Rating: 
Summary: Not just a biblical story!
Review: How many of us have heard the story of Jacob's daughter, Dinah and not really paid much attention? This book is a fascinating description of Dinah's story and live in these ancient times. A terrific women's book and also great for book club discussions. I have given this book all of my women friends and the reaction has been most enthusiastic.
Rating: 
Summary: Simply wonderful. I LOVED it!
Review: This is a story that is vivid, complex and compelling. It is narrated through the voice of Dinah, whose life is only hinted at within the more familiar chapters in the Book of Genesis about her father, Jacob, and his dozen sons. The bible lists the names of Jacob's wives: Leah, Rachel, Zilpah and Bilhah, but it is the skill of Ms. Diamant who breathes life into them. She places them within the context of their time and makes them totally human.Much of the story takes place with the red tent, the place where women retreat during their monthly periods and the place where births occur. I love reading details of midwifery and childbirth and the author made me feel I was right there, sharing the labors of the women as they brought new life into the world. The book also shed light on the communal lives of co-wives and the unique relationships that each one had with each other as well as with Jacob, their husband. But the story is much more than all this. There's tension, drama and conflict throughout, and a violent incident that changed Dinah's life forever. It was so horrendous that it sent me straight to a bible to check out the story and make sure that this was not something that Ms. Diamant had made up, because, after all, this is a novel. Sadly, I discovered that even though she did make up the personalities of the women, the incidents she described are right there. From the moment I picked up the book, I could not put it down. I was drawn right in and found myself trying to read it slowly to make it last longer. This is absolutely one of the best reads I've had in a long time. It's an historical novel at its very best. Not only did I love the story, but I also learned something about the time and place. And Ms. Diamant transforms the long list in the bible about who begat who into a living breathing story of real people. I give this book my very highest recommendation. It's simply wonderful!
Rating:
Summary: Interesting premise, great story
Review: Extrapolating an entire, colorful life's story from one brief mention in the Old Testament poses a big challenge. Meeting the challenge with an engaging, well-researched novel is an even bigger accomplishment. My book group read this recently and gave it a big "thumbs up". Each reader responded to different aspects of the book, but they all enjoyed it because it really is a great read: well-rounded characters, interesting plot, finely told details. Consensus of the group: "It took us to a time and place where we'd never been." If you've got a biblical bent, the story of Rachel and Leah (as it might have been) will be fleshed out for you, and you'll get a new look at the relationship Joseph (coat of many colors) might have really had with his brothers. Even if you're not up on the Old Testament, you can enjoy this sprawling story of a family just as it is.
Rating:
Summary: The Red Tent
Review: This book takes us back to a time when women were not equal to men. However, the honoring that took place during this time seems so remarkable. Women honored each other, men honored women and children honored their parents, how lovely. The struggles and deep bonds shared between the women in the red tent lifts the spirit and warms the soul. Anita Diamant is phenomenal, her words paint a portrait brimming with clarity, heart and soul. This is a must read for every woman. I can only hope that one day mothers will share this with their daughters and teach them to honor their bodies and cherish becoming and being a woman.
Rating: 
Summary: Irresponsible
Review: I was excited to read THE RED TENT because I had heard such wonderful things about it. However, as I read, I grew increasingly disappointed by the callousness of the author in regards to the Word of God. I acknowledge that this is a piece of fiction. My question for the author is, if you intended to write a piece of fiction based on an actual person, why did you not accurately use the facts on hand and build your story upon the truth? Why would you base your story on a real person and then change almost everything that you knew to be true about that person and the other related characters? It just doesn't make sense. Diamant weaves just enough truth into her work that readers with little knowledge of the Bible believe that her events may actually be possible. From the lineage graph in the beginning to Dinah's encounter with the prince, Diamant has taken liberty wtih the truth and changed it for a purpose that perplexes me. Just from a literary point of view, having that may errors proved a distration for me. I was so caught up in blatant errors that I couldn't fully enjoy the excellent descriptive passages. From a biblical stand point, her lack of regard for the truth was disturbing. The Holy Bible is the most dynamic piece of literature in human interest. It doesn't need to be "jazzed" up. Her novel would have rated 5 stars if she had made the entire piece fictional and had not "based" it on a actual person....
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Summary: Woman's take should make you think
Review: I read the book a few months ago, and realize now that it has done something more for me than just take up a week's worth of my night reading time. It has made me think. Thoughts such as "yes, the bible does tell a very, very short rape story about Dinah. Why?"...on to "how much of history has been told by men?" uh-huh...and then on to "how the lucky conqueror get's to keep his stories from being burned or being omitted from libraries"...yup. "is there something to the rise and recognition of women's voices today in every area of media?" and so on... More than just an enjoyable piece of fiction, The Red Tent is also excellent herstory literary work that gives voice to women's healing, compassionate and nurturing purposes in society and the world. All other readings of apocrypha, philosophy, spirituality, world religions, scifi, historical fiction, and non-fiction are put into new contexts---what would would be the women's point of view? This angle in analyzing reading materials or even in a real-life problem solving situation is a new way of finding the balance or making the balance in the case at hand.
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Summary: Read this! It's a well - written excellent read!
Review: Really loved this book. The story is fictional with just enough familiarity to make it comfortable. The world of women is believable and certainly will give some (patriarchal?) pause for the celebration of womanhood and motherhood, as well as how connected to the land and life women are in the story. The main character is one of the best female characters I have come across in a while. She becomes a friend to the reader and before the end of the book you will wish there were more like her around. While her life is a result of her circumstances, in many ways - she is self actualized and individual. I loved so much about this story - characters, language, setting and the continuation of a story sadly neglected in other forms of literature. Please read this - you won't be sorry.
Rating:
Summary: Diamante does not disappoint
Review: I just finished reading The Red Tent and was captivated from the beginning to the end. The Red Tent is an engrossing read, giving us a peak at what life might have been like for women in biblical days. Expecting to be at a loss with the biblical references, I was pleased to discover that this was not neccessarily a historical novel but a love story about women and their bonds. This book is about motherhood, midwifery, sisterhood and family. As a mother, this book tugged at my heart strings, reminding me about the precious nature of children and further solidified my respect for those women engaged in the profession of midwifery. As a woman it reminded me of the amazing support that can found in the company of women. The story of the Red Tent will remain with the reader long after the last page.
Rating:
Summary: Not telling the truth
Review: I read The Red Tent at the recommendation of friends. I will not recommend it to anyone else. Although the beginning started out well, I had to struggle to make myself finish it. The story has been familiar to me since I first read the Bible for myself, but Ms. Diamant's style of writing could not hold my interest. And since what little we know of Dinah is found in the (historically accurate) book of Genesis, I found it difficult to understand why a Jewish woman would want to write about Jewish men in such a down-grading way, or about Jewish women in such a pagan way - and about both of them in such an inaccurate way. Not only inaccurate, but a deliberate twisting of the truth. Ms. Diamant should have made her book truly a fiction and named her characters after non-Biblical people.
Rating:
Summary: not recommended for younger readers...
Review: I read this book in only a few sittings;it was one those books where you end up feeling like you personally know and care for the characters. I thought I should mention that my teenage babysiter didn't like the book at all when she bought it. I think the book is best enjoyed by a more mature individual-someone who has lived a bit of life. The author truly captures the deep pain and great joy of being a woman and mother.
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