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Summary: Read and enjoy!
Review: This book is worth the read! Lose yourself in a great story and learn about the old testament at the same time. As I read the book I yearned for the type of communion with other women that is spoken of in the book. In our fast-paced society it was healing to escape to a time when women were in tune with their bodies and their hearts and found comfort in eachother. I wanted to finish the book yet didn't want it to end. Just two warnings: the lineage and names are confusing at first and this book is not for the squeamish. Violence and childbirth graphically described.
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Summary: Wonderful, entertaining, heartbreaking!
Review: I recommend this book to ALL women! Wish some of the customs in this book were still around today!
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Summary: Magic in this story
Review: 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.
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Summary: incredible book
Review: This book is incredible. I grew up learning the Bible at school. This book is very accurate and its just amazing, wraps you in the rich stories, takes you back to the time, the smells, the food, the sites .... I read this book more than ten times
it's really beautiful, i recommend it to all
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Summary: I've Read it Twice!
Review: Yes, I have read it twice and could easily read it again. I liked to hear the stories from the Bible retold from a woman's perspective. After reading it I went back to the Bible to read the same story, albeit from a different perspective. This book is highly recommended.
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Summary: BE WARNED!!!
Review: I had seen "The Red Tent" gracing the bestseller pages for a number of weeks before I eagerly opened the book -then struggled through my boredom to finish it. "The Red Tent" is a historical fiction which tells the story of Dinah, Jacob's daughter who is briefly mentioned in the Bible. The novel details everyday life for women of Biblical times, filled with love, religion and harsh lessons, and spans many generations. So what's wrong with it? Plenty.
It appears Diamant has tried to create an epic novel as well as a novel that provides a female perspective from traditionally patriarchal subject matter, and has failed to do either. The first two thirds of the book are repetitive in recounting the everyday lives of Jacob's wives, from the women's rituals during menstruation to bedding Jacob and cooking meals. None of the characters are fully explored, so the reader always feels separate from the story. What's right with it?
The last third of the novel becomes interesting, as the setting and characters change. With these changes it appears that Diamant isn't so overwhelmed with trying to create a mystical "woman's" story that she finally can relax and write something enjoyable.
Do not read this novel expecting a great historical fiction that fills the silences in the Bible with an interesting female perspective that turns your perception of Biblical times on its head. Diamant tries too hard to be a historical fiction and ends up sounding forced and dull. If you want to read great historical fiction, try any of the books by Marion Zimmer-Bradley such as "The Firebrand" or "Mists of Avalon".
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Summary: Over-use of explicit sexual language (including bestiality)
Review: Definitely on the raunchy side. Only got through the first 30 pages, which included mention of masturbation, bestiality, and descriptions of genitalia. These are just not things I want to spend my time reading about.
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Summary: The story is okay, but should have left the Bible out of it
Review: Taken on it's own as complete fiction it is a readable, enjoyable story about several generations of women told by one of them - Dinah. Personally I think she should have left the Biblical characters out of it since she took hardly a single fact from the Bible but their names. The story seems like a not very subtle attempt at denigrating men and the Judeo-Christian God in favor of the new age "goddess" mentality. If you read this book, do yourself the favor of not confusing it with anything written in the Bible.
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Summary: A Book to Pass Around
Review: The Red Tent is an absolutely enjoyable read (especially for women). The first few pages were slow moving & may deter some browsers, but once you get into the book it'll be hard to put down. I can never keep the biblical characters straight (who beget whom), but this story helped me understand the family tree of Jacob. (There is even a helpful diagram of the family's lineage in the front of the book, that I often checked to keep everyone straight.) The characters become very real & captivating. I never gave much thought to the lifestyles or cultures of the biblical times, but this book really gives you great insight while entertaining you also. I would never sell my used copy, because I want to pass it around to every woman I know. This would be a GREAT choice for a book club to read & discuss.
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Summary: A nice change of perspective
Review: It doesn't matter if people say it isn't historically accurate: it is a beautiful story that helped me better define what it means to be woman and a mother. I think it would make a great movie if they kept close to the text. I recommend to anyone- male/female, any religion.
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