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Summary: I can't believe I didn't read this sooner!
Review: Friends recommended this story for quite a while before I picked it up. This is a book worth owning in hardcover. I can't believe I didn't "discover" it sooner. This is another book that both thrilled and haunted me. Dinah stays in my heart, long after finishing the book. Bible-reader or not, I highly recommend this story. Its literary value is far beyond simply "Dinah from the Bible."
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Summary: an excellent story, but overly PC
Review: i read this book for the drama and adventure and history. it's a very enjoyable story with fascinating characters... but all the good characters are women. the male characters are very one-dimensional. the women sometimes seemed to be out of place in time. it doesn't necessarily make the book less interesting or enjoyable to read, but the political correctness made me roll my eyes a few times. the book had three faces: a historical romance, a journey of feminist liberation, and a study of religious sociology. each of those is a worthwhile subject, but i'm not sure that the combination worked very well. the writing is beautiful and the images are vivid and the plot is engaging. it's a wonderful book if you can ignore the distracting political message.
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Summary: A book that women have needed for a long time
Review: I got this book as a present from my mother-in-law, which surprised me because early on, I saw how open the book was about sexuality, menstruation, womanhood, etc. But I really appreciated the book for the relationships between the female characters and for weaving together what little knowledge is available about the era when goddesses were still venerated. I had already read some books describing what is known and to see that dramatized in such vibrant characters made it a satisfying read. Diamant's writing style is also very fluid and I read the book in 2 nights.
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Summary: I couldn't put it down!!!
Review: I didn't expect that this book would be so enthralling when I first picked it up and started reading it at midnight. Anita Diamant does a tremendously superb job in the storytelling. It is wonderfully woven together and the imagery is so vivid. I highly recommend it.
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Summary: A Beautiful Story!
Review: I was totally captured by this beautifully compelling story. It was powerfully scripted, with characters(of which there were many) and situations so very fully, warmly and vividly presented. I miss Dinah. This is a book I will read again and there are very few books I would say that about. I was grateful for the geneology chart in the beginning of the book; I referred to it often
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Summary: Bible-based bodice-ripper bound to be buffeted...
Review: by those who quarrel with its possible lack of total historical accuracy (never mind that with Dinah we are discussing legendary times). This book takes the slimmest of stories from the Bible and creates living, breathing, earthy, fascinating women who experience life to the fullest in epic scope. It brought the world of the Old Testament alive to me in a way that few other books have.
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Summary: It's the best read I have had this year.
Review: I laughed,I cried, and I marveled at the life and loves of Dinah. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to transport herself to the world of long ago, and learn about the women who lived and loved there.
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Summary: I'm Puzzled....
Review: This book was very well written and I found much to like in the characters. The one thing I don't understand is why the author felt compelled to rewrite history as far as the men of the Bible are concerned. I can see embellishing a historical person from the Bible....but to totally change the stories and character of strong positive role models (ie: Joseph) didn't make sense to me. She could have used fictional men and made them out to be whatever she wanted them to be. Instead, she chose to alter the characters of what I accept to be real people and made several of them into petty, lustful, lying sloths. And yes, many people in those times were pagans and idol worshippers...and throughout the Old Testament God condemned such practices. I'm sure that some of the women in that time were pagan, but Ms. Diamant seems to portray a polarized religious atmosphere where men worship their male deity and women worship goddesses and the earth. Sigh. Still, I really enjoyed the book.
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Summary: Every woman's Voice
Review: I love Diamants style. She gave each woman in The Red Tent a voice. Each spoke to the reader directly...I loved that! You knew what the women felt. They were given identity. I was hooked after reading the first page. However, I must say I became gravely disappointed with the turn of pages post Dinah's retreat to Egypt. She became shallow. Why didn't we hear about how she coped with the changing world she lived in? What kind of foods did she eat? Why didn't she speak to her Father? Hmmm. Nonetheless, this was a great book and worth every penny.
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Summary: The Perfect Gift For A Mother, Daughter, Sister, or Aunt
Review: Anita Diamant does a great job of retelling the story of Dinah from the book of Genesis. The story is told in Dinah's voice and from the point of view of the women around her. This is a story about mothers, daughters, husbands, and sons. I specifically liked the details about the food and farming, social organization, and medical practices of the time. I was able to easily imagine the caravans, midwives, artisans, and slaves.This would be a difficult read for those who take the bible literally -- but for me, it makes me wonder what the bible would read like if it were written by women. This is a clever idea -- I like it when a author retells a story from a different perspective. I recommend Sena Jeter Naslund's, "Ahab's Wife" and Jeanne Rhy's, "Wide Sargasso Sea" if you are interested in a different perspective from either of the classic tales: "Moby Dick" or "Jane Eyre."
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