Rating: 
Summary: Not at all what I expected
Review: Initially I was unsure of exactly what this book was about. Then, after reading the synopsis, I decided not to buy it. But something kept drawing me back to it. I bought a few other books, yet this one kept rolling around, in the back of my mind. So I decided to give it a chance. While I'm normally one for bestsellers (think "Da Vinci Code" or "Bark of the Dogwood") I decided nevertheless to give this one a chance, and all I can say is "Boy am I glad I did!" Whether or not you're one for biblical stories, be they oblique or not, you'll enjoy "The Red Tent." If nothing else, the style of writing is worthy of five stars. I highly recommend this great new find.
Rating: 
Summary: Insight into a little-known chapter of herstory
Review: As other reviews have noted, this book is historical fiction. It takes the portion of Genesis dealing with Jacob and his wives, and later with the rape of Dinah, and rewrites them from the perspective of Jacob's only daughter, Dinah. Through her eyes, we see the cameraderie and jealousies of Jacob's four wives, Leah, Rachel, Zilpah and Billah. We get a fully developed sense of their personalities. We are treated to a speculation of what life was like for women in pre-Christian times. Finally, we learn about the life of Dinah, who is barely mentioned in the bible, but who in Diamant's novel leads a full, rich life.This is a wonderfully imagined novel. Diamant speaks with such an air of authority, and her characters are so richly created, that I had to keep reminding myself that this book is, indeed, a novel. Women in the bible are rarely given a voice. Unfortunately, this is true throughout so much of history. Here, however, the women's experiences are in the forefront, and are just as compelling as the men's stories. This is a beautiful tale of mothers and their children set during a time when such stories were never really told. Very original and highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Over-rated
Review: This was a fine book... but NOT up to the hype!
Rating:
Summary: amazing story for those who understand
Review: This is a compelling story through which, as a young (and green) adult male, I have grown a little wiser. I have grown to understand women and their perspective a bit better. The story has quite a few amazing twists that leave you shaken for hours.
The novel is definitely the best book I've read in years - simply couldn't put it down.
Rating:
Summary: Haunting and Beautiful
Review: This book touched me more than any other book has. The characters are haunting and very human. It speaks to all women, even those who are not mothers--it is about sisters and aunts as well as mothers and daughters. It is about love and sacrifice and loss. It fills a void and gives a voice to those women who came before us--whose voices have never been heard or have been drowned out by men throughout history. Whether or not you believe in the Bible as literal fact, you have to admit that the Bible is written from a male perspective and women's lives are generally ignored with a couple of exceptions. This book is for those with an open mind. Anybody who knows anything about ancient history and the little we do know about women's lives during this time will find this book to have a vivid, believable interpretation on what their lives could have been like (yes, even with some of the facts being stretched or distorted). However, someone who is fundamentalist in their Christian beliefs will have issues with this book and would probably be better off not reading it if they are easily offended by differing ideas. Yes, this is a fictional story and, yes, the author has taken certain poetic license with some of the details in the Bible or changed them to better fit her story--we need to keep that in mind and not berrate her for doing that. It is all to be expected in a fictional work. I do take exception to certain problems that some reviewers had, however. For example, some have suggested that the author is "audacious" to portray the women as pagans when they clearly,in the mind of some reviewers, were not. Men and women were very seperate in many ancient societies and many paid tribute to different dieties. It states in the Bible (Genesis ch 35, vs 2), "So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, "Put away the foreign gods that are among you, and purify yourselves..." So, it is not unthinkable that these women may have worshipped pagan dieties. To insist that they absolutely could not have because their husbands worshipped the one God is ridiculous. Additionally, some reviewers have been bothered by Dinah's seduction by the prince in the book, suggesting that the author is wrong to gloss over what was actually a rape. Well, if one reads the text closely, it states (Genesis ch 34, vs 2), "...the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humbled her..." There really is nothing in this passage or in later passages that says that Dinah was raped. "Seized" does not necessarily mean by force and "humbled" could simply mean "defiled" (which is a word used in later verses describing the incident). "Defiled" does not, nor has it ever, meant "raped." Remember that during this time period a woman who has had sex before marriage or with a man who was not her husband was damaged goods--she was no longer pure and was now tainted and dishonored...the very meaning of the word "defiled." Therefore, the author's interpretation of Dinah as being seduced instead of raped is a valid interpretation of the text and does not warrant attacks. The bottom line is that our foremothers deserve to have their voices heard and their lives remembered...even if we have to make their stories up. This book does a wonderful job and it will touch your soul.
