this isn't typically my type of book, but i read it for a discussion group.

i wish more of the book had been like the last third, which was where the meat of the story lied for me. i really could've done without the first quarter which was her mother and her sister wives sharing a husband and so much childbirth lol.

This book is very interesting. I have had it for quite a long time, and now that I am reading it, I wonder why I havent picked it up before.
I am pleased that I have not read many reviews of the book. I started reading with no expectation.... and I am loving it!

A magnificent book! Anita Diamant is a wonderful story teller.
This is a book about family.. and all its ups and downs. It is also a celebration of the strength of women.

Warning!! This is going to be a long, ranting review full of spoilers. Although it's nothing you wouldn't know from reading the book of Genesis. Which I will undoubtably be quoting to prove how wrong this author was.

I really debated about how to rate this book. I did enjoy the writing and Dinah's perspective. I think if I was completely unfamiliar with the Bible, and a feminist, I probably would have really enjoyed this book. So that's the demographic this is aimed at. But I'm very familiar with the Bible, and am really annoyed with how much feminist propaganda went into this book and how inaccurate it was.

I love historical fiction. And I loved the idea of Biblical historical fiction. I also have sometimes thought it's likely that Dinah was not raped, but went along with the romance. Especially considering the fact that she remained in Shechem's house until her brothers came and that Shechem was so willing to do whatever he had to do to make her his wife. They probably did have a romance and not a rape. The author did good on that and pursuing that idea was what drew me to this book. And then when I realized that this author was Jewish, I expected a book that followed the basics of Dinah's story in the Bible, but filled in the blanks. That really shouldn't have been too difficult, since so few details of Dinah's story are given.

Boy was I wrong. The author took so many liberties that I started taking a list. And most of them added absolutely nothing to the story. A few I would have been able to tolerate, but she changed so much that it really started to feel like she set out trying to change literally as much as she could, down to names and who's son was who. She talked about how much time she devoted to "researching" but in all honestly it felt like she read the chapters in Genesis once a few years ago and then wrote this book based on that memory.

So here goes my rant, in basically the order that it happened in the book:
First of all, the main thing that bothered me throughout the entirety of the book was the crazy about of FALSE GODS that are worshiped. I expected the Jewish author to have more respect for the true God. Now, I'm not saying that no one in those days worshipped other gods, that's a recorded fact. I wouldn't even be surprised to find out that Zilpah and Bilhah really did. And then of course there's the incident with Rachel stealing the teraphim statues, which really did happen in the Bible. While it's more likely that her motivation was financial, who knows? But to group "El" (the Hebrew word for God) in with all the other gods and to never, I repeat NEVER give Him credit for anything that He should get credit for, is absolutely mind-blowing. For instance, the goddess "Innana" is given credit for Sarah (who is annoyingly referred to as Sarai and Abraham as Abram even after their name changes) giving birth to Isaac in her old age. It's like an atheist wrote a book about the Bible.

