The Red Tent
by Anita Diamant
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Book Reviews of The Red Tent
Book Review: An epic tale from the Old Testament
Summary: 4 Stars
My husband and I chose to read The Red Tent aloud becausenovels with strong story lines are good for that kind
of reading. We've just finished it, and I would say
that it's more of an epic tale, the entire saga of a
woman's life (and beyond, for it begins before her
life on this earth does, and goes into the future, as
well). It is the story of Dinah, who is mentioned as
the daughter of Jacob in Genesis 34, and the terrible
tale of what happens to her contained there is
wonderfully retold in The Red Tent.
First, I have to say, this is a "chick book." The
writer is very detailed about the life of women and
their bodies, and the book is very focused on the
wives of Jacob, and Dinah's part in this as she grows
up. But what I found the most interesting about this
was that even though Christians and Jews know Jacob in
the Bible as a patriarch of their religion, this book,
written by a woman who has penned such titles as
"Choosing a Jewish Life," "The New Jewish Baby Book"
and "How to be a Jewish Parent," is not focused on
religion or religious feeling. Dinah's mothers (Leah,
her biological mother, and the other three wives of
Jacob, Rachel, Bilhah and Zilpah) worship, some more
casually than others, various goddesses. Leah and
Rachel's father has family and household gods
(mentioned in Genesis), and the supernatural incident
of Jacob wrestling with the angel is very gently
glossed.
I found Diamant's tone to be somewhat distant, and her
language a little cold, but by the end of the story, I
could see why the writer might have made a conscious
choice to do this. It befits an epic, one might say.
And her treatment of the event that is told in the
Bible about Dinah and her brothers' murders of the
Shechemites haunts the rest of the book as one might
be traumatized for life after witnessing an atrocity
in youth.
I should also mention that the book is interesting on
an anthropological level, though, I do not know how
sure we can be of the accuracy of Diamant's
descriptions of life in the Middle East during Old
Testament times, but her acknowledgments give credit
to scholarly institutions, resources and colleagues. I
found this aspect of the book very engaging, and I
think it will inform my reading of the Old Testament
for some time to come.
Book Review: In Celebration of Women
Summary: 4 Stars
How many people have read the Old Testament and wondered what all those characters were really like? What do we really know of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not to mention the women who were their wives and daughters, slaves and concubines? The Red Tent tells the story of those first Old Testament women, of Leah and Rachael, Zilpah and Bilhah, and of Dinah, the narrator, the only daughter of all four sisters, all four the wives of Jacob. We touch on the story of Jacob and Esau with Jacob stealing Esau's birthright from their father Isaac, and the story of Joseph who was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers and who subsequently became a famous ruler in Egypt. Those are the stuff of infinite Sunday School lessons that children have learned for centuries.But who has told the story of the Bible's women? Not many until Anita Diamant gave us The Red Tent. This is the story of Biblical women's lives and hardships, joys and sorrows, humiliations and triumphs that is not told in theBible. Set apart from male society almost exclusively except for serving and sex, these brave women spent themselves in lives of hard work, spinning, weaving, grinding grain and making bread, tending gardens and cooking meals that they ate only after the men were served and finished.
The red tent is the literal and symbolic icon of female society where the women went once a month for three days as the moon goddess visited them; where they were allowed to rest, tell stories, sing and make offerings to their gods of fertility and harvest, of the moon, stars and universe. The ancient beliefs, traditions and superstitions lived on in the stories that were told each month from mother to daughter in the red tent.
This is also a story of early midwives who aided births and kept women and babies alive with their skills and feminine empathy. The plot takes us into the land of Canaan with Jacob's family and ultimately to Egypt where Joseph and Dinah reunite after many years. The heinous deeds perpetrated by the sons of Jacob live in infamy throughout all time, but their victims eventually find redemption and peace.
The Red Tent has passages that bring tears of recognition to women of all ages; women share the procreative spark that is theirs alone and which hence, endows them with power and unity that no man can ever be privy to. What a wonderful book to celebrate the joy and sorrow of being a woman, not to mention the ultimate priviledge!
Book Review: Magic in this story
Summary: 4 Stars
Technically, The Red Tent is a biblical tale, but in truth, it is much more. While Anita Diamant took the character names and their basic situation from the Book of Genesis, she manages to transcend that simple story, adding flesh and vitality, breathing life into it. And who better than a female author to bring the story of daughters and mothers to life?In fact, the very title is evocative of this life-giving role, for it was here, within the red tents, that women separated to during menstruation and childbirth. Although Diamant is re-imagining a story originally told by men, she liberates the characters, allowing each woman her own flaws, gifts and story.
"I had four mothers, each of them...giving me different gifts, cursing me with different fears." So begins the complex tale of not only Dinah, Jacob's only surviving daughter, but also of all the women in her life, including the four sisters who are Jacob's wives - Leah, Rachel, Zilpah and Bilhah. Diamant begins with the stories of Dinah's mothers, sharing her fascination over sisters who love, admire, tolerate, counsel, resent and share the same husband. Because Diamant gives each woman such a distinct personality, Dinah's relationship with each is equally unique.
