragic loss.
Sana is only fifteen, an inquisitive young lady who prefers to be alone with her thoughts and her deceased twin sister.
When she discovers remnants of the building's illustrious past, her journey teaches her that hope and love can come from loss and tragedy.
My review is going to be the type where I say I liked something, BUT I also didn't like this.
I liked Sana, and the cast of characters, BUT there were too many people and details to keep track of.
The writing was good, BUT it was metaphor heavy.
I liked reading about both timelines and what happened to Meena BUT I didn't relate to anyone.
There wasn't enough about the djinn; who is this person? Where did it come from?
I recently watched 3,000 Years of Longing so I kept picturing the djinn as Idris Elba, which didn't help with my focus when I was reading!
I wanted to know more about the djinn; it's past, why does it linger in this building?
Why doesn't it speak? Can it speak?
The title made me think the djinn had a major role in the story, interacting with Sana or Meena, or anyone, but it's not given a voice.
It's almost powerless and that's not what I had imagined for a djinn, especially since the djinn is in the freaking title!
The narrative was really about Meena and her husband, the powerful love they shared, and the hate and cruelty their relationship spawned in others.
I wasn't sure of Sana's sister's presence in the story.
Was she a manifestation of Sana's guilt that she was the twin who survived?
Was her only purpose to taunt Sana? Why? For malicious fun?
I was hoping for magic and mystery, not a story about love and heartbreak, though I'm not against romance.
I was sad and horrified by what happened to Meena.
It was good to see some kind of resolution at the end, though not an entirely happy one, the ending was an optimistic one for Sana and her dad.
July 22, 2024
First up I wanna say this book was so good. I absolutely loved the way it was written, it was such gorgeous writing. The concept and pacing were great!
I read it way faster than I was expecting, I thought it was going to take me a while to finish. But if you’re thinking of reading this I would highly recommend, I certainly haven’t read anything like it.
I read it way faster than I was expecting, I thought it was going to take me a while to finish. But if you’re thinking of reading this I would highly recommend, I certainly haven’t read anything like it.
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June 3, 2024Litfic with a Gothic house built by an Indian in South Africa, on a dual time scheme, where a lonely girl discovers secrets of the past. Indian/South African Gothic sounded irresistible and I am a sucker for djinn.
Regrettably, it's hard to see why there is a djinn in this, it's weirdly irrelevant to the plot or even themes. TBH the interspersed timelines don't really disguise that this is two separate stories: one a highly compelling 1930s family Gothic melodrama which I thoroughly enjoyed, the other a sequence of events depicting the people now living in the house, of which I just couldn't see the point--none of them were terribly interesting, none of their stories had much resolution. The 1930s story is terrific, and I wished it had been the full novel.
Regrettably, it's hard to see why there is a djinn in this, it's weirdly irrelevant to the plot or even themes. TBH the interspersed timelines don't really disguise that this is two separate stories: one a highly compelling 1930s family Gothic melodrama which I thoroughly enjoyed, the other a sequence of events depicting the people now living in the house, of which I just couldn't see the point--none of them were terribly interesting, none of their stories had much resolution. The 1930s story is terrific, and I wished it had been the full novel.
January 17, 2025
“You can’t possibly think such old places are empty? Something always gets left behind.”
In 2014, a young woman moves into a crumbling old house by the sea in South Africa.
In the 1930s, another young woman moved into the same home: then the lavish, bustling estate of an eccentric foreigner.
Sana and her father are a broken unit of two. Sana's mother passed away recently, and her father hasn't been the same ever since. Her sister passed away long ago - and still she follows Sana everywhere she goes, whispering reminders that Sana survived when she did not and coaxing her to end her life. Akbar Manzil is a fresh start for them both, but the once-grand home - forgotten and diced up into smaller apartments, sentient enough to be cognizant of its own decline - has been irreparably altered by its own tragedy and is haunted by the memory of the residents who came long before.
Told in lush, lyrical prose, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years is a quiet story. It's a ghost story, a romance, a tragedy, a mystery. In spite or perhaps because of the devastating losses she has suffered, Sana is a young woman fixated on the idea of love: she looks for it everywhere, not as a participant but as witness and chronicler. In Akbar Manzil she grows closer to the ragtag collection of forgotten residents, learning their histories and what each person grieves as she attempts to understand love in all the myriad forms it can take. And as the house slowly reveals its secrets to her, she discovers another forgotten story: the tale of Meena, another woman who lived almost a century before, lost to time.
This book felt like pure magic. It’s about the things that time forgets and the things that we remember no matter how desperately we wish not to, the pain of loss and the balm of loving and knowing one another deeply through it all. It’s about our capacity as humans for both incredible cruelty and transcendent kindness. It's about grief as a haunting, love as the root of the human experience, and it is making me cry a lot.
In 2014, a young woman moves into a crumbling old house by the sea in South Africa.
In the 1930s, another young woman moved into the same home: then the lavish, bustling estate of an eccentric foreigner.
Sana and her father are a broken unit of two. Sana's mother passed away recently, and her father hasn't been the same ever since. Her sister passed away long ago - and still she follows Sana everywhere she goes, whispering reminders that Sana survived when she did not and coaxing her to end her life. Akbar Manzil is a fresh start for them both, but the once-grand home - forgotten and diced up into smaller apartments, sentient enough to be cognizant of its own decline - has been irreparably altered by its own tragedy and is haunted by the memory of the residents who came long before.
Told in lush, lyrical prose, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years is a quiet story. It's a ghost story, a romance, a tragedy, a mystery. In spite or perhaps because of the devastating losses she has suffered, Sana is a young woman fixated on the idea of love: she looks for it everywhere, not as a participant but as witness and chronicler. In Akbar Manzil she grows closer to the ragtag collection of forgotten residents, learning their histories and what each person grieves as she attempts to understand love in all the myriad forms it can take. And as the house slowly reveals its secrets to her, she discovers another forgotten story: the tale of Meena, another woman who lived almost a century before, lost to time.