Next, I understand where the author was coming from making Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah "sisters," all daughters of Laban. But there is nothing in the Bible to indicate that Zilpah and Bilhah were anything other than the handmaidens of each girl, nor that Leah and Rachel had different mothers.
Laban's reaction to Jacob's arrival was much different than in the Biblical record. Genesis 29:13 says "As soon as Laban heard the report about Jacob the son of his sister, he ran to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him into his house." Whereas in the book, Laban basically hated Jacob from the moment he heard about him. All of the male characters in the book were like that though, cynical and unlikeable themselves, and hated anyone they came in contact with.
Another MAJOR inaccuracy was that Jacob served Laban 7 MONTHS for each of his wives in the book, compared to the 7 YEARS he served in the Bible. I mean, that's not even a big deal? And HOW DID SHE GET THAT SO WRONG? Like I said earlier, it's like she didn't even read the account!
While I've honestly never understood it, in the Bible Jacob spoke up about the deceit with marrying Leah instead of Rachel the very next morning. Although the author's explanation of this does explain this odd story (he totally knew and went along with it), he waited a whole week to speak up about it in the book.
So then the book starts with Jacob having children. This is a big part that makes me think THE AUTHOR NEVER READ THE ACCOUNT. Here goes several complaints about that:
-Throughout the whole book they call Jacob's son Simeon, Simon. Like why? What purpose was there in taking out that "e"?
-Zebulun was actually the 6th son of Leah, born after the sons of both handmaidens. So actually the 9th son of Jacob. Whereas in the book, he's 5th son born, before the handmaidens or his brother Issachar. Not a big deal, but still, its so clear in the Bible and has no bearing on the story, why would you change it?
-Here's my biggest WHY in the entirety of the chapter about Jacob's sons. While Gad and Asher, Zilpah's sons, are presented as twins but probably weren't, I can see why the author may have taken that from the account. It also benefited her plot in that Zilpah never had another pregnancy because she didn't really want to be Jacob's wife anyway. Whatever. BUT HOW IN THE HECK CAN NAPHTALI AND ISSACHAR HAVE BEEN TWINS WHEN THEY DIDN'T EVEN HAVE THE SAME MOTHER???? The Bible is SO clear about this, there could not have been ANY kind of misreading. After Bilhah gave birth to Dan, Genesis 30:7,8 says: "Bilhah, Rachel's servant, became pregnant once more and in time bore Jacob a second son. Then Rachel...named him Naphtali." Then AFTER Zilpah had her two sons, Genesis 30:17,18 (A FULL 10 VERSES LATER) says: "God heard and answered Leah, and she became pregnant and in time bore to Jacob a fifth son. Then Leah...named him Issachar." SO HOW THE HECK ARE THEY TWINS OF LEAH???? And WHY would she change it? They weren't main characters, nothing about this added to the plot. It just makes her look stupid and like a sloppy researcher.
Ok moving on from the sons.
Rachel admitted to her father in the book that she stole the teraphim, but that never happened in the Bible. In fact, Jacob was so adamant that no one in his household had taken them that he said Laban could kill the thief. That would have been a great story. But no, the author had to go changing it. Rachel was just like "here they are!" And Laban was like "Eh, guess I don't really care that much, bye!"
Jacob wrestling with the angel all night, a great show of faith and courage, was glossed over as an attack by robbers or a boar. (It's never fully explained.) He was thoroughly freaked out by the incident in the book, instead of being proud of the blessing he got, the promise that he would become a great nation and changing his named to Israel. Oh by the way, that name-change was also not mentioned until much much later in the book, and was portrayed as something Jacob took upon himself so that he would no longer be remembered as being associated with the slaughter in Shechem, which he wasn't even a part of anyway. Jumping ahead a bit so I don't have to come back to this point, Jacob was totally innocent of the slaughter. Genesis 34:30 says: "Jacob said to Simeon and Levi: 'You have brought great trouble on me in making me a stench to the inhabitants of the land...I am few in number and they will certainly gather together and attack me and I will be annihilated." He was absolutely horrified by what his sons had done. But in the book he's portrayed as at least knowing about it, if not being a part of the planning.
Another thing I really didn't understand. Jacob was SO freaked out by meeting up with Esau in the book, and yet he never sent gifts ahead of him to his brother like he did in the Bible. The book spoke of Esau coming early and messing up his "plans" to send a gift ahead. And then when Jacob does give a gift to his brother, its a mere 12 goats and 18 sheep. WHAT? In the Bible he sent Esau 220 goats, 220 sheep, 20 camels nursing their young, 50 cows, and 30 donkeys! Now that sounds like a man trying to please his brother! No, the Jacob in this book was like "I'm afraid and I'm gonna complain but I'm not going to do anything else about it."
Several other small things were changed, like Esau's wife was "Adath" instead of "Adah." The book made Laban's wife Adah, who is never named in the Bible. So why not give the nameless wife a different name and keep what actually recorded accurate? SLOPPY RESEARCHING.
Everything about the way Rebekah is portrayed made me angry. (Including the misspelling of her name as Rebecca). Rebekah was a humble and loyal worshipper of the true God. But here she's portrayed as an arrogant and unlikeable "oracle" who sees the future and worships goddesses and hates her husband. Isaac and Rebekah had one of the best love stories in the Bible. THEY LOVED EACH OTHER. Why would the author change that???? Because she clearly hates men. Seriously that's the impression I got throughout the whole book.
There was also some confusion about "Shechem" and "Hamor." While the region they went to live in was called Shechem, it was also the name of the man Dinah was involved with. So I get why the book change his name to "Shalem" to avoid confusion. But Hamor was literally "the father of Shechem," not a king. The Bible specifically refers to Hamor as a chieftain. So "Shechem/Shalem" was not a prince. But whatever, I guess that added drama. By this point I was going strong with making my list so anything made the cut.
The main reason we read the story of Dinah in the Bible is to beware of bad associations. Genesis 34:1 says: "Dinah, Jacob's daughter by Leah, used to go out to spend time with the young women of the land." But that didn't happen. She just got hired by someone in the palace and then Shalem's mother set them up. So like the entire POINT of Dinah's story was completely missed. It would have actually made a better romance story if the author had stuck to the facts, Dinah goes hang out with her friends, sees this handsome man, falls in love, etc. etc. Instead his mom is like "Your pretty and marriageable. Go sleep with my son" and locks them up in a room for days. Not romantic at all.
Like I mentioned earlier, God is completely taken out of it. The reason for Jacob's disapproval of Dinah's relationship (if that's what it was) was that the man was not a true worshipper and that they had not done things according to God's commands. But in the book he's just like "no" for no reason at all. Levi and Sim(e)on only threaten that the "God of our fathers is displeased" to get their way, not that they actually believe it.
The whole circumcision leading to murder issue is very confused. In the Bible, the men do it immediately after the agreement. Genesis 34:19 says "The young man did not delay in doing what they asked." Then verse 25 goes on to say "On the third day, when they were still in pain, two sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, each took his sword and went into the unsuspecting city and killed every male." But in the book, the men waited 3 days after they made the agreement to get circumcised and then were killed right after it had been done. But THEN at the end of the book, when the story is being retold, it says that the second day after the circumcision they were all murdered. So it was inaccurate BOTH times and contradicted itself.

