Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: I read this book in 2 days - couldn't put it down. I was completely taken in by the characters and language. This author knows how to weave a tale!
Rating: 
Summary: Monotheism Indicted
Review: Perhaps I am bringing to The Red Tent a set of experiences and expectations that is not the norm revealed in these reviews. As a secular feminist, books that explore the way patriarchal monotheism has stunted the lives of millions of Jewish, Christian and Muslim women are interesting to me. I am drawn to narratives that explore the boundary between myth and dogma. In Dinah's story, I found a neo-mythological account of how the capacity of women to create and bear life was diverted onto the one-male-god model. And the novel left me feeling satisfied that Dinah recognized the resulting impoverishment this misdirection among the descendents of Abraham caused. The Red Tent left me with a wistful longing for a re-balanced world in which women control their own fertility, where trinities have mothers instead of ghosts, and plurality in worship is the norm.
Rating:
Summary: Educated storytelling
Review: I love books in which one doesn't notice the actual *writing*, because the story is so well told. This is such a book. The narrative is seamless, despite the fact that the story is told in three parts. When I'd finished the novel, I felt as if I'd just heard the story from a living person's mouth.
In addition, I absolutely loved the way Diamant acknowedges that the Hebrew people were not, originally, a completely monotheistic culture. We tend to obscure this fact, mostly because our religious texts only mention one deity, but most evidence shows that the early Hebrews were just as polytheistic as every other civilization.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous Book!
Review: This book was beautiful and entirely engrossing. It is a book for all womankind.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating-we've come a long way baby!
Review: The voice of Dinah, daughter of Jacob, relates this story, from a young girl to a woman to what was then considered an old ladies point of view. Does not dwell on a "higher power" - does not try to convert you, only lets you know what was experienced in that time. It was rough! Ahhhh but the new moon and the red tent...that was a wonderous time.....women today should be so lucky to enjoy the comaraderie and the support of the women in the red tent. Childbirth...that is another story. If we went through what they did, we would not have a population problem. Thank God for drugs and Lamaze. A real page turner in my estimation - I recommend - may not be accurate, but entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully told tale of women's ancient stories
Review: I read this for our church's book club, and I was not disappointed. This is a beautifully told tale of how women learn, love, laugh, and live together. At the center of it all is Dinah, the only surviving daughter Jacob and his four wives. She becomes not only the repository of the saga of her four mothers, but becomes the bearer of her own story, as her brothers twists the love of her life into an awful rape (the story as we get in our Bible) and leave behind a massacre so awful, it forces Dinah to flee her family and start a new life as a midwife in Egypt. The rich detail, the descriptions, the dialog, the portrayal of feelings, are all what the Bible truly might have been like, if it has been written by women.
Some have criticized the deviations from the Bible in this work. First of all, this is fiction, and should be treated as such. Secondly, those who are offended by the way God and the men who follow God are portrayed, let me offer this: Look at how the men of God behave in Genesis! Jacob and his sons are hardly role models in their Biblical portrayals. Why should Anita Diamant give them any better treatment? Whatever your religious inclinations are, "The Red Tent" brings alive an ancient time, and is beautifully written. Definitely highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Hist. Fiction?Biblical Tale?No Just Plain Menstrual worship
Review: Although I only rate the book a three, it did hold my interest. It is simply not my kind of story- it ratled my feminist inclinations. The title of the book refers to the tent where women gather to menstruate once a month. Somehow they all are on the same cycle, and it only lasts a few days. All the women fall in love with the same man. They only want to have children to be happy. A little bit of male affection would also help, but forget about that. The girls never know their brothers. The mothers don't know the sons.
The only skill the women can have is cooking, sex and midwifery. If they end up being victims of violence it is because their brothers can't control themselves.
Theoretically this is a fanciful version of the story behind a bible story. If you are satisfied with this romanticised version of what women want you may enjoy the book...But a good romance novel would do that and be more entertaining.
Rating: 
Summary: Contradicts biblical story. Also base in places.
Review: Historical fiction usually fills in around known facts. If you know Genesis, you will note many contradictions to the scripture. This was very disappointing to me and detracted from the story. Paganism is glorified and the fathers of the Christian and Jewish faith are shown as people who don't even like their own faith. If you like wholesome books, parts are not.
Rating:
Summary: good
Review: I enjoyed this book. At first it seemed to move slowly because there was more description than dialogue, but as the story progressed, more dialogue happened and the reading moved faster. I liked imagining that this is what life was like back then. The desciptions of the various places Dinah went was well done. After reading it I went to the book of Genesis, just to see how closely the story followed. I thought it followed pretty close. There is not alot of detail in the Bible, so the author had to use her imagination and fill in some gaps. It is a work of fiction, based on a a particular character. That's what people need to remember when they read the book. It is fiction. Some of the reviewers who have gotten upset over the book need to remember that these people are not Christians, this is long before Christ, heck, these people are not technically the Jews yet. So chill out. If these people were so perfectly holy (i.e. worshipping idols, incestuous, etc) they wouldn't have wandered around the desert for 40 years or (if you're Christian) needed a savior. This is written by a Jewish author so therefore it is written from her imagination and perspective.
Rating:
Summary: Not what I expected, but maybe that's good!
Review: I want to say that I loved this book. I bought it to read for a book club that I belong to. Although I am not a fan of historical fiction or religious books, I could not put this book down. I'm ashamed to admit that I went into this book thinking it would be filled with biblical references and perhaps sound "preachy" because of the characters. It was none of these things. Yes, there are biblical characters, but the author grabs your attention from the beginning and you've but no choice other than to hang on for the ride. Dinah is likable if for no other reason than the fact that she's a survivor.
I highly recommend this book. It's full of action, suspense, romance and history.
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