This book felt like pure magic. It’s about the things that time forgets and the things that we remember no matter how desperately we wish not to, the pain of loss and the balm of loving and knowing one another deeply through it all. It’s about our capacity as humans for both incredible cruelty and transcendent kindness. It's about grief as a haunting, love as the root of the human experience, and it is making me cry a lot.
March 1, 2025
I enjoyed it overall. It was more interesting than it was chilling or scary... but it did have a few parts that quickened my pulse. It was nice to read a book with South Asian characters. I don't know how English readers would feel about the untranslated hindi/urdu and tamil and hindi movie references sprinkled throughout, but it's very minimal. Luckily, the poems were translated when quoted. The author goes to great detail describing the beauty and majesty of Akbar Manzil, I found it enjoyable learning the terms of design features of the house (palladian windows, stilted arches, Zellij mosaic floors, guldastas), the plants, and the birds. The djinn was an intriguing but not fully explained character. Sana's mom is also given some perspective and sparse grace by the father, but at the very end. I did like the effort of the sudden reveal at the end. There's something missing from it becoming 4 stars, but I'm glad this book was written.
*Spoilers Below*
I like how we at first think the great love is between Akbar and Jahanara, but very soon, we realize it's not.... and no matter what, after 2 children... Akbar cheating is romanticized.
Maybe Jahanara is the villain, but no woman wants to be cheated on or replaced... I did like how her madness and self-loathing are detailed. Soraya, on the other hand, was just scary.
I hate to say it, but I couldn't believe the love between Akbar and Meena... it had all the elements, but it still seemed somehow scripted.
*Spoilers Below*
I like how we at first think the great love is between Akbar and Jahanara, but very soon, we realize it's not.... and no matter what, after 2 children... Akbar cheating is romanticized.
Maybe Jahanara is the villain, but no woman wants to be cheated on or replaced... I did like how her madness and self-loathing are detailed. Soraya, on the other hand, was just scary.
I hate to say it, but I couldn't believe the love between Akbar and Meena... it had all the elements, but it still seemed somehow scripted.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 19, 2024
This was just ok. I enjoyed the timeline in the past much more than the present one although the quirky characters living in the house were a positive aspect. What bothers me the most are two things: 1) what was the point of the djinn? Why was it there? The story would have worked perfectly well without it. 2) There’s no “waiting” OR “a hundred years” as the title states. So there’s basically no point to the djinn, no waiting (it just slinks around sulking in the background) and no 100 years since the story takes place in 1932 and 2014. Where the heck did someone pull this title from if none of it is an accurate reflection of anything in the book? Also, what was the point of the dead sister? I think I would read another book by this author but this one was mostly a miss for me.
January 10, 2024
I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked this one up. I discovered that it is a slow-moving tale of magical realism. Set among the Muslim Indian community of South Africa, it's a dual timeline book that switches between 2014 (I thought of it as present day) and 1932. In 2014, Sana is a withdrawn adolescent girl still coming to terms with the death of her mother and her father's ongoing grief. They just recently moved to Durban, renting some rooms in an old mansion. In 1932, we read the origin story of that mansion: built by an Indian expat who operates a sugar mill, it has seen its fair share of tragedy. In both the past and the present, the characters are haunted by djinn and ghosts. Are they real? Are they just psychological manifestations of the trauma the characters have lived through? In the end, that answer doesn't really matter, but it is an ongoing mystery as you read.
While reading a dual timeline book, it's common for me to find myself more invested in one of the settings than the other. In this case, it was the 1932 timeline that captured my attention. Although I considered that this preference might have been a byproduct of my love for historical romance (it's history and there's a love story!), I think that it is because the past timeline had more narrative momentum. The present timeline is more focused on ambiance and character studies, while the past timeline has a story with a beginning, middle, and end.
My recommendation? If you're interested in magical realism, don't mind a doomed love story (you know it's doomed from the start), and are intrigued by the setting, then I recommend this one. Just keep in mind it takes a little bit of time to get started!
This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the novel.
While reading a dual timeline book, it's common for me to find myself more invested in one of the settings than the other. In this case, it was the 1932 timeline that captured my attention. Although I considered that this preference might have been a byproduct of my love for historical romance (it's history and there's a love story!), I think that it is because the past timeline had more narrative momentum. The present timeline is more focused on ambiance and character studies, while the past timeline has a story with a beginning, middle, and end.
My recommendation? If you're interested in magical realism, don't mind a doomed love story (you know it's doomed from the start), and are intrigued by the setting, then I recommend this one. Just keep in mind it takes a little bit of time to get started!
This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the novel.
January 17, 2024
I too would go through other people's diaries to get the tea
August 2, 2024
2/5 Stars
TL;DR - A slow, bleak story of two women connected through time by the house they have little choice to live in. Not horror, barely supernatural, wholly not what I was expecting in a disappointing way. Might be enjoyable if you like historical fiction, but definitely not a good time for me.
Big thanks to Penguin Viking and NetGalley for providing the ARC for this book in exchange for an honest review!
***Trigger Warnings for: death of a parent, death of a sibling, death of an infant, racism, mental illness, attempted suicide, child neglect, suicidal ideation, child endangerment, and suicide.***
‘The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years’ by Shubnum Khan is a historical fiction book set in South Africa, told in dual timelines, one mainly in 1932 that follows the Khan family and their struggles, and one in 2014, following 15 year old Sana Malek as she moves into a grand and decaying mansion by the sea. Something else lives in the house, watching and remembering, and Sana’s life takes an unexpected turn when she finds the diaries of Meena Begum, the second wife of the man who built the house in which she now lives.
I don’t have much to say about this book, other than it’s depressing as fuck and decidedly NOT horror. I struggle to even call this magical realism, because the titular djinn is barely a player in the story. It’s 99.9% semi-historical literary fiction and 0.1% supernatural - which is all well and good, but I requested the ARC because it was shelved as horror on NetGalley and the blurb strongly suggested it was. It’s not, and I’m disappointed.
(And, being pedantic, the djinn doesn't even wait a hundred years - the math ain't mathing.)