Rating:
Summary: Celebration of Womanhood
Review: I found this story to be delightful, intriguing and insightful! It is beautifully told and gave me the unique perpective of what it was to be a woman during that time. Though based on a small part of the bible, I did not have to be versed in the biblical aspect to enjoy this story. The narrative truly pulled me into the story, I could not put it down!
Rating:
Summary: highs and lows
Review: Anita Diamant is a very talented writer who draws you into her story with her emotional highs and lows. Throughout the book I felt that each woman should have a story to tell and leave it in such a poetic way. I appreciated the respectful place she gave to woman and mothers.
This is of course HER story. There are more contradictions than parrellels with the original Biblical story. In order to really enjoy it I had to remind myself that this was her story throughout the book. I think she should have followed the Biblical account more closely or written her story without using the biblical characters and names.
I wished that the author would have left us with more hope.
A sad ending from my viewpoint.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting and engaging
Review: This was one of the most interesting books I have ever read. Based on actual Biblical events, Diamant gives a peak into what being a woman during the Old Testament was like, telling the story through the eyes of Dinah, daughter of Jacob. I went through so many emotions reading this book--happy during the weddings and births, shocked at some values or ways or life, horrified by some of the actions of the men, sad at times for the women who struggled with being one of the many wives of Jacob, and laughter at some of stories. Though most events are extremely accurate, Diamant does take some liberties with her writing, but also promotes the book as fiction, not a biography of Dinah, from whom the story is told. Her writing is believable, beautiful and leaves you handing on each word. She is not trying to rewrite the Bible, she is just telling the story of Dinah from a more emotional perspective--from the eyes of a woman.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book! Couldn't put it down
Review: Historically accurate and engaging. It helps make sense of the roles of women in biblical history along with appreciation for women. Actually it made the bible stories surrounding this story look more logical.
Rating: 
Summary: Positives and negatives in this book
Review: There are some very positive things and some quite negative things about this book, which average out to a 2-star rating. As for the positives, Anita Diamant is a beautiful writer whose prose almost sounds like poetry at times. Her descriptions of the events and emotions of the women who surrounded Jacob in the Bible are deep and believable. She is a good story-teller and the life of Dinah, Jacob's only daughter is told in an interesting and compelling fashion. As has been noted in many of the other reviews, Diamant does some creative editing to the original story from Genesis. Some may argue that this is a work of fiction and, as such, the author has free reign. However, when you are using the Bible as a source it should be given the respect and accuracy that it deserves. For instance, the author changes the time of 7 years which Jacob worked for each of his first 2 wives to 7 months. This completely denigrates the point that Jacob was a dedicated and determined man who did what it took to meet his goals. Another fabrication is the fact that Rachel asked her sister Leah to step in for her at her wedding ceremony at the last minute. In fact, it was her father Laban who did this and thus showed a weakness in character and an unwillingness to do as he promised, which was to give Rachel to Jacob as his wife. The rape of Dinah is described as a love affair between her and the prince, a point which changed the whole rest of the story. Also the mention of a variety of gods disregards the fact that Jacob, as Isaac and Abraham before him, was loyal to one God. Author Diamant seems unable to accept the fact that women were second-class citizens in those days and she changes the story to accommodate greater power than they really possessed. Hoping that at least most of the background was true, I turned to the author's website and was disappointed to discover that probably the red tent itself did not exist during Dinah's lifetime. Mixing fact and fiction with such a heavy hand is confusing to a reader who hopes to find some truth even in a fictionalized telling of a Bible story. The book starts out on a high note, but begins to fail as the plot twists are fabricated, and the last section, which takes place in Egypt is downright dreary. It's difficult to write a better story than God did.
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