The Story of Queen Vashti still waits to be told

You know that feeling when everyone is elated about something - in this case a book - and all the reviews in the publications that matter are enthusiastic and you are the only one who seems to not get the point. Not that your opinion will change the world, but still, you feel frustrated that it seems you´ve read something wrong or you misunderstood the book and you have no idea what you are talking about or what you are talked about.

Those are the kind of feelings during and after reading The Book of V. by Anna Solomon. I wanted from the bottom of my heart to find time to read this book, as it seemed to make a great point: making justice to Queen Vashti, the first wife of King Ahasverus in the book of Esther who was banished from the court after refusing to show herself naked in the front of the guests of the banquet, as per request of her husband. The midrashic sources - the Biblical exegesis - do have a variety of interpretations about Vashti. In any context, it is Queen Esther who is a winner, the hero and the savior. 

The Book of V. - V from Vashti - tells the stories of three women, at three different periods of time. Vee, the rich wife of a rising senator in the 1970s- which happens to be Jewish - who refused to show herself naked to a party, as per the request of her husband. Lily, from Brooklyn, a writer in waiting, Jewish, who is preparing for the festival of Purim - when the Book of Esther is read. And Queen Esther herself.

The stories of the two women intertwin, while the story of the Queen Esther serves as a background screen for their narratives. But I think the stakes were too high for the two women. Lily´s bland, the usual Lululemon confused NYC woman. Her mother, Ruth, who is dying during the story, a convert to Judaism, seems by far more interesting and with a good literary potential, but she is killed by the author way too fast. 

There is a very big risk took by an author when it plans to re-write such a complex story like the one displayed in the Book of Esther. You are either come with some outstanding new story, or not. A stay-at-home mom from Brooklyn is in any way out of this league. Trying to make everything sound cool and hip involves a high risk of failure. I suppose the story of Vashti still waits to be told. At least for me.

But justice to be done when it´s due: the writing is good and it compensates when the story is less good. 

I had access to the audio variant of the book.

Rating: 2.5 stars