After this section the book goes nicely into what I would actually refer to as "historical fiction." That's the end of Dinah's account in the Bible, so obviously everything else in her life had to be made up by the author. I thought she did a decent job of sending Dinah to Egypt, giving her a son and a new husband, making her a midwife, and eventually meeting back up with Joseph and tying in his story. I was actually excited to see that's the direction she was going, bringing the siblings back together. But that's when the inaccuracies started up again in full force. Seriously, anytime she touched on actual Bible accounts, it was like she was trying to be as far away from the recorded history as possible.
First, Joseph actually slept with Potiphar's wife in the book. And Potiphar himself for that matter, because what's an inaccurate Biblical book without a little homosexuality? Whereas in the Bible, Joseph was extremely loyal to God. Joseph says at Genesis 39:9: "How could I commit this great badness and actually sin against God?" And then Potiphar's wife frames him and he gets sent to prison. But no, the author had to play into the terrible person she made Joseph to be.
In the book Joseph is literally described as a "self-absorbed man" and is hated by everyone who knows him. That is SO far off from the Joseph that the Bible describes, who was liked by everyone and blessed by God. But what did I expect from the man-hating author?
Then there are terrible spelling inaccuracies with Joseph's family: his wife Asenath is "As-naat," his son Mannaseh is "Menashe," and his son Ephraim is "Efraem." There is no point to this at all.
Later, Reuben, Levi, and Simeon are portrayed as already dead when Jacob is dying, but Jacob speaks to them on his deathbed, so that would be impossible.
So many inaccuracies with the offspring of all of Jacob's sons:
-Benjamin's child Gera is portrayed as a girl instead of a boy. The book only mentioned 4 sons when there were actually 10.
-Reuben had 4 sons, not 3
-Some of Judah's son's names are misspelled, and Tamar was not his wife but his daughter-in-law that he confused for a prostitute. But that's a whole other story, maybe wife was just simpler!
-Issachar's child Tola is portrayed as a girl instead of a boy.
-No mention of Dan's son.
-Serah, Asher's daughter, was said to be Gad's daughter, and Areli, Gad's son, was said to be Asher's daughter. Again SLOPPY RESEARCH like she didn't even read the account.
Finally, the Bible makes a huge deal of Jacob having Joseph swear that he will take his body out of Egypt after he dies to bury him in the grave of his forefathers. Joseph swears this to his father, and then later asks permission of Pharaoh to carry out his father's request. After Jacob died, Genesis 50:1 says: "Joseph then threw himself on his father and wept over him and kissed him." But in the book, the brothers do the moving of the body, and Joseph barely even mourns. Like he's inconvenienced by his father's death and really had no interest in being there at all. Because the Joseph in the book was a terrible person and completely unlike the real Joseph.