The pacing is slow, and there’s really not a cohesive plot. I can’t even say it’s character-driven, because we really don’t see characters shaping the plot, just sort of floating along with it. I was bored and considered DNF’ing quite often, but I just kept holding out hope that the so-called “horror” would show up, but nope, never did.
The prose jumps all over the place, headhopping a lot without scene breaks, so I was very confused to be reading about the inner workings of one character, only to be inside another’s head in the next few paragraphs. The prose itself is fine, nothing spectacular, and I think I only highlighted two passages in the whole book for standing out. That’s not to say it’s badly-written, it’s just average in terms of depth and craft in my opinion. It’s also written in a way that distances you from the things going on, and I can see an argument for how this may have been intentional due to what I discuss below, but I just felt too far away from the characters and their struggles because of it.
The characters are solidly mid. They have passingly interesting personalities, but no real emotion or depth. Sana is pretty much just there for the whole book, as is Meena, and no one really had any impact on me emotionally. I didn’t care what happened to them, and the inevitable depressing outcomes didn’t really faze me. That said, the whole book is a huge bummer in that everyone in the past timeline is awful or treated awfully, and everyone in the present is broken and depressed. If that’s your jam, you’re in for a treat, but I was straight up not having a good time, and now I need to go pet my dog and watch a comedy because this book is bleak.
However, there is one aspect I did really enjoy - the house itself is a character and entity, and we get interspersed POVs from it, about how the ceiling beams and furniture and even smells are animate and have opinions and memories, and I found that really interesting. I think maybe that the house itself might be the narrator, which would explain the distance and the omniscience/headhopping, and if so, that’s really cool. Or I’m overthinking it and the author just a weak grasp on POV. 50/50. Either way, I did like hearing what the house had to think about things, however brief those sections were.
Overall, though, I’m really disappointed. I feel like the djinn was under-utilized at best, and at worst, unnecessary for how little of an impact it had on the story. I’m definitely salty this was shelved under horror, and billed as such in the blurb.
Final Thoughts:
If you like semi-historical literary fiction that's depressing and not much else, you’ll probably enjoy it. I, however, did not. The book isn’t bad, it’s fully an issue of this not being to my personal tastes, at all, in any way. Will not be purchasing a physical copy.
TL;DR - A slow, bleak story of two women connected through time by the house they have little choice to live in. Not horror, barely supernatural, wholly not what I was expecting in a disappointing way. Might be enjoyable if you like historical fiction, but definitely not a good time for me.
Big thanks to Penguin Viking and NetGalley for providing the ARC for this book in exchange for an honest review!
***Trigger Warnings for: death of a parent, death of a sibling, death of an infant, racism, mental illness, attempted suicide, child neglect, suicidal ideation, child endangerment, and suicide.***
‘The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years’ by Shubnum Khan is a historical fiction book set in South Africa, told in dual timelines, one mainly in 1932 that follows the Khan family and their struggles, and one in 2014, following 15 year old Sana Malek as she moves into a grand and decaying mansion by the sea. Something else lives in the house, watching and remembering, and Sana’s life takes an unexpected turn when she finds the diaries of Meena Begum, the second wife of the man who built the house in which she now lives.
I don’t have much to say about this book, other than it’s depressing as fuck and decidedly NOT horror. I struggle to even call this magical realism, because the titular djinn is barely a player in the story. It’s 99.9% semi-historical literary fiction and 0.1% supernatural - which is all well and good, but I requested the ARC because it was shelved as horror on NetGalley and the blurb strongly suggested it was. It’s not, and I’m disappointed.
(And, being pedantic, the djinn doesn't even wait a hundred years - the math ain't mathing.)
The pacing is slow, and there’s really not a cohesive plot. I can’t even say it’s character-driven, because we really don’t see characters shaping the plot, just sort of floating along with it. I was bored and considered DNF’ing quite often, but I just kept holding out hope that the so-called “horror” would show up, but nope, never did.
The prose jumps all over the place, headhopping a lot without scene breaks, so I was very confused to be reading about the inner workings of one character, only to be inside another’s head in the next few paragraphs. The prose itself is fine, nothing spectacular, and I think I only highlighted two passages in the whole book for standing out. That’s not to say it’s badly-written, it’s just average in terms of depth and craft in my opinion. It’s also written in a way that distances you from the things going on, and I can see an argument for how this may have been intentional due to what I discuss below, but I just felt too far away from the characters and their struggles because of it.
The characters are solidly mid. They have passingly interesting personalities, but no real emotion or depth. Sana is pretty much just there for the whole book, as is Meena, and no one really had any impact on me emotionally. I didn’t care what happened to them, and the inevitable depressing outcomes didn’t really faze me. That said, the whole book is a huge bummer in that everyone in the past timeline is awful or treated awfully, and everyone in the present is broken and depressed. If that’s your jam, you’re in for a treat, but I was straight up not having a good time, and now I need to go pet my dog and watch a comedy because this book is bleak.
However, there is one aspect I did really enjoy - the house itself is a character and entity, and we get interspersed POVs from it, about how the ceiling beams and furniture and even smells are animate and have opinions and memories, and I found that really interesting. I think maybe that the house itself might be the narrator, which would explain the distance and the omniscience/headhopping, and if so, that’s really cool. Or I’m overthinking it and the author just a weak grasp on POV. 50/50. Either way, I did like hearing what the house had to think about things, however brief those sections were.
Overall, though, I’m really disappointed. I feel like the djinn was under-utilized at best, and at worst, unnecessary for how little of an impact it had on the story. I’m definitely salty this was shelved under horror, and billed as such in the blurb.
Final Thoughts:
If you like semi-historical literary fiction that's depressing and not much else, you’ll probably enjoy it. I, however, did not. The book isn’t bad, it’s fully an issue of this not being to my personal tastes, at all, in any way. Will not be purchasing a physical copy.
March 10, 2023
This sweeping, multi-generational family saga crosses oceans, and emotional depths with both harrowing loss and defining grace.
