The Book of V.

 

The Book of V. by Anna Solomon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Growing up, the story of Esther was a favorite because it was one of the few stories in the Bible where the hero is young woman. The focus was always on her bravery and saving her people when no one else could. We knew she was brave because she approached the king without his requesting her, and this might have led to her death. But we know this because there was a former queen, Vashti, who was (assumed) killed when shed didn't come when the king requested her. It's a simple story but the Bible leaves a lot of space in the plot, and there are a lot of thoughts as to why and how the king demanded Vashti's audience and why she turned him down; how Esther was caught the eye of the king to become his second wife; and the character of the king himself. Between Purim pageants and scholarly theories, Esther's story contains multitudes. Solomon adds to this by creating a whole new allegory of women's power. Using three different women in three time periods Solomon explores both the power and vulnerability of women --they both use sex as a weapon, and exploited in return; they grapple with ability to create and how that creation can be useful, powerful, or demeaned or even used against them; how we often let men define our power and try to please them instead of defining ourselves; and how if we are lucky we can build a community of women around us to support us and our creativity. I thought it was particularly interesting that Solomon focuses on domestic arts and knowledge as a means of creation and expression and found truth in the idea that these acts which can be dismissed as women's work (such as sewing, cooking, etc.) are really great expressions of love, passion, tradition and identity. Sex does play a dominant role in this book, but used in a way to illustrate the way both genders use it as a power over the other. I enjoyed all the timelines in this book and thought the writing was fabulous. I loved how the deliberate parallels in the stories evoked themes and ideas that were explored from so many angles.

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My heart isn't hard, Lily thinks.  It's only stretched, and a little faded--often there is only enough space for her own kids' shit and string beans.

Better than becoming a beast would have been to become a man.

their desire for the dresses was not about having something but being it. 

Even if a shred of magic were buried somewhere in him, he would not be able to access it; to access it, you had to be receptive; to be receptive you had to be capable of admitting all you did not know.

anyone would think first to fly, above the earth, and, when that didn't work, to go through.