I’m not rating this one. DNF at maybe 10%. Normally I would give that one star, but the weird thing is, I read it a very long time ago and whenever I see it in a bookstore, I think to myself, “Oh I LOVED that book!” I remember nothing about it, except that I was fascinated how the author took a short passage in the bible and created a whole world and story around it.

I found The Red Tent at my library book sale recently, so I decided to read it again. But this time around, I can't get into it at all, I find it boring and disgusting. Bummer, I should have left it as a memory.

I couldn't read past page 100. By then the author had made Laban into a pedifile, a lazy drunk, one who engages in beastiality, and an overall used car salesman type. In addition, her versions of Jacob's welcome, the agreement for Rachel, the wedding day, and the story of the Mandrakes are completely different from the Bible's versions. If Ms. Diamant uses their names and claims to be expounding on the Bible story she could have at least matched the little bit we read in the Bible with her story and expanded in the areas we don't. However, when she failed to do so she lost all credibility. I would never recommend this to anyone who doesn't want their opinions of Jacob, Leah, Rachel, Laban, etc. forever scarred. Good example of a wolf in sheeps clothing.

My frustration with this book stemmed primarily from the depiction of the various characters. I liked the writing, I liked the way Diamant addresses the contemporary socio-cultural issues, and I thought the characterization was quite vivid--I just didn't agree with the way the characters were presented. Yes, the people in the Bible were real people with varied flaws and gifts, but I didn't like the portrayal of so many of them as petty and conniving. And I especially didn't like the sexual depictions in this text. While I fully recognize that there's going to be some of that in any story about a man with four wives and 13 children, I really didn't like the way it was handled or presented--it was much more about lust than about love or following the Lord's commandments.

I think it's a stunningly powerful evocation of the largely missing womens' perspective in the biblical saga. It lays bare the barbarity of patriarchal morality.

Okay, so I knew before I read this book that it wasn't written for my demographic. I'm an adult male. This is a woman's book through and through. With that disclaimer in place, take what I'm about to say worth a grain of salt: I really didn't care for this book.

The Red Tent is the "Fried Green Tomatoes," "Steel Magnolias," or "The Notebook" of the Old Testament set. It tracks the life of a quaternary character in Genesis, Dinah, from before her birth to after her death. Diamant takes massive, but necessary, liberties with the story. There simply isn't enough in the initial account to tell a bedtime story, let alone a novel. She expands Dinah's life into an ensign for the lives, loves, and losses of women everywhere. (And if that sounds a little melodramatic, that's because the novel itself strikes that melodramatic tone).

Diamant writes in a beautiful voice, and develops stirring and evocative passages describing both the internal and external environs of Dinah's life. She immerses the reader in a very foreign culture and world, and does so without pandering or over-explaining the culture--all the while refraining from the obtuseness or clumsy colloquialism that is often found in this type of novel.

The major themes of the joy of menstruation and child birth, the origin of life in the shedding of blood, drench the pages of this novel (if you'll excuse the pun). As a man, I simply can't identify with this theme. But besides my ability to "sync my cycle," as it were, my biggest problem with this book lies in the story itself. Dinah's one or two verse mention in Genesis is so brief and so vague. Diamant's artistic license creates a story that is just not believable. Dinah is like Forrest Gump; she's there for every major event, she meets all the important people, and it just seems all a little too convenient. Additionally, Diamant disregards the biblical narrative of the events actually described to such an extent that the very nature of those events is nearly unrecognizable.

Diamant also makes mistakes in this novel: first she alternates between an extremely awkward 2nd person voice and a 3rd person voice. Secondly, the book, despite being crammed with drama after drama and event after event, was poorly paced. Too much description of the unimportant things, not enough of the ones that affect the story.

Overall, The Red Tent is not a book for me. I can't identify with the themes of the book, and the shortcomings in the writing are substantial enough that I'm unable to bridge that gap.

This book is an imagined life of an Old Testament female protagonist. I appreciated its embodied feminism and loved considering the rituals of the red tent. Rarely is a book so pro-female. The interesting story takes the main character from childhood to the end of her life, and it takes the reader on a long journey through the Middle East of its time.

However, I never actually felt “right there.” I enjoyed it, but not with a lot of enthusiasm—hence, the three star rating. I was more like a bystander watching the story unfold.

Maybe the format hindered my enjoyment and I should have read a hard copy of this one. There are times when one’s imagination is better than hearing a voice tell the story. I listened to the Audible version of the book. Although the narrator might have been a fine choice for a contemporary novel, she just sounded a little too chipper, too modern and too American for the narrative to seem really authentic. The right format, or at least a different and more sensitive narration, might have pushed this to four stars.

This is the second book I have read this year which have midwives and herbalists as characters, the other book being Lady Tan’s Circle of Ladies. They both take place many centuries ago, although in two different cultures. They would make a good paired reading.