Immediately immersing you into two different families, bridging turn-of-the- century familial ties, with youthful and contemporary eagerness - Shubnum Khan is an illustrative guide in a family story anyone can appreciate.
I adored how initially Sana’s narrative reminded me a bit of Tim Burton’s Coraline~ a bereft, young protagonist moves into a house of secrets, with fascinating neighbors to help guide the story forward.
But Sana’s mysteriously discovered door unearth secrets so deeply felt, with full circle storytelling, far more than a movie could offer!
Galley borrowed from the publisher.
Immediately immersing you into two different families, bridging turn-of-the- century familial ties, with youthful and contemporary eagerness - Shubnum Khan is an illustrative guide in a family story anyone can appreciate.
I adored how initially Sana’s narrative reminded me a bit of Tim Burton’s Coraline~ a bereft, young protagonist moves into a house of secrets, with fascinating neighbors to help guide the story forward.
But Sana’s mysteriously discovered door unearth secrets so deeply felt, with full circle storytelling, far more than a movie could offer!
Galley borrowed from the publisher.
February 16, 2024
1 Star
*A massively disappointing story that reveled in trauma and did not resemble the synopsis at all*
**This review contains minor spoilers not pivot to the plot that are not hidden**
The title and cover of The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years caught my attention immediately. The promise of Gothic story about a djinn haunting a crumbling estate in South Africa sounded amazing. Unfortunately there were multiple things that made me go from enthusiastic optimism to outright loathing this book.
For starters, let me make it clear that the djinn was barely in the story. That character (if you even want to call it that) literally could have been left entirely out of the book without changing anything in the plot. So if you are expecting some sort of magical being weaving the affairs of mortals, look elsewhere. I think it was just a metaphor or something, but by the time I realized that, I was too frustrated to try to suss it out. Also, the Djinn does not actually wait a hundred years. Though the earliest part of the story is 1914, the Djinn does not arrive until 1930, and the story ends in 2014. So the title is useless and a lie. Or someone is terrible at basic subtraction…
The story started in 2014 with a teenage girl and her grieving father constantly moving around - until they end up in a mysterious, dilapidated house haunted by a djinn. As I mentioned, I was initially intrigued by the story. It did follow the standard Gothic trope of "girl goes to remote, crumbling manor house and shit goes wrong." And the lyrical, descriptive writing did intrigue me at first despite being written in the dreaded present tense. I can see why it was compared to Rebecca (on a surface level at least).
Part II of the story started to weave in the story starting in 1914 and the history of the house. I was utterly bored by that part of the story. The transitions between time periods were sloppy and discordant. And the past timeline ended up being what made me absolutely furious with this book.
You may notice that house is anthropomorphized in the quote above. I was ok with that at first. I’ve read plenty of books where the house was a character to varying degrees. But Khan kept pushing it farther. I understand anthropomorphizing the house, but she started doing the same with smells. And I started rolling my eyes a lot. Seriously, smells. And talking about what the smells remember. It started to remind me a lot more of The Island of Missing Trees with its awkward sentient tree. Which was another strange attempt at Magical Realism with a socially awkard teenage girl grieving her mother and digging into the past while an anthropomorphized being watched on. (I was disappointed by that book as well.) Anyway, here is some insight into the smells:
Or this:
I just can’t. Apparently my imagination is not limber enough to deal with sentient odors. It was like a Febreeze commercial on acid.
I already stated that this is not Fantasy. But it turned out it wasn’t Horror either. There were some descriptions early on that lead me to believe this would turn into Gothic Horror, but it absolutely did not. The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years barely managed Magical Realism. And nothing was really explained either: the Djinn, a character being haunted by her dead sister, the sentient house; the magical elements were just… there, awkwardly hanging out with the old smells and my shattered hopes of enjoying the story.
The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years was set on the South African coast but with all Indian characters. It seemed at first that the experiences of Indian immigrants during Apartheid would be an important part of the story – which I was very interested in since I have not read a book that focused on Indians in that part of South Africa’s history. But that was also a red herring.
So now that I’ve listed all the things this book isn’t about, what actually made up The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years? Well, this is what I call a D&T story: DRAMA AND TRAUMA! The second half of the book really went downhill and veered closer to trauma porn. And it absolutely bathed in the supposed beauty of trauma and tragedy. I despise books that bask in trauma like that.
This was a character-driven story but without good character development. And most of the characters were despicable. Literally every single character in this book had severe trauma. They were all so damaged - which the story seemed to revel in. The longer the story went on, the ickier I felt reading it. I literally felt grossed out by the tone the story took towards acting like trauma was something poetically beautiful.
As the story progressed, it rapidly moved towards focusing on the trauma and tragedy. It did not feel like the different parts and tones fit together. Everything promising from the beginning of the story devolved into soap opera drama.
Akbar and Meena's "love" story was just obsession and I absolutely hated it. But readers are supposed to be all swoony just because those two are labeled as soulmates and read poetry together. This is what absolutely ruined the story for me. Akbar was a complete creep. He was a spoiled rich man who manipulated all the women in his life. He married the woman his mother picked out for him. When she didn’t mold herself into his dream woman, he rejected her and demanded a younger woman marry him. This epic dirtbag called his young, pretty employee (who he had never even spoke to) into his office and announced that he was going to marry her because he had a dream about her. And her family forced her into being Akbar’s second wife entirely against her will. BUT THIS IS A LOVE STORY. I don’t care about making allowances for the time period and culture. It was completely toxic. This book literally made me feel sick – particularly with how the author tried to sell something so toxic as romantic. I’m not going to write anymore about that part of the story, because it has already poisoned my brain enough.
The powerlessness of women was also a common theme throughout the book. It is not something that is addressed or provides any sort of empowerment. The women in this book are just powerless. And no way in hell, does the story address this.