So that was my rant. Thanks if you actually made it to the end of this. I wanted to make it so long to show that it actually is possible to do ACCURATE research, and that this author really had no idea what she was talking about. It became my project.

So overall, good writing, interesting concept, but TERRIBLE execution and research. Would not recommend, although it definitely was entertaining.

Popsugar Challenge 2021 - A book with a family tree

'In the red tent the truth is known. In the red tent, where days pass like a gentle stream, as the gift of Innana courses through us, cleansing the body of last month's death, preparing the body to relieve the new months life, women give thanks- for repose and restoration, for the knowledge that life come from between our legs, and that life costs blood'.

I complain a lot that we are as a society don't talk about menstruation, female self pleasure and coming of age enough and here in this book we have it all.  I should never have let this book sit on my kindle as long as it did!

The Red Tent, the sanctuary where women celebrate and honour their monthly cycles for three nights every new moon. 

This is the fictional autobiography of Dinah, daughter of Jacob and Leah whose stories are found in the Book of Genesis.

In the first chapter of this book I really thought I was going to toss it out the window, so many names, so much going on and my confusion was overwhelming but I'm so glad I pushed though. Chapter two really pulled everything together for me and I found myself extremely invested in the story of these mighty mothers of Dinah.

I loved their battles but underlying sisterhood, their joyful rituals and traditions of their monthly cycles, their strength and determination.

I realise this is a fictional account however I learnt so much about his time period and I absolutely adored the chapters in Egypt, I could smell the fragrances from the pages.

Reading this has lead to many Google searches on Dinah and her family, I'm very interested to learn more.

What a great book. A book that celebrates women of that era, reminding us that our bodies are powerful, connecting us to the cycle of the moon and tides, at one with nature.  A refreshing read.

Five stars. Absolutely brilliant.

This is the second time I am reading The Red Tent and I am happy I gave it a second read. The first time I was reading with religious goggles, this time I was able to take the book for what it is, a story told from another perspective.

I enjoyed every minute of this book, Anita Diamant is a master storyteller and it is clear when you read this book. The beginning is bit slow but it picks up and does not stop. The book is told from Dinah's perspective who is mentioned briefly in the book of Genesis. In reading the Bible I have always wondered " I wonder what became of that person..." Diamant definitely attempts to answer that question about Dinah with the writing of this book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

(3.5/5 stars)
Really enjoyed most of this book, sometimes it would just get boring of the same vibe but it was still great.

Historical fiction of the Bible story of Jacob and his wives Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah and their children and their children.

It has a loooooooot to do with getting pregnant, marriage, birthing, taking care of children.

The Red Tent is where the women sit on hay and let their periods out together. It's a time that they cherish in solitude together and embrace each others company.

