They always get me when someone puts a book on their reading list. I was anticipating this book because I saw it being promoted everywhere. Unfortunately, it fell flat for me. A little on the boring side with really nothing going on. Just not for me.

*Thank you @henryholt for the copy in exchange for an honest review. Review not posted to Amazon/Goodreads because less than 4 stars or DNF.*

It took me a bit to get into this book. It’s an interesting premise -- three women across different time periods who face similar challenges related to relationships, dynamics and how they face obstacles.. This book is a bit outside of my normal reading but I enjoyed the premise and the stories overall. As always I’m thankful for NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read!

This is not the type of book that I would typically read as I am normally more into mysteries and suspense, but the description of the book on Netgalley led me to request it. It was an interesting change of pace as I followed the stories of three women's lives set in different time periods. There is Lily, a Brooklyn mother in 2016, Vivian, a senator's wife in the 1970's, and perhaps the most fascinating of all, Esther, an ancient Persian biblical queen. The common themes of feminism, sexuality and female strength are integrated throughout. It was definitely worth stepping out of my usual reading comfort zone.

"The type of woman you imagine yourself becoming does not exist."

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The Book of V is a feminist novel looking at three women's lives in various times, tackling the expectations of women, the stifling of those women by the men in their lives and learning to take their power back. The story is told in three POVs and the challenge of that always is keeping the reader engaged in all three stories. My interest in this one lie with Ester and Vashti in ancient times, the two more modern stories were not as gripping to me. Vivian is a senator's wife, living under his thumb with the propriety expected of her in her time. She is desperate to be anything other than what her husband desires her to be. Lily is a modern day woman, a mother without a career and a little lost in who she is and who she wants to be. The two modern stories come together nicely and mirror the ancient one but I just didn't identify with the modern women the way I was supposed to. I was also uncomfortable many times with the way sex was treated in this one, always linked to power and control. The women felt a bit like caricatures to me. I don't regret reading it, I just had higher hopes for where this one could have gone.  ️ ️

Thanks to Netgalley for advanced access to this novel and apologies it took me so long to get to it! All opinions above are my own.

I struggled a bit with this one but finally managed to make my way through it. I think if I had read it in a different time I would have loved it more as I don't think I was in the right headspace when I did read it.

I'm currently clearing out all of the books that were published in 2019-20 from my title feedback view!

I absolutely loved this brilliant book and the way that Solomon wove together the three different plot lines. This books focuses on

This was a five star read for me, and the richly drawn characters brought to life powerful commentary about the ways that women's lives have and have not changed in the sweeping movement through time and historical events. The way that Solomon moves through multiple eras, ultimately intertwining the three separate threads, is masterful. The novel explores the biblical story of Ester and Vashti, the contemporary story of Lily, a wife and mother in 2016, and the story of Vivian (Vee) set in Washington amid the Watergate scandal.

This is one of the most uniquely beautiful stories I've ever read. I absolutely loved that it included the story of Esther and the Persian King, and I think this added an extra powerful component to the narrative. I haven't seen this one around very much, and I'm eager to see more people read it.

This was a really interesting premise -- three women across three very different time periods who face challenges related to relationships, power dynamics, and navigating what they want out of their lives within the constraints they face. Each of the narratives is quite compelling on its own, and the interaction between the three is really interesting. I enjoyed this structure and the story overall. Recommended!

This book tells the story of four women, separated by history. Two queens from the times long forgotten, the wife of a senator in fifties, and a mother living in a present. They are all completely different, and yet, the parallels in their lives is uncanny. The book is about womanhood and, while a lot has changed for women, many things didn't.

I liked the characters and I connected with some of them more, some of them less. I enjoyed reading about Vashti and Ester’s lives the most. Esther's story was rich and interesting. The author added some magical elements that made the story more compelling, but also felt a bit weird and disconnected.

The story was a great character study of these women. It covered the parallels of their lives, and where they had to decide who they want to be. It was an interesting read, but the ending of the book left me unsatisfied. Like something was missing.

3.5 Stars – Rounded to 4 for Goodreads

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy. The opinions stated here are my own.

A story about women's experiences that transcends generations. It's hard to link characters across time, but this book does so seamlessly and beautifully.

I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was suggested for the 2021 list. It was not nominated for the award. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2021/02/2021-reading-list-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/">

More of a character-driven story, The Book of V. follows three women from different time periods - Esther (biblical) Lily (2016), and Vivian (1970s) - as they tumble through womanhood in a misogynistic world. And as the reader discovers, their experiences aren’t much different.

It took me a bit to warm up to the story, as soon as you start to get to know one character it switches to the next one, but I loved the mix of historical fiction and women attempting to navigate sexual and societal norms that they don’t want to conform to. If you like feminist tales and character-driven stories, then you may enjoy The Book of V.