“From the day a girl is born she's told she needs a love story to survive. It's everywhere: in poetry, in music, in films and books. She's told life is worthless without love. She's told she is worthless without love.' She lowers her voice. 'But what no one tells her, what no one talks about, is that it can kill her. That the very thing they say can save her can destroy her. Love is a trap, darling. It lures you in then digs its bony fingers into your chest, breaks open your ribs, and yanks out your bloody, beating heart, and still leaves you alive.”
“Your kids abandon you, your husband leaves you, your best friend hates you, and eventually everyone dies. Trust me on this: at the end of the day, all you have is yourself.”
And the ending was a ridiculous, eye roll-inducing way to wrap up a trash fire of story. I am never reading anything else by this author.
Content warnings: misogyny, infidelity, gaslighting, bullying, grief, death, murder, suicide idealization, suicide, child neglect, child endangerment, child death, emotional abuse, toxic relationships, stalking, mental illness, animal abuse, racism, blood, fire/fire injury, and probably more that I’m forgetting. I wish I could forget it all.
Now, I’ve spent more than enough time dissecting a book that wasted my time and left me with a nasty taste in my mouth. I will end this review now. The ghostly smells of laundry loads past are judging me for not folding the laundry. I wouldn’t want to disappoint them.
RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 1 Star
Writing Style: 2 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 1 Star
Plot Structure and Development: 1 Star
Level of Captivation: 1 Star
Originality: 2 Stars
*A massively disappointing story that reveled in trauma and did not resemble the synopsis at all*
**This review contains minor spoilers not pivot to the plot that are not hidden**
The title and cover of The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years caught my attention immediately. The promise of Gothic story about a djinn haunting a crumbling estate in South Africa sounded amazing. Unfortunately there were multiple things that made me go from enthusiastic optimism to outright loathing this book.
For starters, let me make it clear that the djinn was barely in the story. That character (if you even want to call it that) literally could have been left entirely out of the book without changing anything in the plot. So if you are expecting some sort of magical being weaving the affairs of mortals, look elsewhere. I think it was just a metaphor or something, but by the time I realized that, I was too frustrated to try to suss it out. Also, the Djinn does not actually wait a hundred years. Though the earliest part of the story is 1914, the Djinn does not arrive until 1930, and the story ends in 2014. So the title is useless and a lie. Or someone is terrible at basic subtraction…
The story started in 2014 with a teenage girl and her grieving father constantly moving around - until they end up in a mysterious, dilapidated house haunted by a djinn. As I mentioned, I was initially intrigued by the story. It did follow the standard Gothic trope of "girl goes to remote, crumbling manor house and shit goes wrong." And the lyrical, descriptive writing did intrigue me at first despite being written in the dreaded present tense. I can see why it was compared to Rebecca (on a surface level at least).
“The house watches all this with a peculiar kind of horror. It knows that things cannot remain the same forever. It has watched from its high perch how the town below changed over the years. It has seen roads cut through the landscape, buildings erupt, and people multiply.
It knows that nothing can escape change. That the djinn just opened the way for what was always going to happen.
Still, it cannot bear to witness this.
The reopening of history like fingers digging into a wound.”
Part II of the story started to weave in the story starting in 1914 and the history of the house. I was utterly bored by that part of the story. The transitions between time periods were sloppy and discordant. And the past timeline ended up being what made me absolutely furious with this book.
You may notice that house is anthropomorphized in the quote above. I was ok with that at first. I’ve read plenty of books where the house was a character to varying degrees. But Khan kept pushing it farther. I understand anthropomorphizing the house, but she started doing the same with smells. And I started rolling my eyes a lot. Seriously, smells. And talking about what the smells remember. It started to remind me a lot more of The Island of Missing Trees with its awkward sentient tree. Which was another strange attempt at Magical Realism with a socially awkard teenage girl grieving her mother and digging into the past while an anthropomorphized being watched on. (I was disappointed by that book as well.) Anyway, here is some insight into the smells:
“Now the fish smells and the custard smells look down drowsily from the rafters and observe the scene below. It is nothing like they remember from years ago. It is a sad sight.”
Or this:
“Burned crab smells scuttle along the walls. And in their hurry, some fall down and scurry under the stove. But no one notices.”
I just can’t. Apparently my imagination is not limber enough to deal with sentient odors. It was like a Febreeze commercial on acid.
I already stated that this is not Fantasy. But it turned out it wasn’t Horror either. There were some descriptions early on that lead me to believe this would turn into Gothic Horror, but it absolutely did not. The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years barely managed Magical Realism. And nothing was really explained either: the Djinn, a character being haunted by her dead sister, the sentient house; the magical elements were just… there, awkwardly hanging out with the old smells and my shattered hopes of enjoying the story.
The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years was set on the South African coast but with all Indian characters. It seemed at first that the experiences of Indian immigrants during Apartheid would be an important part of the story – which I was very interested in since I have not read a book that focused on Indians in that part of South Africa’s history. But that was also a red herring.
So now that I’ve listed all the things this book isn’t about, what actually made up The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years? Well, this is what I call a D&T story: DRAMA AND TRAUMA! The second half of the book really went downhill and veered closer to trauma porn. And it absolutely bathed in the supposed beauty of trauma and tragedy. I despise books that bask in trauma like that.
This was a character-driven story but without good character development. And most of the characters were despicable. Literally every single character in this book had severe trauma. They were all so damaged - which the story seemed to revel in. The longer the story went on, the ickier I felt reading it. I literally felt grossed out by the tone the story took towards acting like trauma was something poetically beautiful.
As the story progressed, it rapidly moved towards focusing on the trauma and tragedy. It did not feel like the different parts and tones fit together. Everything promising from the beginning of the story devolved into soap opera drama.
Akbar and Meena's "love" story was just obsession and I absolutely hated it. But readers are supposed to be all swoony just because those two are labeled as soulmates and read poetry together. This is what absolutely ruined the story for me. Akbar was a complete creep. He was a spoiled rich man who manipulated all the women in his life. He married the woman his mother picked out for him. When she didn’t mold herself into his dream woman, he rejected her and demanded a younger woman marry him. This epic dirtbag called his young, pretty employee (who he had never even spoke to) into his office and announced that he was going to marry her because he had a dream about her. And her family forced her into being Akbar’s second wife entirely against her will. BUT THIS IS A LOVE STORY. I don’t care about making allowances for the time period and culture. It was completely toxic. This book literally made me feel sick – particularly with how the author tried to sell something so toxic as romantic. I’m not going to write anymore about that part of the story, because it has already poisoned my brain enough.
