The Red Tent

Rating:
Summary: Fabulous
Review: This is an amazing novel, that anyone with an open mind would enjoy. I couldn't put it down.

Rating:
Summary: This book is revolutionary
Review: I absolutely adored The Red Tent! Absolutely. And I'm even a christian -gasp-!! I know that this is a work of fiction, but a lot of christians don't want to realize that idolatry was rampant in the Middle East during biblical times. This just shed some insight into what could have happened, and I love it. I feel that women hold a certain power that only grows when we get together. READ THIS BOOK!

Rating:
Summary: A slap in the face ...
Review: It took me forever to get through this book. Why? I hated it. If it weren't on my reading group list I wouldn't even have finnished it. It wasn't the writting style or the topic (I love biblical historical fiction/nonfiction). I hated how Anita Diamant took the lives of these characters and portrayed them as complete hethens. She took a basic story found in the bible and exploited it, changing biblical fact to get her own agenda across and in the process making this book a slap in the face to every christian and jew that reads it. How sad. Don't waste your money on this book!

Rating:
Summary: poor quality novel...
Review: The author gives the pretense that she is weaving together a tale based upon the little we know of these Biblical women...yet in reality Anita Diamant attempts to rip to shreds any of the facts we do know about these characters. For this reason I find it hard to appreciate much of anything about this book! It would seem the author had an almost malicious pleasure in twisting accounts, for example: the account of Dinah being made a victim through violation by Shechem has been changed by the author into Dinah, instead, falling in love and having consensual sex and being made a victim by her brothers instead! (As they killed Shechem and the men of the land.) Furthermore in the Biblical account Jacob rebukes Simeon and Levi for their actions whereas in this story the author makes him party to their deeds. Not only this but she then writes that afterward Jacob changed his name to Israel to protect himself from being made known as a murderer...which basically spits on the account as Jews and Christians know it.

Regardless of what you think about Judaism/Christianity (having seen the tantrums thrown by some reviewers that anyone who has issues with this book is a Bible thumping, narrow minded Christian, and so forth...) I think it should be clear why there are people who do have a problem with this book just based on literary quality. After all, I think most anyone would find it hard to respect an author maligning, twisting and inventing things about *any* person(s) that you know and believe otherwise about.

One more note: the overabundance of descriptions on bodily functions and sexual acts gets old very quickly! The author appears to have a rather adolescent obsession with all things sexual, in my opinion.

Rating:
Summary: Wow - An Amazing Read
Review: Anita Diamant's The Red Tent was a fantastic, gripping biblical journey in the life of the little known Dinah. There are few books that can conjure up the past in such a poignant, believable way. I am hesitant to loan my copy out to anyone as it takes forever to get it back because it quickly becomes a favorite of my friends. This is a talented author whose only fault is that she hasn't written more books. I am waiting patiently for her to produce another work and will gladly purchase it if and when it comes.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Read!!!
Review: I didn't want to put this book down.
It grabbed me from the start with my inquiries about polygamy as something I could not comprehend...
when the four sisters (Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah) take one husband, Jacob, and all give birth to his children, I was completely intrigued.

One daughter is born.
Dinah.
And this is her story.

I value all the references to menstruation, birthing, and motherhood... these are the ties that make us women.

I value all the references to rituals, songs and tradition... these are the things that make the story so intricate.

I passed the book along with a bit of sadness that it is over...


Rating:
Summary: Luke-warm fiction
Review: I didn't think I would ever get through this book, a selection of my book discussion group. I started off really interested in the story, partly because it was initially intriguing and also because there was so much hype surrounding the book. The author attempts to weave a tapestry of Dinah's life but dwells too long on details extrinsic to her own existence. For example, there was great detail given to descriptions of birthing. I failed to see where this affected Dinah's life...especially those births that occured before her own. At any rate, the book was enjoyable to a certain extent. The first half wore on like something I was forced to read against my will in grade school. The last statement in the book, as it turns out, is the most powerful literarily speaking. Too bad you have to wade through so much muck to get the reward...

Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I've ever read!
Review: What a wonderful story based in biblical times. I usually would not read a "period piece", but this was well worth it! An excellent read that I could not put down!

Rating:
Summary: You won't be able to put it down
Review: I first heard of this book from someone that was talking about it at work, and I remember distinctly that she said, "I don't usually like to read... but I couldn't put this book down." That was all I needed to hear. I went out and bought it right away. The book got a tremendous amount of word-of-mouth recognition and I understand why. It's a rare gem.

THE RED TENT is brilliantly based on the story of Dinah, Jacob's only daughter. I thought the author did a great job of incorporating the known story from the Bible into the telling of Dinah's story. While the Bible mentions Dinah it gives focus to Jacob's sons. Given that, I thought writing a fictional account of Dinah was just brilliant.

While the story is based on a biblical character, the book is more about the bonds of women. I loved reading about the interaction between the four main women of the story that help raise Dinah. The story goes into detail about all things pertaining to women, including childbirth, wifely duties, sexuality, and menstruation. While some may balk at the frankness of these subjects, I felt it added to a story that is uniquely feminine. I feel women from all walks of life (whether you are familiar with the Bible or not) will be able to enjoy their great work of fiction.

From the author of The Difference Now, A New Dish, and At the Coffee Shop.






Rating:
Summary: Captivating
Review: This is the first 5-star review I've ever given on Amazon. Diamant's prose is powerful and mesmerizing, hooking the reader from the very first page. Dinah takes us to a place we care about, filled with people we care about (either good or bad), and recreates such vivid sensory input that it's a disappointment to put the book down and go back to the everyday world.

Diamant takes just the right number of risks, re-casting the familiar story and characters in such a way as to make you go "Aha!" but without veering off into the realm of wildly goofy or too modern. The second act isn't as good as the first, and the climax is more of an anticlimax, but it's more than worth the read. This is the standard that most modern Biblical fiction aspires to (the one that re-started the trend), and few measure up. As fiction, it's a highly readable, believable, entertaining, heartbreaking work.