Anytime a work of fiction targets a Judeo-Christian audience, it's hard to rate. Should religious doctrine be taken into account, or should we judge it solely on it's merits as a good story? Because I think some of the more negative reviews of The Red Tent are in regards to its biblical inaccuracies.

Let me start by saying that if you're a moral conservative who believes in the Old Testament, I'd advise caution before reading this book. That's not to say you shouldn't read it; just be aware beforehand that this is a story - nothing more - written by someone who has taken biblical names and accounts and re-formed them to suit her literary needs. Don't look at this as a history lesson from the Bible, Ok? And if you're easily offended, you will be. Facts are changed, beloved Old Testament patriarchs are turned into pagan brutes, and bizarre sexual rites & bestiality are accepted parts of the culture.

If you can accept that this is a story and not religious history, though, then I would recommend you read this book. The narrative is rich and compelling, and the sex, though frequent, is not overly graphic. Dinah's story will draw you into her world, and cause you to experience her wonders, her heartaches, and her joys over the course of a lifetime.

What I thought would be the most repugnant aspect of the story - arranged marriages & women's treatment overall in that society - is actually kind of candy-coated by the author. The women are happy, most of them desiring their husbands, and as a sex they are given far more power and respect than I think is historically accurate - though granted, I'm no historian. No doubt this is due to the author's mother-goddess philosophy, which saturates every aspect of the narrative.

So to sum up: don't assume that if you go to Temple or Church you will love this book. If you are aware of what you're reading,though, then I think you will enjoy this well-crafted tale.

Did not think I would love this book as much as I did. I learned so much and the discussion that this book gave my mom and I was one of the best ever. It also reminded me how much I love women and how we’ve always been badasses <3

I will never finish reading this. I hate misogynist books and I hate misandrist books even more because they are so hypocritical.

This book pretty much craps on the bible. I'm not a Christian, but I do hate when people take creative license without explanation. Since when is Laban a child molester? Since when did Rachel and Leah agree to dupe Jacob into marrying Leah?

I'm a mythology purist, which is why I don't like the Percy Jackson series, but at least Rick Riordan doesn't go out of his way to insult those who know a little bit about the Greeks. It's like the author of this book purposefully went about skimming The Bible's Cliff Notes, then decided to write a crappy feminist perspective book.

Basically she makes things up without giving a better reason than, 'Oh, history might say this, but this is how it really happened.' She is no better than Meyer in that respect.

No males are portrayed positively in this book. None.

I hate every character in the book. I couldn't even read it long enough to get to where Dinah came in. I had to read sparknotes for the rest of it. Joesph is apparently portrayed as a whiny, stereotypical, gay man. I wonder if the author has ever talked with a gay man before. Dinah was never raped. Thanks for crapping on rape victims, apparently forced sex with a man you don't know is mutual love.

I can't believe this is taught in schools. Women of Genesis: Rachel and Leah, by Orson Scott Card, is so much better than this.

The Red Tent is another book that has been sitting in my library for years being published in 1997. Anita Diamant took from the Bible the story of Dinah that is only hinted at in the Book of Genesis whose chapters talk of her father Jacob and his twelve sons, the most celebrated her brother Joseph. In the Prologue to this beautiful book, Dinah asserts that her story was lost because the chain connecting mother to daughter was broken and the word passed to the keeping of men who had no way of knowing. But this is Dinah's story. In her words:

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"I am so grateful that you have come. I will pour out everything inside me so you may leave this table satisfied and fortified. Blessings on your eyes. Blessings on your children. Blessings on the ground beneath you. My heart is a ladle of sweet water, brimming over. Selah.

n

And thus begins the story of Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah, narrated in her voice beginning with her mothers' stories, the four wives of Jacob--Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah. Dinah alludes that she promised her mothers' that she would keep their story alive. To these women the moon and the significance of The Red Tent is the profound harmony between the women and with the earth throughout the monthly cycles in early Biblical and Nomadic times. Because Dinah was the only girl, she was permitted from a young age to enter The Red Tent each month with her mothers where she heard the stories of her people and their goddesses. With many of the women midwives, Rachel teaching Dinah from a young age, womanhood in Biblical times including childbirth is featured certainly metaphorically in the significance of The Red Tent.

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"Why had no one told me that my body would become a battlefield, a sacrifice, a test? Why did I not know that birth is the pinnacle where women discover the courage to become mothers? But of course, there is no way to tell this or to hear it. Until you are the woman on the bricks, you have no idea how death stands in the corner, ready to play his part. Until you are the woman on the bricks, you do not know the power that rises from other women--even strangers, speaking an unknown tongue, invoking the name of unfamiliar goddesses."

"My son," I answered, dumbfounded, taking him in my arms.