The powerlessness of women was also a common theme throughout the book. It is not something that is addressed or provides any sort of empowerment. The women in this book are just powerless. And no way in hell, does the story address this.
“From the day a girl is born she's told she needs a love story to survive. It's everywhere: in poetry, in music, in films and books. She's told life is worthless without love. She's told she is worthless without love.' She lowers her voice. 'But what no one tells her, what no one talks about, is that it can kill her. That the very thing they say can save her can destroy her. Love is a trap, darling. It lures you in then digs its bony fingers into your chest, breaks open your ribs, and yanks out your bloody, beating heart, and still leaves you alive.”
“Your kids abandon you, your husband leaves you, your best friend hates you, and eventually everyone dies. Trust me on this: at the end of the day, all you have is yourself.”
And the ending was a ridiculous, eye roll-inducing way to wrap up a trash fire of story. I am never reading anything else by this author.
Content warnings: misogyny, infidelity, gaslighting, bullying, grief, death, murder, suicide idealization, suicide, child neglect, child endangerment, child death, emotional abuse, toxic relationships, stalking, mental illness, animal abuse, racism, blood, fire/fire injury, and probably more that I’m forgetting. I wish I could forget it all.
Now, I’ve spent more than enough time dissecting a book that wasted my time and left me with a nasty taste in my mouth. I will end this review now. The ghostly smells of laundry loads past are judging me for not folding the laundry. I wouldn’t want to disappoint them.
RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 1 Star
Writing Style: 2 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 1 Star
Plot Structure and Development: 1 Star
Level of Captivation: 1 Star
Originality: 2 Stars
February 6, 2024
Be still, my tender beating heart.
This ended up being an amazing listen during love month.
I appreciate books that pull my heart in, break it and find ways to piece it back together.
Gothic thriller + a touch Middle Eastern Mythology is a niche market, but my goodness- I want more of this vibe. I can’t wait to see what Kahn imagines up next for us.
I recommend to fans of S.A. Chakraborty (Especially if you love Soneela Nankani narration— Like I do!) and Helene Wecker (but you want a shorter reading experience between your heavier reads).
This ended up being an amazing listen during love month.
I appreciate books that pull my heart in, break it and find ways to piece it back together.
Gothic thriller + a touch Middle Eastern Mythology is a niche market, but my goodness- I want more of this vibe. I can’t wait to see what Kahn imagines up next for us.
I recommend to fans of S.A. Chakraborty (Especially if you love Soneela Nankani narration— Like I do!) and Helene Wecker (but you want a shorter reading experience between your heavier reads).
January 13, 2024
Absolutely loved.
January 10, 2024
I enjoyed portions of this book but when it came to the two timelines, I wasn’t as interested in the present timeline. The past timeline was by far the most interesting aspect of the book and I would have liked to see some of those characters in the past developed more. The past timeline had a detached quality and I think it would have been more impactful if it was told in first-person. The past and present stories do come together nicely at the end though. In terms of the Djinn, it is more of a background character and it didn’t factor majorly into the story. Overall, this book was a bit of a mixed bag for me but there were certainly aspects that I liked.
September 25, 2023
Another unexpected, unanticipated novel knocks me off my feet and crashes into my top books of 2023.
The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years, the wonderfully-titled novel from South African writer Shubnum Khan, is perfect for fans of the gothic, with a hint of the supernatural. Jumping between 2014, and one hundred years earlier, we follow the inhabitants of Akbar Manzil, an estate off the coast of South Africa to rival du Maurier's Manderley.
In the 2014 narrative, we meet teenager Sana and her father, who have moved into the now-failing Akbar Manzil, joining a variety of interesting characters. As Sana explores the grand house, the dark history of the place unravels, involving an unconventional marriage, an overbearing matriarch, and a pet lion. And let’s not forget about the titular djinn, who observes all of this from the estate’s many darkened corners.
I loved this book so much. The modern misfits who welcome young Sana, the devastating history which slowly unravels, the beautiful writing; it all combined to make a truly engrossing and captivating story. The character of the djinn, as an omnipresent narrator, really helped to draw the reader into the story. The personification of the house was a wonderful touch as well.
A truly special novel, which everyone fan of historical or gothic fiction should read. Highly recommended.
The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years, the wonderfully-titled novel from South African writer Shubnum Khan, is perfect for fans of the gothic, with a hint of the supernatural. Jumping between 2014, and one hundred years earlier, we follow the inhabitants of Akbar Manzil, an estate off the coast of South Africa to rival du Maurier's Manderley.
In the 2014 narrative, we meet teenager Sana and her father, who have moved into the now-failing Akbar Manzil, joining a variety of interesting characters. As Sana explores the grand house, the dark history of the place unravels, involving an unconventional marriage, an overbearing matriarch, and a pet lion. And let’s not forget about the titular djinn, who observes all of this from the estate’s many darkened corners.
I loved this book so much. The modern misfits who welcome young Sana, the devastating history which slowly unravels, the beautiful writing; it all combined to make a truly engrossing and captivating story. The character of the djinn, as an omnipresent narrator, really helped to draw the reader into the story. The personification of the house was a wonderful touch as well.
A truly special novel, which everyone fan of historical or gothic fiction should read. Highly recommended.
September 17, 2024
A nice historical fantasy-romance, by a South African author of East Indian descent. Very entertaining so far (if a little rough). I learned that Indian immigrants to the US are known to South Africans as "American Indians"! Columbus's mistake about where he landed has been causing confusion ever since.
OK, it's not Far Pavilions, but it's fun to see the viewpoint of a less well-known African diaspora group. Lots of new words and phrases to guess the meaning of . . .
