Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful fiction!
Review: Having a Christian background, I was well versed in the biblical narrative that is the background for this book. I have read much in the reviews about how anti-Christian this book is. I did not find it to be so. It is FICTION, and pretends to be nothing else. It was not written to replace the biblical account. I found that knowing the characters from the Bible made this more enjoyable. It gave me a reference point for what may have been incorrect, as well as some never-before-considered insight into what might have been. For instance, it is not safe to assume that when Jacob appeared on the scene, that Leah, Rachel and their families immediately gave up their pagan gods. Even the Bible includes the account of Rachel stealing her father's household Gods when they parted company. They may or may not have changed their devotion as life went on, but they certainly must have had a different point of reference than someone who was raised knowing the God of Abraham. The women in this story do come off as second-class citizens in society. This may offend modern sensibilities, but face it - that was the way it was in that time period. The book brought the Biblical story to life - not in every detail, but in general terms of living as one of several wives in a nomadic culture; of life spent as a family usually quite separate from the rest of society. The author has woven a wonderful tale, giving life to names that are only mentioned in the Bible in relation to their husband Jacob. I have loaned this book to 3 different friends, who all loved it.
Rating: 
Summary: What a shame
Review: The reading was good, the characters playing typical parts - lover, evil father, jealous brothers, etc and everything about the book made it hard to put down. So why the low grade? Well, it's about history. This was written about characters of the Bible and there is aboslutely no realistic element to this story. At best it is an excellent Mills & Boon romance novel. To write a story making out the patriachs and matriachs as little more then petty minded people living with problems similar with problems we encounter today takes away the beauty and the spiritual entity that is the Bible. How dare a book lay claim that Dina was having a torid love affair when in the Bible she was raped (and that is one example of the appalling mistakes). There is absolutely no connection with reality here. If the author wished to make a typical romance novel, she should have chosen characters of a different era or made the characters up. This book is fictional and to use names that are a reality is twisted. I hope my comments are read and a person considering buying this book will think better of it and either read the Bible and relevant sources or go and buy a nice pretty fiction romance.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful story for all women
Review: I loved this book! I read it for my bookclub, and at first was skeptical, but this book left me wanting more! You really get a great depiction of the lives of women of this time period. The vast differences between the lives they lived and the lives we are so fortunate to have today is amazing. Yet the bond between mothers and daughters, sisters and friendships transcends the time lines. These women also were married with children, but the roads they travelled and their struggles were so vastly different than our own. I would highly recommend this book, although do keep the family tree in the front of the book bookmarked as the family is so large you can get off track with the realtions at times. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Rating:
Summary: Loved It!
Review: I didn't read this book as a biblical history lesson, though I feel confident that Diamant explored these women more than anyone else ever has. But I read it as a novel, and as such, it was phenomenal. It made me feel blessed to be born a woman, and renewed my appreciation of our special powers to bring life, nurture life, and sustain life. And, most importantly, it made me realize the importance of women sharing wisdom with one another.
Rating:
Summary: Very successful first novel--a good choice for book groups!
Review: The highly distilled accounts from the Bible often leave the reader wanting much more, and Diamant's novel told from a female perspective satisfies that desire. What is lacking from the biblical version are details, characterization, and the feminine voice. We get all three in "The Red Tent," providing plenty of fodder for discussion. Some of the enigmas in the original text include the relationship between Jacob and Leah. How did Jacob react to his first wife after being duped by Laban? What possessed Rachel to steal her father's images? Those and others are answered by Diamant. While some of the characters rang true to their biblical personas in my mind, such as Laban (right on!), others seemed so divergent as to be almost unrecognizable. I particularly had trouble with Rebecca. A complex character, to be sure, who used subterfuge to see that Jacob received Isaac's blessing over Esau, she is portrayed as a charismatic prima donna with the power to heal. She is all but unapproachable by the other female members of her clan. It was hard to imagine the warm and gracious young maiden portrayed in the Bible could become such an aloof matriarch. I look forward to reading Orson Scott Card's "Rebecca," (Women of Genesis series) for a comparison. The weaknesses of the male characters are emphasized in "The Red Tent," which should not come as a surprise, since the focus is female. The virtues of the prophets, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, are challenged by Diamant. It was disheartening (and in direct contradiction to the Bible) to think of their characters being so flawed. It is interesting to compare this book with Orson Scott Card's "Sarah." Idolatry and pagan rites played such a significant role in each of these novels, particularly for the women. Surely both of these authors researched the period, and their agreement on the pervasiveness and practice of idolatry is confirming. Card points out that Asherath, the mother goddess, was a corruption of Mother Eve. It appears that there was a struggle for monotheism even within the tents of the Hebrew prophets.
Rating:
Summary: You Have Got To Be Kidding!
Review: I found the book The Red Tent to be boring beyond belief. I had been told it was interesting from a biblical history veiwpoint and was disappointed with the treatment Anita gave the history of that time. Her telling of the story of Jacob was lose enough I found myself wondering if this was the Jacob I thought I knew from the Bible. I simply wasn't sure I was thinking of the same man she was writing about.
I did not intend to read a book that had as its' main focus the monthly cycle of women. I found it simply boring. This is not a subject conducive to excellant fiction!
Rating:
Summary: The Red Tent
Review: This novel was a great read. I always hated the thought of men having more than one wife, but now I have an understanding of why and how women could make it work years ago. The Red Tent was hard to put down and I couldn't wait to discuss it with a friend. Superior writing with an excellent story to tell.
Rating:
Summary: Scripture, Tradition and Reason
Review: In this telling of Dinah's story, he hear the story of all women in this time. Even though it is not a parallell story to the scriptures, any student of the bible will see the relationship and pick up on the nuances that make this a compelling story. Such as the rivalary between Rachael and Leah. The Red Tent is the story of women bonding through the ages.
Rating:
Summary: Why all the fuss?
Review: I read "The Red Tent" several months ago and wondered "why all the fuss". I was reluctant to recommend it to my book club, but, someone else mentioned they had heard good things about the book, so, read we did. After the second time, I feel exactly the same way - why bother? - the rest of my group were even less enthusiastic.
Rating:
Summary: beautiful story
Review: I try to guard my 5 star ratings, so this one isn't quite up to that, but it's really higher than a 4. It's a beautiful story that is also gorgeously written, and I loved every page. It's also a neat perspective on several biblical characters whom the Bible merely mentions and then brushes past and forgets. As a child, I always wanted to know more about these women. Anita Diamant answered that prayer. There is very little truly historical information on the women themselves, but their times have been studied extensively, and Diamant has done her research well to present a novel that practically breathes on its own.
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