The Red Tent
by Anita Diamant
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Book Reviews of The Red Tent
Book Review: Anita Diamant.....I salute you!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is without a doubt one of THE BEST and most satisfying reads I have read in a long long time. I love this book for four main reasons:Whereas many authors(read women) of her generation go on and on with verbose and pretentious dialogue. Anita Diamant simply cuts to the chase and tells it like it is. She only takes 300+ pages to her story whereas most other authors would have taken a story like this and turned it into a door stopper of 1000+ pages.
Ms. Diamant is the kind of woman writer I have been praying for. She writes with a forcefullness and a bluntness that I can admire without comming across as angry or self-pity. Which is unfortunetly the case with too many women authors out there. Which is one of the reasons I tend to stay far away from modern female literary authors who write fiction. Her prose is exquisite she is the kind of author I aspire to be.
So many authors who write Biblical fiction do it as if they are preaching a sermon on morality. Too many of the Biblical characters are treated as holier than thou and saints. Not as flesh and blood human beings. Who have faults and foibles. I actually picked up The Red Tent as a result of Orson Scott Cards Sarah. I promptly dropped 'Sarah' after being turned off of his characterization of the Egyptians being stupid and hedonistic. While the Cananites (the Hebrews) were pure and upstanding people who could and did no wrong. This is a patronising and condescending (if not also racist) attitude. Not so with Anita Diamant. She shows all the characters warts and halos. There are good members of Jacobs family and there are good Egyptians. Diamant that there are many aspects of the human condition. Yes and even those who are in the Bible. One of the things which I found surprising and original is that the women in the story do not worship El (the God of Jacob) they still adhere to their own gods. I thought that was really original.
Normally when I read a "sex scene" in a book I quickly skim past it. But Diamants love scenes are so tender. And so are the men in the novel always attentive to the needs of women (we should all be so lucky!) Diamant is one of the few women out there who can really dish out this kind of scene without it being clumsy or gratuitous.
I have only one minor quibble, it is beyond me how/why she saw Joseph(my favorite biblical character) as a homosexual. In all my reading of the Bible and research into other sources I saw no evidence of this. Unless of course one wants to consider the fact that he rebuffed the advances of his bosses wife on account that it was wrong. A terrible stereotype if there ever was one.
In short this was an excellent book and will definetly be added to my top ten favorites. Pick it up you won't regret it!
Book Review: A TRUE Feminist Tale
Summary: 4 Stars
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I read it in two days as I was fascinated by this culture of "the red tent". This story is earthy and sensual, as I'm sure it was intended to be. And it truly celebrates women as lifebearers and healers and mothers rather than workaholics who have no more ambition that getting paid the same to do a man's job. In a time where women disdain being mothers or they choose to work instead of raise their children and run their home in a healthy way, this book is an inspiring detour into the old world. The story, however much it deviates from the true Biblical account, (and I'll get to that in a minute), captivated me. The Bible uplifts women and gives them a higher place in its story that any other literature of its time, but not much is said about Dinah because her story is not the primary reason that Moses recounts the tale of Jacob and his sons.
And here is where I have a little beef with Diamant. Her bio says she's written plenty of books on Judaism, but you'd never know she was Jewish by her emphasis on the absolutely pagan practices of Jacob's family in this book. On this level, Diamant's story is wholly untrue for Jacob and his sons never worshipped any God but the one true God, "El" as he is referred to in this novel. Jacob's wives, at least once they left Laban's care, also worshipped this God and all that stuff about sacrificing to the Queen of Heaven and what not is pure fiction. I did not mind that, at many points in the story, Diamant deviates from the Biblical account (i.e. Dinah's in Shechem or the switch LABAN pulled on Jacob when he was supposed to be marrying Rachel). Its dramatic license and she does not claim to be writing new Scripture or anything... but when it comes to their pagan practices, I was really disturbed. I don't know what my point it... I just wish, on this point, she had stuck with the true story. Its ironic because I enjoyed the first section of this book most of all and that was the most pagan! I just threw off the fact that Diamant was retelling a Bible story and pretended it was entirely fiction.
In short, I highly recommend this book to every woman, especially if anyone feels the need to feel uplifted in her femininity. Feminists need to read this book- hopefully they will come to realize that there is equal value in being a housewife and a mother than there is in being a CEO or a lawyer (and having the homelife be the center of your life)- you might not get paid, but the spiritual significance, the absolutely vital importance of these roles in the life of the world cannot be matched by any job. I believe this may be what Diamant is saying, in the end. This is what I got out of it, at least.
Book Review: A TRUE Feminist Tale
Summary: 4 Stars
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I read it in two days as I was fascinated by this culture of "the red tent". This story is earthy and sensual, as I'm sure it was intended to be. And it truly celebrates women as lifebearers and healers and mothers rather than workaholics who have no more ambition that getting paid the same to do a man's job. In a time where women disdain being mothers or they choose to work instead of raise their children and run their home in a healthy way, this book is an inspiring detour into the old world. The story, however much it deviates from the true Biblical account, (and I'll get to that in a minute), captivated me. The Bible uplifts women and gives them a higher place in its story that any other literature of its time, but not much is said about Dinah because her story is not the primary reason that Moses recounts the tale of Jacob and his sons.