Sometimes verrrry gruesome, like a horror movie.

Why I stopped reading: The prologue intrigued me. The author's voice is compelling. But the characters are problematic. Everyone is one-track and that track is sex. For the women, it's about the mystical power of childbirth. For the men, it's about lust. The author didn't bother with any layers of humanity beyond this one. There's also a forced permeation of paganism and little inclusion (that I read; granted I did not finish) of the God of Israel, which doesn't make sense if one considers the book of Genesis to be even slightly historically accurate in its depiction of Jewish faith. I was hoping to get an alternate, fictionalized perspective on the Old Testament. This is an alternate reality.

The best way to write strong, true women is to show them holding their own alongside strong, true men. To show a give-and-take between them of supporting and leaning, strengths and flaws. This book instead paints all the men as weak, fearful, faithless, lust-driven ... on the whole, pathetic. A disservice to both the female and male characters, and not worth it for me.

After seeing a few positive reviews of this book, I chose to read it to give myself a break as I struggled to get through a much larger book. I was mesmerized from the prologue through to the epilogue-- and without being overly sentimental, overly dramatic or overly detailed, the book drew tears more than once.

Using a few lines from the Bible as framework, the author breathes life into the oft-told, well-known story of Jacob, his wives, Joseph, his brothers and most importantly, Dinah.

Without delving into the specific religious angle, the author does a lovely job of taking the reader into the Holy Land in the early Old Testament times... through the eyes of the women-- not the men. It was interesting to learn about the customs of such an early time. And I fell in love with some of the supporting cast of characters as well-- especially the mother-aunties.

If you want a story that will stay with you, choose The Red Tent.

(Reviewed 1/20/09)

Very enjoyable biblical tale.

The familiar biblical story of Jacob and his family told by his only daughter, Dinah. How refreshing to read about the lives of the women for a change, especially the remarkable sisterhood they shared. In Part One, Dinah tells her mothers' stories--I say 'mothers' in the plural, because Jacob had four wives and they all shared the work of everyday life, including raising the children. The red tent was used for seclusion and rest during the first three days of their menstrual cycle and a shelter for giving birth. In Part Two, Dinah tells her own story--birth, childhood, coming of age, and falling in love with the prince of Shechem--with disastrous results. And Part Three relates her new life in Egypt and the birth of her son. Fascinating reading!

This is one of my favorite books. I love the community of women in this book. In this society, women came together in the red tent during their periods. The older woman helped to care for the younger woman and support them. The husbands had to care for the house and children while a woman was in the red tent and the woman focused on their dreams and each other.

This is set during the time of the bible and if my memory serves, this woman is the sister to Joseph, who ends up in Egypt.

I like the support that women had in this story and I dream of somehow setting up something like this in modern times for women to recharge their batteries somehow in our fast paced world. The realities of childbirth are also shown in this story. It's a wonderful book.

I don't know what men think of the book, but I know many women how have loved this story and characters. I wanted to write up a review for it and now I have. It has to be in my top 20 books.

Devastatingly heartbreaking tale.
Dinah is the young daughter of Jacob. She has many aunties and together with her mother they share stories and legends and teach her the ways of womanhood under the red tent where women go once a month. But when she falls in love with a prince of a different house her father and vengeful selfish brothers will have none of it. Murder and devastation befall Dinah more times then we can count. And yet somehow she makes it through it all. Perhaps a little worse for wear and broken hearted but still in one piece. And most importantly, still remembered.
I LOVED THIS BOOK!!! Such amazing storytelling. This book brought me to tears numerous times, and at other times I wanted to throw the book across the room. The author writes in a way that is easy to follow but still gives you a taste of the old world and the way it was before time began as we know it. Back when women kept ancient secrets about their bodies and their gods.
This book is riveting and I enjoyed it immensely. It speaks of strength and courage beyond reckoning. I would recommend this book to all women everywhere! If you are a woman you need to read this book.