"There should be a song for women to sing at this moment, or a prayer to recite. But perhaps there is none because there are no words strong enough to name that moment. Like every mother since the first mother, I was overcome and bereft, exalted and ravaged. I had crossed over from girlhood. I beheld myself as an infant in my mother's arms, and caught a glimpse of my own death. I wept without knowing whether I rejoiced or mourned. My mothers and their mothers were with me as I held my baby."

n

This remarkable narrative tells the tale of Dinah from birth to her death.

And as a postscript, it is very fitting that I should finish this beautiful book on Mother's Day as this is a book that is written in celebration of all of the mothers and their daughters throughout our history. Selah.

Historical fiction based on the biblical story of Jacob, as told through the eyes of Dinah, his youngest child and only daughter. In the Bible, Dinah has no voice, but Anita Diamant has provided a voice for her through this imaginative story of her life that offers a convincing portrait of a community of women in ancient times. The titular red tent is a place where women gather for rituals such as monthly cycles, recovery from illness, and childbirth.

For me, this book is a story of empowerment and strength. Dinah lived in a patriarchal society and we see it through her eyes. She would not have been privy to the men’s world, so the focus is on the female relationships and the connections among the women. Fertility, midwifery and childbirth are prominently featured, and Dinah becomes a respected midwife. It effectively evoked the ambiance of an ancient culture. The writing is beautifully descriptive, and the daily lives of the characters seemed believable. This book is filled with engaging characters and multifaceted relationships. While it is based on religious text, there is little formal “religion” portrayed and I did not find it didactic. Knowledge of the biblical story is somewhat helpful, but not required. A family tree of relationships among Jacob, his four wives, and thirteen children is provided.

Themes include storytelling, motherhood, tradition, memory, renewal, and the power of nature. Contains sex, violence (including murder and rape), and graphic descriptions of childbirth. This book helped me appreciate what life would have been like for women in those days and makes me very glad I live in the present time. Recommended to anyone interested in biblical fiction.

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant is loosely based on the Genesis story of Dinah, the only daughter of Jacob and Leah. Daimant fleshes out Dinah’s story, telling it in her first-person point of view while deviating from the Biblical version in significant ways. Dinah provides background on her grandfather Laban; the entrance of Jacob into their lives; Jacob’s marriage to her mother; his subsequent marriages to her three aunts; and their plentiful offspring, consisting of Dinah’s brothers and cousins.

The novel starts out strongly. The focus on women and their activities of weaving, cooking, tending the garden, healing ailments, birthing, and nurturing children is evidence of a caring and supportive network of women in an exclusively woman space. The women cling to their worship of the goddess figures of Ancient Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt during the early stages of the transition to monotheism. This is a segregated, patriarchal society in which a woman’s primary function is to birth sons and to assume a subordinate role to the male. But within that framework and within their woman space of the red tent, the women bond, sharing knowledge and body wisdom that is transmitted from mother to daughter, from crone to virgin.

As the only daughter of Jacob and Leah in a bevy of sons, Dinah is singled out for special affection by her mother and aunts/other mothers. They welcome her into the circle of women, initiate her into the inner sanctum of the red tent—the exclusive province of females, embrace her entrance into womanhood with the onset of menarche, train her on midwifery, and teach her the medicinal properties of certain plants and herbs.

All seems to be going in Dinah’s favor until things go horribly wrong. After her husband is slaughtered and Dinah goes to Egypt with her mother-in-law, the novel loses much of its strength. Dinah is forced to relinquish control of her son, befriends a midwife, and becomes known throughout Egypt as a midwife with exceptional powers. She falls happily in love with a carpenter, marries him, and is summoned by the Egyptian vizier to assist in his wife’s delivery of their child. The vizier turns out to be her brother, Joseph. The two then travel together to visit their dying father. Dinah returns to her husband to live the rest of her days in happiness.

The events after Dinah’s arrival in Egypt are rushed and, in contrast with the first part of the novel, time gallops at an unprecedented pace. The women of the red tent are well rounded and portrayed as unique individuals. The men, however, are flat, never fully developed, and most are portrayed stereotypically as bossy patriarchs. Character development suffers, especially in Egypt where we are introduced to characters with barely a superficial nod. Dinah is portrayed as more acted upon than acting. And her convenient love affair with her carpenter husband reeks of a sentimental mushiness reminiscent of the unrealistic “happily ever after” endings of fairy tales.

Perhaps Diamant’s intention was to demonstrate that the lives of women unraveled after the loss of their woman space in the red tent and all it signified. Perhaps the goal was to show how women’s strength diminished when they were deprived of their female network of support. All well and good. However, in the process of demonstrating this, the novel loses much of what made it compelling and focused in the first place—an unfortunate conclusion to what started off with such strength.

Recommended but with reservations.