The Red Tent
by Anita Diamant
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Book Reviews of The Red Tent
Book Review: Simplistic and silly, it tramples the Biblical story.
Summary: 1 Stars
The Bible is a wonder of verbal economy, and there is much to be derived from contemplating the original story. Inexplicably, Diamant changes the original account with grievous results. She omits mention of Abraham's contribution as the first adherent of a monotheistic diety (focusing instead on the binding of Isaac in an impossible way). The great event of that era is that monotheism took hold during the time of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The women must have had an important role in furthering the idea among their children, including the concept that circumcision of 8-day-old boys represented not a "mutilation," but entry into the covenant with God. (Eight days old is a good choice for circumcision. By then, the child's health can be ascertained and the infant is young enough to heal quickly and to forget all about it.) Yet Diamant's version is drenched with idolatry among the women, and this is its greatest fault. One of the wives even calls Jacob "Baal." TILT! Diamant is so obsessed with sex that she uses it as a blunt instrument, and, in so doing, fails to call up details of what actually must have obsessed the women: their children. She invents twins where none were born. By making Bilhah black (perhaps referring to scholarship concerning whether Ethiopian Jews are descended from the tribe of Dan), Diamant didn't seem to know what to do with Bilhah's second son, Naphtali, so she made him a twin of Leah's Issachar. Not only is the book riddled with these and other needless deviations from the original story, its writing style is simple and awkward, no more than a partial cardboard diarama. One imagines that the tension between Leah and Rachel was electric, yet we get no sense of it; and the picture of Rebecca is at odds with what we know of her. This family compound must have bustled, but the scampering and squeals of little kids do not run through the story, neither their colicky cries nor skins and scrapes, nor do we see the kind of sweet chaos lots of kids can cause, nor do we know what their mothers taught them, nor do we even know where the kids slept. What of other details? What cooking utilsels were used, how did they brew beer and make bread, where did they get salt and yeast? Dinah searches for herbs, but what herbs? Diamant doesn't tell us, so we don't have any sense of the aromas. Nor does she say how chores were divided. If you have to read this book, read it carefully. Ultimately it is insulting to the principles of the three religions that are descendants of Abraham: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.Book Review: A Convincing Historical Novel
Summary: 4 Stars
Carefully bringing the little known Biblical character of Dinah into a fictional novel, Anita Diamant has written a wonderfully convincing historical novel - The Red Tent. As the only daughter of Jacob, Dinah is surrounded by four mothers, Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah, all wives of Jacob, as she grows up among a community of women in Mesopotamia. Diamant artfully describes the culture of separated genders: the women exist to keep their men prosperous; the men work to provide for the community. These men appear to the women, however, as distant, mysterious characters. While our culture would see this kind of lifestyle as difficult and oppressive, Diamant describes their way of living as a vibrant culture of women, who are made complete by the sisterhood of the "red tent." They cherish everything that composes their feminine nature, relishing their monthly cycle as a celebration of strength and friendship. Images of Dinah's simple childhood - cooking, baking, weaving, storytelling and midwifery - are conveyed with vivid color. The ensuing tragedy of Dinah's "rape" and Jacob's tribe's reaction is filled with pain and remorse with which the reader easily empathizes.Diamant portrays a believable culture of the Old Testament era, but one must remember that the book is a work of fiction, structured by a framework of Biblical characters and events. Portions of the novel are shocking, including many descriptive accounts of giving birth. Let the reader be warned, Diamant also portrays the women in the novel as pagans, worshipping household spirits and gods, not as believers in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Unfortunately, the fantastic character development of the first half of the book was not duplicated in the second half as Dinah goes off to Egypt to begin a new life. Furthermore, the novel's tempo drastically speeds in the second half, as it becomes more of a chronicle of her life, lacking the rich detail portrayed in the first half.
The novel left a deep impression on me with its vibrant stories, fascinating descriptions, and deep emotional passages describing life in the Biblical era. While reading I became fascinated with the high value that women gave to their place in society -- that they made life possible through the blessing of childbirth. It was inspirational to experience a culture where women were fulfilled by having children, a concept not frequently honored in our culture. The book also presents a refreshing look at female closeness to a culture where girl bonding often consists of shopping and devouring ice cream.
Book Review: A song of sisterhood...
Summary: 5 Stars
I enjoy books that have historic themes, teach me about different cultures, and make me feel that I'm actually a part of the story. With The Red Tent, Anita Diamant succeeds on all three levels. I really felt like I was in the middle of this story with roots in the Old Testamant.
The Red Tent is seen through the eyes of Dinah, daughter of Jacob and granddaughter of Isaac. Jacob was a herdsman, and life was not easy during this period in history-especially for women. But one thing the women of this story do have is the gift of sisterhood. In this respect, their lives are rich. And no where are their bonds as close as when they occupy the red tent-something done once a month (during menses) or during a childbirth. Many may look upon the red tent as a confinement. But the women look forward to their three days and three nights spent there each month. They would gossip, share secrets, and pass along their stories to a younger generation. They celebrated their gift of giving life and gave offerings for this gift to their gods. They also assisted their fellow sisters in childbirth. Jacob had four wives, so Dinah had many mothers to dote on her and teach her the secrets of being a woman.
