Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32569 in Books
• Published on: 1998-10-01
• Format: Bargain Price
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 321 pages

Amazon.com Review
The red tent is the place where women gathered during their cycles of birthing, menses, and even illness. Like the conversations and mysteries held within this feminine tent, this sweeping piece of fiction offers an insider's look at the daily life of a biblical sorority of mothers and wives and their one and only daughter, Dinah. Told in the voice of Jacob's daughter Dinah (who only received a glimpse of recognition in the Book of Genesis), we are privy to the fascinating feminine characters who bled within the red tent. In a confiding and poetic voice, Dinah whispers stories of her four mothers, Rachel, Leah, Zilpah, and Bilhah--all wives to Jacob, and each one embodying unique feminine traits. As she reveals these sensual and emotionally charged stories we learn of birthing miracles, slaves, artisans, household gods, and sisterhood secrets. Eventually Dinah delves into her own saga of betrayals, grief, and a call to midwifery.

"Like any sisters who live together and share a husband, my mother and aunties spun a sticky web of loyalties and grudges," Anita Diamant writes in the voice of Dinah. "They traded secrets like bracelets, and these were handed down to me the only surviving girl. They told me things I was too young to hear. They held my face between their hands and made me swear to remember." Remembering women's earthy stories and passionate history is indeed the theme of this magnificent book. In fact, it's been said that The Red Tent is what the Bible might have been had it been written by God's daughters, instead of her sons. --Gail Hudson

From Library Journal
Skillfully interweaving biblical tales with events and characters of her own invention, Diamant's (Living a Jewish Life, HarperCollins, 1991) sweeping first novel re-creates the life of Dinah, daughter of Leah and Jacob, from her birth and happy childhood in Mesopotamia through her years in Canaan and death in Egypt. When Dinah reaches puberty and enters the Red Tent (the place women visit to give birth or have their monthly periods), her mother and Jacob's three other wives initiate her into the religious and sexual practices of the tribe. Diamant sympathetically describes Dinah's doomed relationship with Shalem, son of a ruler of Shechem, and his brutal death at the hands of her brothers. Following the events in Canaan, a pregnant Dinah travels to Egypt, where she becomes a noted midwife. Diamant has written a thoroughly enjoyable and illuminating portrait of a fascinating woman and the life she might have lived. Recommended for all public libraries.
-?Nancy Pearl, Washington Ctr. for the Book, Seattle
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
The music of Palestine opens this historical novel about the tribe of Jacob in the Book of Genesis. Told by Dinah, daughter of Jacob, The Red Tent--the place where women are sequestered during their cycles of birthing, menses, and sickness--takes us inside the lives of these early Jewish families. Carol Bilger narrates with a warmth and melodiousness that echo the rhythm of the musical interludes that separate chapters. The story told by Diamant is dramatic, but Bilger never overplays her reading. Instead, she allows the story to shine. A.C.S. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

A real mess
Tedious and ponderous. Very poorly written. Simplistic plot with no development of characters. The story was not well integrated into the historical time period, and in fact, seemed mostly unconnected to it. The characters were presented within a 21st century pychological context. It simply is not possible to understand the story or characters unless it was placed in the correct cultural context. Putting 21st century charaters in skins among livestock does not make them even remotely historically authentic. The only historical item I gleaned was that women sat on straw during their periods.

One of the best books I've ever read.
This is a beautifully written novel, and it does an amazing job of transporting the reader back in time to a completely foreign culture, time, place, and way of life. The characters are all incredibly rich and detailed (yes, even the male characters, I think they were all as intricate as the female ones), and the story is deeply moving.
I was always disappointed whenever I would read the Bible and find that the stories mostly focused on the men; while the women would be off to the side, completely silent, often only mentioned in regards to the sons they had borne. This book turns the Old Testament narratives inside out, and describes the familiar stories from the womens' point of view, while celebrating the mystery and wonder of life.
A note for Christians, especially those who criticize the book because it doesn't completely follow what the Bible says regarding the events...this is a work of historical fiction written by a Jewish woman, and I don't think it was ever meant to be a work of Christian fiction. Take this book for what it is, an exploration of the historical period and the relationships between ancient women. The Bible never says that Dinah embraced her father's God.
I always wondered what happened to Dinah after the events in Shechem, and this book followed her story to the end of her life in ways I never expected. Diamant has a rich imagination, and is a skilled writer.

777 stars...all those 'negative' reviews mean something positive!
it's about time that orthodoxy in all its forms crumbles.

here is part of the crumbling of the weak mortar.

love it.

the overly patriarchic impulse needs it's own tent to cower in.