Through their stories, a veritable oral history in writing, we learn of the sisters' complex relationships with each other and with Jacob. At times, and perhaps rightly so, Jacob seems to serve merely as a catalyst for the development of the relationships between his wives, and eventually Dinah herself. The female inter-relations transcend even his role as patriarch of this extensive family. When Bilhah offers to bear a son for Jacob on Rachel's behalf, "she was lonely walking into her husband's tent alone, without sisters".
Through Dinah's own story, which comprises the remainder of the novel, the story becomes more personal, transmitting the poignancy of loss, the complexity of love and the strength of forgiveness. Whereas previously this story was about jealousy, wrath and punishment, through Dinah's voice, it becomes one of love, understanding and growth.
The Red Tent is Diamant's answer to the question: "What if a woman told this biblical story?" Her answer is a story lyrical in prose, compelling in the telling and visceral for its scenery and emotion. As Dinah explains at the close of her tale, "there is no magic to immortality." Readers will discover, however, that there is magic in the story.
Book Review: A Timeless Classic
Summary: 4 Stars
Technically, The Red Tent is a biblical tale, but in truth, it is much more. While Anita Diamant took the character names and their basic situation from the Book of Genesis, she manages to transcend that simple story, adding flesh and vitality, breathing life into it. And who better than a female author to bring the story of daughters and mothers to life?In fact, the very title is evocative of this life-giving role, for it was here, within the red tents, that women separated to during menstruation and childbirth. Although Diamant is re-imagining a story originally told by men, she liberates the characters, allowing each woman her own flaws, gifts and story.
"I had four mothers, each of them...giving me different gifts, cursing me with different fears." So begins the complex tale of not only Dinah, Jacob's only surviving daughter, but also of all the women in her life, including the four sisters who are Jacob's wives - Leah, Rachel, Zilpah and Bilhah. Diamant begins with the stories of Dinah's mothers, sharing her fascination over sisters who love, admire, tolerate, counsel, resent and share the same husband. Because Diamant gives each woman such a distinct personality, Dinah's relationship with each is equally unique.
Through their stories, a veritable oral history in writing, we learn of the sisters' complex relationships with each other and with Jacob. At times, and perhaps rightly so, Jacob seems to serve merely as a catalyst for the development of the relationships between his wives, and eventually Dinah herself. The female inter-relations transcend even his role as patriarch of this extensive family. When Bilhah offers to bear a son for Jacob on Rachel's behalf, "she was lonely walking into her husband's tent alone, without sisters".
Through Dinah's own story, which comprises the remainder of the novel, the story becomes more personal, transmitting the poignancy of loss, the complexity of love and the strength of forgiveness. Whereas previously this story was about jealousy, wrath and punishment, through Dinah's voice, it becomes one of love, understanding and growth.
The Red Tent is Diamant's answer to the question: "What if a woman told this biblical story?" Her answer is a story lyrical in prose, compelling in the telling and visceral for its scenery and emotion. As Dinah explains at the close of her tale, "there is no magic to immortality." Readers will discover, however, that there is magic in the story.
Book Review: Seeing Red
Summary: 3 Stars
Reading this book became as tortuous and unfruitful as the many births within its chapters, and the plot was as lightweight and lifeless as the newborns that appeared on practically each page. Diamant's LANGUAGE (a burst of similes and metaphors in the opening pages) is refreshing at first ("they traded secrets like bracelets" and "her words spilling out like water into sand" and "her cheeks...were high and tight on her face, like figs"), and I fairly salivated in anticipation of the remaining text. By the end of the book, her writing had deteriorated to: "One of his tears fell in my mouth, where it became a blue sapphire, source of strength and eternal hope.") By this time, Diamant had also gotten her POV (point of view) mixed up, and the reader was suddenly learning the thoughts of other characters, not just Dinah's.I have other problems with this book. CHARACTERS (particularly Tabea) appeared and disappeared suddenly without much point. Based on Joseph's CHARACTERIZATION, we never would have known he was his parents' favorite had not the narrator, Dinah, flat-out declared it was so. For that matter, most of the characters and their relationships were not rounded out. DIALOGUE read more like an endless history lecture of past events and ancestors. PLOTS (particularly the back-plot of how Jacob deceived Esau of his birthright) were referred to without revealing details. O.K., O.K., maybe the point was for the reader to look it up in the Bible (I was already familiar with most of the story, but I kept a pile of five books nearby to refe to while reading The Red Tent to check on accuracy and historical detail)
Most troubling was the fact that the author focused more on the small details of the women's lives rather than allow the reader to experience first-hand the cause-and-effect of the story (e.g., the killings in Shecham). How more effective the long-delayed PLOT might have been had not most of it happened "off stage."
That being said, I stuck with the book, found some interesting parts to enjoy, and--most of all--had fun using The Red Tent as a catalyst to dig into my other books to re-read about the origin of patriarchy, ancient female goddesses, scientific creationism, and familiar Bible stories. I know enough not to be smug that I live in post-feminist modern times--we'll always have our badly dysfunctional families.