Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Beautiful and Thought-Provoking
In "The Red Tent" Anita Diamant uses the voice of Dinah to tell not a biblical story but a timeless story all women can relate to. Dinah, herself explains from the start how she, "became a footnote...my story a brief detour between the well known story of my father, Jacob, and the celebrated chronicle of Joseph, my brother." But Dinah's story is told from the heart, and her life seems to be lasting journey instead of a detour.
Dinah begins telling of her life in the "red tent" where she and her four mothers first lived. Due to the fact that I have only read of Biblical times through stories told of and by men, Dinah's story -- for the first time -- painted a very clear picture of the unmentioned yet touching stories of womanhood during that age. But this is not so much a story of Biblical times when told through Dinah's voice. By this I do not mean that women were not important during Biblical times. I mean that I was able to finally read a story about a Biblical female in the voice of one, and we all know that different details and perspectives are brought about through the voice of a woman.
I do not consider myself to be very religious, nor do I consider myself a feminist. Yet Dinah's story is more unique and interesting than most stories about a female's coming of age in the early ages. The story of her life is one of mothers and daughters to remember and to pass on...Dinah speaks of her mother, "One of my great secrets was knowing that I had the power to make her smile." Isn't that a secret that all daughters want? As Dinah grows up, she learns secrets of life that we all learn as we grow older...the most important one being, "There are no secrets to immortality."
Dinah's story is a story of love, hatred, betrayal, and, ultimately how we must all learn to live with these things -- and to live as happy of a life in spite of them.
Rating: - making a minor story come alive
....in the bible, jacob is portrayed as anything but an honorable man. he is protrayed as a schemer, a coniver and very self-centered. the fact that dinah in this book wears rose-colored glasses is understandable - the man is her father. this book is not exactly anti-male, but neither are men portrayed in an admirable light. laban is a con artist who is out-conned by a better con artist - jacob. his sons, including joseph, are extremely self-centered (read the genesis they come off pretty badly). you rarely hear about the women and that is the point of the red tent. it gives us a glimpse into the lives of these women. life in those days was hard. women (and men) grew up very fast and childhood and adolescence were not an indulgement, merely a stage to get thru until one became a productive adult. .... this book takes a very minor story and makes it breathe life. if anything it describes the day-to-day, month-to-month, year-to-year cycles of life. everyday was a struggle for survival. food had to be cooked, clothes made (and i mean from scratch) children tended to, flocks tended etc. i was glued to this book until about the last 100 pages. after the [invasion] of dinah and the murder of shechem, the story want downhill and i had to force myself to finish it. i wish instead dinah had stuck around (the bible gives us no clue what happened to her - so at that point fiction really kicks in) and give us her take on joseph's dreams and his brothers selling him into slavery, rubean's treachery w/ bilhah, er and on and judah's bieng ensnared by his own lust w/ tamar etc. while diamont does take some events out of their biblical order (jacob wrestled w/ the angel before not after he served laban) she does refer back to many familiar stories ....jacob was a very self-serving man who didn't care that his sons massacred an entire town - he was only concerned w/ the way that it would impact his reputation and fortunes. read the original....its a pretty good read too !!!!
Rating: - A Celebration of Womanhood
This is a brilliant book that celebrates the power and fulfillment that can be realized through the qualities and skills traditionally ascribed to women and therefore dismissed as having little or no impact in history or on the advancement of the world's societies. Qualities like the willingness to serve and the desire to nurture. Skills like the myriad "home arts" from the food and textile sciences to agriculture and architecture. Mid-wifery as well as the study and application of herbs - the foundation of all medicine - were almost exclusively the crafts of women. Yet "history" has been defined and chronicled by men. The early scriptures were written by men while women were chattel and then edited and censored quite extensively by men centuries later - while women were still chattel - to create the King James Bible. This is not to say that the stories of the Bible are untrue or unworthy, but that often they are told from a limited perspective offering one dimensional characters learning and teaching anglicized lessons. Diamant's research, which is extensive and credible, is conveyed in a story that is enjoyable, educational, and inspiring. Read The Red Tent to learn about an ancient culture with its fascinating customs and superstitions that gave birth to Judaism and Christianity; read it to realize the power of sisterhood and the immortality of motherhood; and read it for this: All popularly accepted history should be taken with a grain - if not a great big chunk - of salt.
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