JCA Online Book Group discuss The Book of V. by Anna Solomon

JCA Online Book Group discusses The Book of V. by Anna Solomon

Facilitated by Fionna Nilsson
Thursday, October 15th at 7:00 PM

Book group participation is free. Advanced registration required by Weds. 10/15 to receive the Zoom session link.
The book is available at local and online booksellers and in hardcopy and electronic download formats.

Join the JCA Book Group for a virtual discussion of The Book of V. by Anna Solomon, facilitated by Fionna Nilsson via Zoom.

*This is a meeting of the JCA book club. Please note that we will be hosting Anna Solomon for an author talk on her book live via Zoom in February, 2021.

The Purim story of Esther is often told as the triumph of a Jewish minority over one man’s blinding hatred, through the courage and selflessness of one woman. Anna Solomon’s The Book of V. challenges this simple narrative — asking, what is Vashti’s story? And how do we choose to represent women’s lives, both in the past and today?

The narrative alternates between the historical Esther’s perspective, Vivian, known as Vee, a 1970s wife of a senator, and Lily, a modern-day Brooklynite, second wife, and mother of two. Each of these women’s lives is constrained by the expectations of a patriarchal society. Vee enjoys her socialite life but is plagued by her husband’s past and her own insecurities when she compares herself to her peers; Lily is haunted by the memory of her husband’s first wife, and cannot relinquish feelings of ineptitude towards her domestic duties and her marriage.

The Book of V. explores the idea of people living on the margins — geographically, socially, and economically, and offers new interpretations of the story of Esther.