Well. I finished it, and pretty much hated the ending. Granted, there's plenty of pre-figuring of this unhappy stuff: the book was labelled as Gothic horror. But these were the two most sympathetic of the historic characters!
Overall, I'm giving it 2.5+ stars and rounding up. I don't regret reading it -- but I wish the author had devised a happier ending!
OK, it's not Far Pavilions, but it's fun to see the viewpoint of a less well-known African diaspora group. Lots of new words and phrases to guess the meaning of . . .
Well. I finished it, and pretty much hated the ending. Granted, there's plenty of pre-figuring of this unhappy stuff: the book was labelled as Gothic horror. But these were the two most sympathetic of the historic characters!
Overall, I'm giving it 2.5+ stars and rounding up. I don't regret reading it -- but I wish the author had devised a happier ending!
April 27, 2024
What a tragically haunting beautiful story. A girl searching for what love is for others. A djinn looking for the lost song of a woman. A haunted house trying to keep secrets hidden. A forbidden love between two a hundred years ago.... Cried at the ending.
did-not-finish
February 6, 2024DNF @ 10%
Okay, not rating this one because I honestly think it has the potential to be a good book it just isn't one *I* would like. It's the writing style which just hits me wrong.
Okay, not rating this one because I honestly think it has the potential to be a good book it just isn't one *I* would like. It's the writing style which just hits me wrong.
November 12, 2024
“So are ghosts real? I think ghosts are as real as we make them.”
🪞
A decades-long saga of grief and discovery. The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years is an atmospheric tale radiating with the heartbeat of things long buried. Showcasing its contemporary gothic charm with prose that coaxes forth a story that is as magic as it is personable, this debut is a compelling glance into what ghosts we make, and what ghosts linger long after decisions have been made, lives have been thrown onto a new path. Akbar Manzil is a beguiling estate that readers will enjoy exploring, hiding subtle details of love, loss, and closure within its walls.
🪞
A decades-long saga of grief and discovery. The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years is an atmospheric tale radiating with the heartbeat of things long buried. Showcasing its contemporary gothic charm with prose that coaxes forth a story that is as magic as it is personable, this debut is a compelling glance into what ghosts we make, and what ghosts linger long after decisions have been made, lives have been thrown onto a new path. Akbar Manzil is a beguiling estate that readers will enjoy exploring, hiding subtle details of love, loss, and closure within its walls.
April 15, 2024
I'm struggling to find words to do this masterpiece justice, but I'll start off by saying it is now one of my favorite books of all time. This book reads like a gothic ghost story with haunted characters and a house so alive it could have a pulse. It is opulent and will make your mouth water. It pulls at your heart strings while also evoking laughter from her fabulous aunties and banter. Khan is an unbelievable weaver of worlds and words. I will read anything and everything she writes from here on out.
July 13, 2024
this audiobook slayed
January 13, 2024
I picked this up on a whim and I'm so glad I did. This is a dual POV novel, where we follow Sana, a teenager trying to find her place in the world at a mysterious house, and a tragic love story that happened a hundred years ago. As the two stories intertwine, we learn what a home truly is and the overwhelming power of love.
Khan breathed life into her novel with her vivid descriptions, without being overtly wordy. Even sentient things came to life with her beautiful prose. The house's apprehension at new tenants and fear of its history being found out was real and emotional. The characters were vivid and colorful. In a way, her beautiful prose prevented me from connecting completely with the protagonists; they were larger than life and didn't feel real, but not in a bad way. More like the characters were just bodies for certain emotions.
Overall, this was a beautiful reading experience. It invoked emotions so vividly, which doesn't happen often for me. If you like prose and character studies, please pick this one up.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Viking for the advanced copy. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
Khan breathed life into her novel with her vivid descriptions, without being overtly wordy. Even sentient things came to life with her beautiful prose. The house's apprehension at new tenants and fear of its history being found out was real and emotional. The characters were vivid and colorful. In a way, her beautiful prose prevented me from connecting completely with the protagonists; they were larger than life and didn't feel real, but not in a bad way. More like the characters were just bodies for certain emotions.
Overall, this was a beautiful reading experience. It invoked emotions so vividly, which doesn't happen often for me. If you like prose and character studies, please pick this one up.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Viking for the advanced copy. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
January 13, 2024
A haunting story with a few Jane Eyre-like elements. Really enjoyed it, though I kind of feel guilty for liking it.
February 8, 2024
Set in Durban, South Africa, this is beautifully written story of the residents of a crumbling mansion by the sea, and the tortured history that haunts it. Largely told from the perspective of Sana as her and her father move in after her mother's death, the story takes us to the past and slowly tells us the story of the previous residents.
The characters in this story are complicated, messy people, and their emotions twist and change the narrative of the story, as petty jealously twists into seething rage and destroys a marriage, a family and home forever. The ending of this story is expectedly tragic, but overall hopeful.
I liked that this book didn't leave anything on a cliffhanger. At the end of the story, the history of the house is told, we know what happened, we know the final secrets of the house and the only thing left to question is Sana's future, but we even get a glimpse of what that might be.
The characters in this story are complicated, messy people, and their emotions twist and change the narrative of the story, as petty jealously twists into seething rage and destroys a marriage, a family and home forever. The ending of this story is expectedly tragic, but overall hopeful.
I liked that this book didn't leave anything on a cliffhanger. At the end of the story, the history of the house is told, we know what happened, we know the final secrets of the house and the only thing left to question is Sana's future, but we even get a glimpse of what that might be.
March 8, 2025
Oh, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years!! Where do I even begin with this book?
It’s not just a story—it’s an experience, a spell, a whispered secret that lingers long after you’ve turned the last page. Shubnum Khan’s prose is so lush and lyrical that it feels less like reading and more like being gently carried away by a tide of words. This book is a ghost story, a love story, a tragedy, and a mystery, all wrapped in a hauntingly beautiful package that will leave you breathless.
