Vol 5. Iss. 2: Just Like a Prayer, Let Esther Take You There

The Book of Esther, by God(?), 10 chapters, published ca. 300s BCE

   Reviewed by Marisol Caballero

   This summer, in an effort to catch up on some leisurely reading, I searched for a novel that would be a genuine page-turner. I wanted something with tons of shocking sex and violent scenes to keep me interested, as well as a read that would not occupy the entirety of my summer vacation. I had a few ideas: something by Toni Morrison, a good Nancy Drew ... but a June episode of 20/20 set me in the right direction. My life-long fascination with the Material Girl, the artist formerly known as Madonna, made me wonder about the Persian-but-Jewish Queen Esther for whom she has recently ‘re-invented’ herself.

   Already into the first few chapters, I could definitely see how America’s biological and England’s adopted daughter, Esther Ciccone-Ritchie, could identify with this ancient Biblical figure. (I mean, aside from the possible simple desire to eventually be named after every prominent biblical woman!) Here’s a woman, Esther, who takes fair advantage of the angry, hot feminist Queen Vashti’s loss of position due to refusing to obey her husband’s every humiliating whim. She happily becomes King Xerxes’ concubine and ultimately his queen, although she uses this position to bat her eyes a few times and realize her own agenda while crushing her enemies.

   I was struck by the similarities, in fact, between Mrs. Kabbalah’s portrayal of Argentina’s beloved Eva Peron and Esther: neither one of them was at all afraid to use her good looks to make the men who loved her give her anything she wished, neither one of them was afraid of a little selling out and donning the heavy ‘bling,’ and both of them, in doing so, actually did make things better for the communities from which they came. Can we say this about Esther Ritchie – the one who sang, “ ’cause the boy with the cold hard cash / Is always Mr. Right”? Is she singing a different tune in her life or is this historical figure really speaking to her? I guess these questions remain to be answered: after all, “life is a mystery / everyone must stand alone...”

   I did enjoy reading Esther and would recommend it to anyone, especially while listening to Madonna albums and then watching Evita!