What I found fascinating about The Red Tent was the window it provided to a past culture. We learn what they ate and what they drank, where they lived and how they dressed. We also see the diseases they suffered from, how they died, and the gods they worshipped. And since Dinah became a midwife, we get a glimpse of childbearing techniques. We also see different areas as the characters travel from Iraq to Israel and finally Egypt.
The Red Tent is a work of fiction, and should not be looked upon as an embellishment of the Bible. Dinah is barely mentioned in the Bible, and the fictional Dinah tells us that it is up to daughters to tell their mother's stories. The Red Tent is Diamant's vision of how Dinah's life could have played out.
What made this book even more fascinating is that I also recently read Dan Brown's bestseller, The DaVinci Code. While The Red Tent celebrates the feminine gifts of giving life (the sacred feminine), the premise of The DaVinci Code is how the early Christian leaders did everything in their power to suppress the sacred feminine. While neither book should be taken as gospel, reading them so close together made for an interesting contrast.
Diamant is a talented author, and I look forward to reading more of her works.
Book Review: The Red Tent: not just another "women`s novel"
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is one of the most fascinating reads that I`ve encountered in the last 5 years! I suppose that I am kind of its target audience. After all, I`m female, I love the Bible and history, and I like learning about women in different cultures. But there`s plenty in this story to interest you no matter what your gender and personal likes [though it does help if you`re into anthropology a bit]. It`s all about an ancient Hebrew woman called Dinah, who is mentioned briefly in the Biblical book of Genesis. Diamant fleshes out her tale quite extensively, giving us both an individual woman`s life story and a well-researched view of an ancient women`s culture which celebrates every stage of the life cycle. The most vivid and well-written section, I feel, deals with the history of Dinah`s mother and aunts, which segues into an account of her idyllic childhood spent under their tutelage. Each family member has a special quality or skill which she emulates, and she evantually becomes a talented midwife like her aunt Rachel. In Dinah`s world, menstruation is not a shameful secret or galling inconvenience, but instead is celebrated as a joyful entrance into womanhood. It also obtains one`s admission to the Red Tent[although Dinah, as the only girl in her family, is allowed to stay there from childhood]. There is a role for every female in Diamant`s ancient society. Dinah, Rachel, and Dinah`s friend Meryt are midwives; her mother Leah is a skillful weaver and baker;Werenro is a singer and mystic. There are disturbing forebodings of how these matriarchal ways will be eliminated and absorbed into the male culture, as in the story of Werenro, raped and mutilated because she serves female deities. But there are also signs of hope that the original kinship among women will be regained. The male characters in the novel also must undergo rites of passage and of emotional growth: for example, Joseph, Dinah`s half-brother, has to deal with his sense of displacement in Egypt and with bitterness toward their father and brothers. The story is amazing in its ability to get one both loving the characters and enjoying the historical details: kind of like a combination of Alice Walker and Mary Renault. My only major beef with the plot is that the transition from Dinah`s former life in Palestine to her new one in Egypt is a little too neatly done: would`nt it have been more of a financial and emotional struggle? But this certainly does not deter from the overall message of the book. Definitely worth reading and re-reading.Book Review: An Elegant Tantrum
Summary: 1 Stars
As a film writer/director who has adapted a number of biblical narratives for television, I can attest to the fact that the most difficult aspect of "humanizing" biblical figures is to remain true to the deepest spirit of their stories. This spirit is vital, because it facilitates self knowledge and awareness of the Divine. It is a spirit of informed compassion, and it is not easily accessible to those who have not come to terms with their own psychological and sociological issues.This novel is entrancing, but the spirit of the work is embarassingly bitter. For one thing, the heroine's relationship to God is almost completely ignored. For another, the author's selective omission of information supplied in the oral tradition belies that she has definitely got an agenda, no matter what the facts.
The author has chosen, in an exquisitely subtle way, to sensationalize history and, like an enraged child, spit in the face of her ancestors. After all, any anti-semite can brand Levi and Shimon as "barbaric". A question more to the point: what was their humanity? The novel is bloated with irreverence and what, ultimately, can be satisfying about witnessing a tantrum, albeit an elegant one?
The expression of one's creative genius must certainly be lots of fun, and receiving critical acclaim while making a pile of money isn't bad, either. But is any of that worth the risk of betraying the spirit of the Bible, even under the disclaimer that one is presenting "fiction"?
Despite all of her (no doubt) good intentions, the author's words captivate but do not enlighten, heal or transform, which is the intent of the Original Author. Of course fictional characters must be "flesh and blood", we can't relate to superhumans; but biblical figures are not fictional characters, they were real people who lived real lives. In order to invite them into the twenty-first century, must they be rendered luscious vamps and heartless thugs?
I sincerely regret that I bought this book and warn others not to waste their money. Perhaps it's mean of me to reduce the "stars" the book is earning, but if a person is searching for an uplifting experience, they won't find it here. If they want to understand biblical heroes, they can access a wealth of midrashic lore which is becoming increasingly available in English.
I wonder if the author has ever read anything by Amy Tan, who presents ancestral traditions with wisdom, grace and, yes, reverence.