The story unfolds in Akbar Manzil, a crumbling, sentient mansion by the sea in South Africa that feels as much a character as any of the humans who inhabit it. In 2014, Sana and her grieving father move into the decaying estate, seeking a fresh start after the loss of Sana’s mother. But Akbar Manzil is no ordinary house—it’s a place steeped in memory, grief, and secrets, a place where the past and present blur in the most achingly poetic ways. Sana, a young girl obsessed with love but too wounded to fully embrace it, becomes a chronicler of the lives around her, uncovering the stories of the house’s forgotten residents and, in doing so, piecing together the tragic tale of Meena, a woman who lived there a century before.
Khan’s writing is nothing short of magical. Every sentence feels like a brushstroke on a canvas, painting a world that is both vividly real and dreamily ethereal. She captures the ache of grief, the quiet desperation of loneliness, and the redemptive power of love with such precision and beauty that it’s impossible not to be moved. This is a book about the things we carry—the losses that haunt us, the loves that define us, and the memories that shape us, even when we wish they wouldn’t.
And oh, the characters! Sana is a protagonist you’ll root for, ache for, and want to hug tightly. Her journey of healing and self-discovery is both heartbreaking and hopeful, and her fixation on love—not as a participant but as an observer—is so poignant it’ll make your chest hurt. The residents of Akbar Manzil are equally compelling, each carrying their own grief and longing, each adding another layer to the tapestry of this extraordinary story. And then there’s Meena, whose story unfolds like a slow, aching melody, weaving through the narrative and tying everything together in the most devastatingly beautiful way.
This book is about grief as a haunting and love as the root of the human experience. It’s about the cruelty we’re capable of and the kindness that can save us. It’s about the things time forgets and the things we can never forget, no matter how hard we try. It’s about the way love and loss are intertwined, and how, even in the darkest moments, there’s a glimmer of hope.
The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years is pure magic. It’s the kind of book that makes you cry—not because it’s sad (though it is), but because it’s so profoundly beautiful. It’s a book that will stay with you, like a ghost or a memory, long after you’ve finished it. Shubnum Khan has written something truly special here, and I am in awe. 👏💔✨
It’s not just a story—it’s an experience, a spell, a whispered secret that lingers long after you’ve turned the last page. Shubnum Khan’s prose is so lush and lyrical that it feels less like reading and more like being gently carried away by a tide of words. This book is a ghost story, a love story, a tragedy, and a mystery, all wrapped in a hauntingly beautiful package that will leave you breathless.
The story unfolds in Akbar Manzil, a crumbling, sentient mansion by the sea in South Africa that feels as much a character as any of the humans who inhabit it. In 2014, Sana and her grieving father move into the decaying estate, seeking a fresh start after the loss of Sana’s mother. But Akbar Manzil is no ordinary house—it’s a place steeped in memory, grief, and secrets, a place where the past and present blur in the most achingly poetic ways. Sana, a young girl obsessed with love but too wounded to fully embrace it, becomes a chronicler of the lives around her, uncovering the stories of the house’s forgotten residents and, in doing so, piecing together the tragic tale of Meena, a woman who lived there a century before.
Khan’s writing is nothing short of magical. Every sentence feels like a brushstroke on a canvas, painting a world that is both vividly real and dreamily ethereal. She captures the ache of grief, the quiet desperation of loneliness, and the redemptive power of love with such precision and beauty that it’s impossible not to be moved. This is a book about the things we carry—the losses that haunt us, the loves that define us, and the memories that shape us, even when we wish they wouldn’t.
And oh, the characters! Sana is a protagonist you’ll root for, ache for, and want to hug tightly. Her journey of healing and self-discovery is both heartbreaking and hopeful, and her fixation on love—not as a participant but as an observer—is so poignant it’ll make your chest hurt. The residents of Akbar Manzil are equally compelling, each carrying their own grief and longing, each adding another layer to the tapestry of this extraordinary story. And then there’s Meena, whose story unfolds like a slow, aching melody, weaving through the narrative and tying everything together in the most devastatingly beautiful way.
This book is about grief as a haunting and love as the root of the human experience. It’s about the cruelty we’re capable of and the kindness that can save us. It’s about the things time forgets and the things we can never forget, no matter how hard we try. It’s about the way love and loss are intertwined, and how, even in the darkest moments, there’s a glimmer of hope.
The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years is pure magic. It’s the kind of book that makes you cry—not because it’s sad (though it is), but because it’s so profoundly beautiful. It’s a book that will stay with you, like a ghost or a memory, long after you’ve finished it. Shubnum Khan has written something truly special here, and I am in awe. 👏💔✨
May 16, 2024
This book is another reminder to myself as to one of the reasons I love being a part of book clubs. It helps me grow as a reader and introduces me to authors I may never have even heard of before. Shubnum Khan is a case in point--She's a new-to-me author from South Africa. This US/UK debut is also an example of a book that I would likely not have chosen without it being a Dolen Book Club choice. I sure am glad that Dolen chose this book though. The setting is unique (South Africa), the dual timeline is unique (2014 and almost a century prior) and the genre is so unique. It's a blend of mystery, romance, gothic fiction and historical fiction, all wrapped up in one interesting and fun read, or in this case listen. Here's a hint of the story: Sana is a 15-year-old Indian girl who is living in an apartment with her father in a run-down castle along the coast of South Africa. She comes upon a long-locked bedroom and upon investigation, begins to unravel secrets from a past century while in conflict with ghosts of her own. So if you'd like something new, give The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years a try. (By the way, I listened to this book and the narration was excellent!
July 26, 2024
I read this over two days and I loved it. This is a beautiful story about a forgotten house filled with forgotten people in a part of the world (Durban/South Africa) that we often forget. It is about wanting and wishing and striving for more, more than what has been modelled for you, more than what others have told you you deserve or should want, because to stop wanting is to lose hope, and to lose hope is to die over and over again. This is a book that believes in love. It is about the power of not forgetting oneself - of believing yourself to matter, of believing in the beauty of the world enough to watch and notice and ask questions and read and make your own stories. It is a book about unexpected beauty and it is lovely.
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