The Red Tent

Rating:
Summary: Read this book!!!!
Review: I have three young kids so I hardly ever get to read. Well, my kids were on their own as soon as I read the first page! This is the most incredible book that I have ever read and I COULD NOT put it down. To me it truly captures the magical bond between mothers and daughters. I have re-read this book so many times I am going to have to buy a new copy soon. I can open it to any page and I am immediatly engrossed.

Rating:
Summary: Very unique and captivating
Review: I loved this book for all the same reasons everyone else did, but I must add that it was very refreshing to read a book with such a unique format. The format of most stories and novels goes: 1. introduction 2. rising action 3. climax 4. falling action 5. resolution

However, "The Red Tent" has no rising action, so the climax hits you like a ton of bricks making for a very unpredictable story. Then, the story continues to rise and fall in very atypical undulations. I love this completely unpredictable format.

One last remark I must make is that I appreciate how Diamant makes no bones about this book being "based on" or having a direct correlation to the stories in the bible. On the very first page of the book she cautions the reader that the stories and names in "The Red Tent" may be similar to those of the Bible, but she is in no way implying that they are true or should be believed.

Rating:
Summary: Fabulous
Review: This is an amazing novel, that anyone with an open mind would enjoy. I couldn't put it down.

Rating:
Summary: This book is revolutionary
Review: I absolutely adored The Red Tent! Absolutely. And I'm even a christian -gasp-!! I know that this is a work of fiction, but a lot of christians don't want to realize that idolatry was rampant in the Middle East during biblical times. This just shed some insight into what could have happened, and I love it. I feel that women hold a certain power that only grows when we get together. READ THIS BOOK!

Rating:
Summary: A slap in the face ...
Review: It took me forever to get through this book. Why? I hated it. If it weren't on my reading group list I wouldn't even have finnished it. It wasn't the writting style or the topic (I love biblical historical fiction/nonfiction). I hated how Anita Diamant took the lives of these characters and portrayed them as complete hethens. She took a basic story found in the bible and exploited it, changing biblical fact to get her own agenda across and in the process making this book a slap in the face to every christian and jew that reads it. How sad. Don't waste your money on this book!

Rating:
Summary: poor quality novel...
Review: The author gives the pretense that she is weaving together a tale based upon the little we know of these Biblical women...yet in reality Anita Diamant attempts to rip to shreds any of the facts we do know about these characters. For this reason I find it hard to appreciate much of anything about this book! It would seem the author had an almost malicious pleasure in twisting accounts, for example: the account of Dinah being made a victim through violation by Shechem has been changed by the author into Dinah, instead, falling in love and having consensual sex and being made a victim by her brothers instead! (As they killed Shechem and the men of the land.) Furthermore in the Biblical account Jacob rebukes Simeon and Levi for their actions whereas in this story the author makes him party to their deeds. Not only this but she then writes that afterward Jacob changed his name to Israel to protect himself from being made known as a murderer...which basically spits on the account as Jews and Christians know it.

Regardless of what you think about Judaism/Christianity (having seen the tantrums thrown by some reviewers that anyone who has issues with this book is a Bible thumping, narrow minded Christian, and so forth...) I think it should be clear why there are people who do have a problem with this book just based on literary quality. After all, I think most anyone would find it hard to respect an author maligning, twisting and inventing things about *any* person(s) that you know and believe otherwise about.

One more note: the overabundance of descriptions on bodily functions and sexual acts gets old very quickly! The author appears to have a rather adolescent obsession with all things sexual, in my opinion.

Rating:
Summary: Wow - An Amazing Read
Review: Anita Diamant's The Red Tent was a fantastic, gripping biblical journey in the life of the little known Dinah. There are few books that can conjure up the past in such a poignant, believable way. I am hesitant to loan my copy out to anyone as it takes forever to get it back because it quickly becomes a favorite of my friends. This is a talented author whose only fault is that she hasn't written more books. I am waiting patiently for her to produce another work and will gladly purchase it if and when it comes.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Read!!!
Review: I didn't want to put this book down.
It grabbed me from the start with my inquiries about polygamy as something I could not comprehend...
when the four sisters (Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah) take one husband, Jacob, and all give birth to his children, I was completely intrigued.

One daughter is born.
Dinah.
And this is her story.

I value all the references to menstruation, birthing, and motherhood... these are the ties that make us women.

I value all the references to rituals, songs and tradition... these are the things that make the story so intricate.

I passed the book along with a bit of sadness that it is over...


Rating:
Summary: Luke-warm fiction
Review: I didn't think I would ever get through this book, a selection of my book discussion group. I started off really interested in the story, partly because it was initially intriguing and also because there was so much hype surrounding the book. The author attempts to weave a tapestry of Dinah's life but dwells too long on details extrinsic to her own existence. For example, there was great detail given to descriptions of birthing. I failed to see where this affected Dinah's life...especially those births that occured before her own. At any rate, the book was enjoyable to a certain extent. The first half wore on like something I was forced to read against my will in grade school. The last statement in the book, as it turns out, is the most powerful literarily speaking. Too bad you have to wade through so much muck to get the reward...

Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I've ever read!
Review: What a wonderful story based in biblical times. I usually would not read a "period piece", but this was well worth it! An excellent read that I could not put down!