And here is where I have a little beef with Diamant. Her bio says she's written plenty of books on Judaism, but you'd never know she was Jewish by her emphasis on the absolutely pagan practices of Jacob's family in this book. On this level, Diamant's story is wholly untrue for Jacob and his sons never worshipped any God but the one true God, "El" as he is referred to in this novel. Jacob's wives, at least once they left Laban's care, also worshipped this God and all that stuff about sacrificing to the Queen of Heaven and what not is pure fiction. I did not mind that, at many points in the story, Diamant deviates from the Biblical account (i.e. Dinah's in Shechem or the switch LABAN pulled on Jacob when he was supposed to be marrying Rachel). Its dramatic license and she does not claim to be writing new Scripture or anything... but when it comes to their pagan practices, I was really disturbed. I don't know what my point it... I just wish, on this point, she had stuck with the true story. Its ironic because I enjoyed the first section of this book most of all and that was the most pagan! I just threw off the fact that Diamant was retelling a Bible story and pretended it was entirely fiction.
In short, I highly recommend this book to every woman, especially if anyone feels the need to feel uplifted in her femininity. Feminists need to read this book- hopefully they will come to realize that there is equal value in being a housewife and a mother than there is in being a CEO or a lawyer (and having the homelife be the center of your life)- you might not get paid, but the spiritual significance, the absolutely vital importance of these roles in the life of the world cannot be matched by any job. I believe this may be what Diamant is saying, in the end. This is what I got out of it, at least.
Book Review: A TRUE Feminist Tale
Summary: 4 Stars
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I read it in two days as I was fascinated by this culture of "the red tent". This story is earthy and sensual, as I'm sure it was intended to be. And it truly celebrates women as lifebearers and healers and mothers rather than workaholics who have no more ambition that getting paid the same to do a man's job. In a time where women disdain being mothers or they choose to work instead of raise their children and run their home in a healthy way, this book is an inspiring detour into the old world. The story, however much it deviates from the true Biblical account, (and I'll get to that in a minute), captivated me. The Bible uplifts women and gives them a higher place in its story that any other literature of its time, but not much is said about Dinah because her story is not the primary reason that Moses recounts the tale of Jacob and his sons.
And here is where I have a little beef with Diamant. Her bio says she's written plenty of books on Judaism, but you'd never know she was Jewish by her emphasis on the absolutely pagan practices of Jacob's family in this book. On this level, Diamant's story is wholly untrue for Jacob and his sons never worshipped any God but the one true God, "El" as he is referred to in this novel. Jacob's wives, at least once they left Laban's care, also worshipped this God and all that stuff about sacrificing to the Queen of Heaven and what not is pure fiction. I did not mind that, at many points in the story, Diamant deviates from the Biblical account (i.e. Dinah's in Shechem or the switch LABAN pulled on Jacob when he was supposed to be marrying Rachel). Its dramatic license and she does not claim to be writing new Scripture or anything... but when it comes to their pagan practices, I was really disturbed. I don't know what my point it... I just wish, on this point, she had stuck with the true story. Its ironic because I enjoyed the first section of this book most of all and that was the most pagan! I just threw off the fact that Diamant was retelling a Bible story and pretended it was entirely fiction.
In short, I highly recommend this book to every woman, especially if anyone feels the need to feel uplifted in her femininity. Feminists need to read this book- hopefully they will come to realize that there is equal value in being a housewife and a mother than there is in being a CEO or a lawyer (and having the homelife be the center of your life)- you might not get paid, but the spiritual significance, the absolutely vital importance of these roles in the life of the world cannot be matched by any job. I believe this may be what Diamant is saying, in the end. This is what I got out of it, at least.
Book Review: Destined to become a classic
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Red Tent" is historical fiction at its best. It takes place four thousand years ago in the fertile crescent of the Middle East during the Bronze Age. This novel is set among characters that are historically significant in three major religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
This is the story of Dinah, daughter of Jacob and Leah, granddaughter of Isaac and Rebecca, half-sister of Joseph. Stories readers may already know about these characters from religious texts serve as barely recognizable backdrops. Be forewarned: this is not a religions book. The focus is on Dinah--her story, from her point of view. The historically significant religious characters who populate Dinah's world are imagined by the author as complete, three-dimensional human beings who possess failings and habits that some believers may find highly objectionable.
The historical setting of "The Red Tent" is overwhelmingly patriarchal. Women are essential for taking care of the everyday needs of men and for the bearing of sons. In this period, they exist almost fully apart from their men folk. They have their own society, their own traditions, and their own protective, favored gods and goddesses.
This book is about the power of women to create meaning in a male-dominated society that all around conspires to make their lives irrelevant. They do this through building and maintaining a community of supporting female kinship.
The novel begins with Dinah telling the reader the stories that have been handed down to her from her mother, Leah (Jacob's first wife), her aunt Rachel (Jacob's second wife), and Bilhah and Zilpah (handmaids and lesser wives of Jacob). These stories include tales of her grandmother, Rebecca (wife of Isaac, the son of Abraham). There are also tales of many other women of their tribe, women who have passed away from the history of men, but not from the memory of the women of "The Red Tent".
If you take the time to read the more than 1,300 reviews that now exist for this book on Amazon, you will find that many readers found it difficult to get through this first section. I, too, almost stopped reading the book at this early stage. It was not until the second section, when Dinah begins her own story, that my interest piqued and held steady. After that, I could hardly put this book down, and was thoroughly sore-at-heart when the book ended.
This book gets my unquestioned highest rating: first, because of its well-crafted storytelling; second, because of its great humanity; and third, because it conveys a deep, visceral understanding of the common roots of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.