This book was a huge disappointment for me. I have read many books by Orson Scott Card and greatly enjoyed them all. I also read Sarah,the first book in the "Women of Genesis" series, back when it came out, and I liked it well enough. What a difference from Rachel and Leah!

I disliked most of the characters in this book and found them all to be unrealistic. The main women were too flawed, too petty, too immature, too quick to anger, et cetera, to be believable human personalities. The main men, on the other hand, were too perfect, too noble, too kind, too wise, too strong, et cetera. The dialogue was similarly unrealistic and unhuman, plus it sounded much too modern to ever let me forget I was reading something from the 21st century.

Similarly, the characters are never shown to be doing anything that's particularly from their time period. They aren't really shown doing work or the activities of daily life, they only talk about doing things. There are no details about their lives that makes it feel like they're living in another time. Consequently, I never got a feel for the time period like one does with good historical fiction. The pacing was also off--sometimes we read about every minute and sometimes years passed from page to page.

All in all, although I was sometimes interested in a storyline or a bit of character development that was taking place, it was mostly a drag to keep reading this book. And when I found out that this was only part one of two...I was honestly not sure if I'd even want to try reading the second part.

This book was excellent as I fell in love with each character. Card had a great idea of what Genesis meant for Leah to be "tender eyed." Why not near sighted. That is genius.
Also, it was a warm take of a story that seemed like a scam job in the Bible, when Jacob marries the sister of the woman he has agreed to work for to have as a bride.

We read this one for book club. I think I am done with Orson Scott Card. There were many who thought Card should write the whole Bible. Then there were a few, like me, that thought it wasn't that good. Maybe my bias stems from not really liking the biblical story to start with. Anyway, there was a lot of whining and I didn't like how the women were portrayed. yada yada

3.5 just didn't like all thr fighting and competition between girls/women

Giving this a 4.25 star rating. Getting the chance to see the story of Rachel, Leah and Jacob was absolutely amazing. From young to old, watching them grow and live their lives in the 14 years of Jacob's work for Laban was interesting. Even getting the chance to see Bilhah and Zilpah as well. The plot, the issues, the pain, the realness of these characters --- I loved it all. I definitely want to get a physical copy of this book and the other two books.

This third and final volume in Card’s ‘Women of Genesis’ trilogy was published in 2004 and is perhaps the most complex of the three, dealing as it does with the contending ambitions of four women, the search by Jacob for a suitable wife, the destiny of the legacy of Abraham and Isaac and the manner in which social class and birth intertwine with matters of faith in determining one’s position in both the family and the society at large.

As always with Card, one turns the pages while reading in an almost effortless manner, as his ability to precisely balance character analysis with plot development is truly masterful. When a writer has mastered this skill, one forgets that there ever was any effort involved in reading.

Even atheists like me can be drawn to his story of real women living in what was essentially a patriarchal time but nonetheless striving to assert their independence and achieve their own particular ambitions.

Recommended.

I really like how Card is able to take stories from the Bible and create vivid, realistic characters. At the beginning of this story, I felt strong feelings of pity for Leah, mostly based on my reading of the Bible, but then of his depictions of her tantrums due to her being tender-eyed (blind, but not completely). As she changes throughout the seven years of her sister’s betrothal, I was amazed at her character growth and it made ME want to change. She was by far my favorite character. Do I agree with all of Card’s depictions created in this story? No…but I do think he did a great job of making the story come to life.

Okay, I keep hearing how great these books are, but I just can't get into them. I think it's because the actual people from the Bible are made into the main characters. I really love historical fiction, but I like it when made up people are put into the scenes: I learn about what happened, but without all the weirdness of made up things that we have no idea that happened. Anyhow, it would take something huge to get me to try again.

welp. ending it on that note? welp. ok. It was good but i have to agree with some other reviewers of having Jacob appear to be perfect and faultless when we know what he did to get that birthright himelf. boy got fooled himself too.

Poorly written in my opinion but interested in the subject matter

This whole series is a great read. Card takes great care to tell the story from the woman's perspective. The women have depth and character. How I would like to imagine how things transpired.

I LOVED THIS BOOK! Orson Scott Card does an amazing job (how does he know women so well?)! Another "can't put it down".