I’m judging a 2020 fiction contest. It’d be generous to call what I’m doing upon my first cursory glance—reading. I also don’t take this task lightly. As a fellow writer and lover of words and books, I took this position—in hopes of being a good literary citizen. My heart aches for all the writers who have a debut at this time. What I can share now is the thing that held my attention and got this book from the perspective pile into the read further pile.
A feat, with multiple timelines and powerful imagery.

Fresh off the literary tails of The Book of Longings, Solomon executed what Sue Monk Kidd failed to achieve: untethered imagination.

Esther, Lily and Vivian . Their stories are not overlapping venn diagrams of circumstance, but rather, connective tissue of desire. All three feel inner resistance to the desires or “the way things are,” whether that be marriage, motherhood.

Novels that attempt to link characters across time and space tend to do so with overdrawn overtness. Solomon, makes this triangular connection effortless.

3.5 stars. Took a long time to get into this book because I had trouble seeing how the three story lines fit together. I liked Lily's story the best, and it really got most interesting at the end when the pieces starting falling into place.

I wanted so hard to like this book and read it. But I just could not get into it. I think I kept getting confused by the 3 different stories and had to really pay attention as to which chapter was which person. I didn't finish the book but am going to try it again at a later date.

I was so so excited for this book and cannot believe I didn't read it....I just never made it to this one. I did read THE BOOK OF LONGINGS which reminded me of this a bit. It was also a GMA bookclub pick so I'm sure its fantastic. I just can't say one way or another.

Thank you to Netgalley and Anna Solomon for my copy of The Book of V, for an honest review. Three woman, during three periods of life, struggling with their place in time. The story is wonderfully written, while going back and forth, with their struggles as woman. Similar circumstances, their insecurities, their roles as women and how they cope within the parameters expected of a woman at the time. I enjoyed this story and I love how things all worked out. I have recommend this to friends and family. This was a four star read for me.

The Book of V is a novel about three women: the biblical Esther, a senator’s wife named Vee who lives in 1970s United States, and a modern-day housewife and mother of two named Lily. Themes of Jewish traditions and the struggle for gender equality tie the three narratives together, but the larger picture illustrates each character’s fight for freedom, and what that freedom might cost.

Given the large time span between characters and the loose relationships between the stories, the only real tie between characters is the themes of the novel. That being said, those themes came through clearly enough that the stories never felt unrelated to me. The most significant is that of the struggle for personal freedom. At the start of the novel Esther just wishes to marry the man from her tribe that she fell in love with, Vee doesn’t seem aware of her own struggle for freedom but definitely shows discontent at her husband’s tight control over her, and Lily is profoundly unhappy with her role as housewife and feels that she cannot fulfill her family’s needs. Each step through the novel shows these characters resisting their limited options and breaking out of the molds they were forced into. Some of the more minor themes still tied these narratives together, though. I appreciated the various commentaries on motherhood, and how each character approached it – Esther reflected often on the loss of her mother and eventually found motherhood to be a blessing in her own life, Vee felt the possibility of motherhood to be a threat to her and her independence, and Lily struggled with her own relationship with her mother as well as how to fit into the role of mother with her own children. Marriage, too, is examined as an institution. A distinction is made between first wives and second wives, as Esther and Lily are both second wives, living in the shadow of the first. Vee clearly is reconsidering the value of marriage at all. All three are disillusioned with their own husbands and their own marriages.

As much as the themes of the novel tie the characters together, the real value of The Book of V is the way each of the three main characters are given opportunities to respond to their own restrictions, and how each character has their own unique reaction. Esther is the most limited of the three, as disobedience for her (whether it’s to her uncle or eventually to the king and his minister) likely means death. Even within those restrictions however, she finds ways to gather her own power and affect her fate and the fate of her tribe. Vee does not always have the power to determine her fate, but she has the power of “no”, and is shown to manipulate her “no”s to find a life within which she can be happy. Lily has the most freedom of the three, living in the modern day, and does not face the same dangers of Esther or Vee, but in her own way, Lily struggles against society’s expectations of her and her own expectations of herself and those around her. Much of Lily’s struggle is in identifying the goals she wishes to set for herself, and then reframing her perspective of the world around her.

Because of the huge time gaps between each character’s story, I had been concerned that the novel would feel disjointed. Instead, the author mastered this challenge with a different sort of reliability: the narrative cycled reliably through the three characters, and the pacing for each individual story matched. All three of the characters reach their breaking points at roughly the same time, but then each take completely different routes to resolve the conflicts in their lives. This offered the readers remarkable consistency throughout the stories. The variety in tension, then, was moderated within each chapter. This worked incredibly well for holding my attention as a reader. The narrative never rushed or dragged, and I was able to track each of the storylines without issue.

In all, I’ll give The Book of V a 9 out of 10. This is undoubtedly a novel about and for women, and I believe that all women can find something that resonates. All readers though will appreciate the personal struggles portrayed in The Book of V, and perhaps learn something from the way the characters grow.