Rating: 
Summary: A Great, Exciting Read
Review: My favorite aspect of this book was the fact that the book covered the ENTIRE life of Dinah. So many books leave you hanging at the end wondering what happens next...not this one. Anyone who loves their sisters will love this book. It truely rejoices and celebrates the relationships between women in a family. I recommend it!
Rating: 
Summary: Incredibly interesting
Review: This book is excellent because it brings to light a civilization that few of us know very well, and characters that many of us know VERY well. I don't often read retellings of the Bible, but this one was captivating--especially the first part about Dinah's mothers. A very nice snapshot of the area around Israel and Egypt. Dinah is also an excellent narrator. Her ordeals and triumphs are very real, as childbirth, motherhood, and death have not changed much from then to now, regardless how advanced we think we are. The book begins telling the stories of Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilbah, and their marriage(s) to Jacob, their cousin. It is through the eyes of a child--Dinah, the only daughter of Jacob's clan, tells the story of her mothers' marriages to Jacob as she heard it--but still mature, still accurate. Uncovered is Leah and Rachel's constant feud over Jacob's affections; Zilpah's disdain for childbearing and priestess-like behavior; Rachel's troubles in having a child; the feuds between the many brothers, and a perspective on Jacob and Joseph seen through the eyes of a very different narrator. As Dinah grows up the story begins to focus on her and her maturation into a woman; and there I won't let the story spill, but the course of her life takes her to Egypt and beyond. I suggest it to everyone, but I think women would appreciate this story more. It's just that women are most likely to make a stronger connection to the many women in the novel.
Rating:
Summary: Surprising and intriguing
Review: I was very surprised when I chanced upon this title. I have studied, quite briefly, ancient nomadic culture and traditions and when I started reading this title, it became apparent that the author did also. As a Muslim I had some difficulty with the idea that Jacob (A Prophet in Islamic tradition) could have been a real person. I also am not, for the most part, a novel reader. After I made some adjustments I found this book to be compelling and rich in the way the story is told. Since the Qur'an uses the traditions of Israel to illustrate spiritual realities, I didn't find too many obstacles in this narration. There is a very realistic presentation here, and there is also some reality based eroticism as the reader is introduced into the sexual customs of tribal peoples. The book deals with the family life of Jacob, his wives and sons, as told through his daughter Dinah. I had known of the story of Dinah for a long time, but it was never placed in any perspective I could really appreciate until now. Masterfully written.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Book
Review: The author of THE RED TENT has done to parts of Genesis like say Marion Zimmer Bradley has done to the stories of King Arthur and the Trojan War in The Mists of Avalon and The Firebrand (which are two of my favorite books). She has changed the perspective the story from the men's the women's, mainly Dinah, Jacob's daughter and the narrator of the story who is only briefly mentioned in the Bible. I liked this book. I never usually read books thoroly I get at the library but the first line of this book had be hooked. Don't get this book though if you are expecting a religious Christian account of the women in the bible. This book goes along the same line as The Mists of Avalon I have to say with many references to the goddess and pagan beliefs. The complaint I have though as that the author did overdo some things (for example, Jacob doing stuff to himself). These things I could have done without but this book is still worth 5 stars!
Rating:
Summary: A Celebration of femininity
Review: I would have never picked this book up if it had not been a selection of my book club. The mention of the Bible and the cover art would have scared me away, but I am glad I had the opportunity to read it. This is the story of Dinah. Apparently, the Book of Genesis suggests that Dinah was raped although it does not say this outright. I don't know much more about what the Bible has to say on the subject, but I found that you do not need to know the Biblical history to get involved in this book. Diamant has taken that small mention of Dinah and expounded on it. What results is a wonderful celebration of femininity. The women of "The Red Tent" rejoiced when they had their first menses. They saw this as an exciting time and they were elated to be able to give life. I enjoyed the fact that Diamant allowed the women to find pleasure in their own bodies as well as their lover's. I don't know how realistic that would be in those times, but it's nice to think that it could have happened.
Rating:
Summary: A must read!
Review: A wonderful, inspiring, and captivating book for all women. It should be "required" reading!
Rating: 
Summary: False advertising
Review: I really hated this book. But not necessarily because of the writing style or character development. I think the reason why I just hate this book so much is because it was labelled as religious fiction. So I read it, hoping to feel something spiritual, but it is not really a religious book. At least, not Christian; it's more like the goddess cult. That's fine, but don't sell it as something else.
The author's ability to weave a whole story around this one verse in the Bible is pretty cool, but the story is really just a vehicle to push feminism and the goddess cult along with it. The women in this book don't really believe in God--He's for the men--rather, they believe in female pagan gods and "girl-power". The whole emphasis of the book is on these women and the world they create for themselves; God is thrown in there as kind of an aside. And while all of the men in the book are flawed and mostly selfish, the women are saints, living in harmony with each other. This is, of course, completely unrealistic and absurd. I wish I had known this before paying money for this book because then I wouldn't have been expecting one thing while being sold another. As it is, I feel gypped.
Rating: 
Summary: The Red Tent
Review: Stories about women written in the Bible do not have great detail about their lives. The Red Tent is a detailed story written about what it means to be female during biblical time, primarily in Egypt. The subject of being female is described through generations of a family. The author of The Red Tent is Anita Diamant.
The Red Tent is about various generations of women within a family. The story begins with the grandmother's life, which then goes on to the life of the mother, and then describes the meaning of being female with the main character from being a baby to old age. Significant events are described in each woman's life that are meaningful to her as a female, such as marriage and birthing children.
Young girls anticipate the beginning of their menstrual period because it is an important time of maturity. In this time period girls are honored and celebrated when they reach puberty, signifying that they have become a woman. When women have their menstrual period they go to the red tent and remain there for several days. Women also go to the red tent to have their baby. Within the red tent, women share emotions, stories, and support to one another. This time in a woman's life is very important and special because it is only women. Having children is highly valued during this time. During the biblical time period men were married to one woman, but fathered children with other women also. In The Red Tent there was a major conflict between two sisters. Leah was married to Jacob, but Rachel was also in love with Jacob. Leah had eight children with Jacob, while Rachel always remained jealous of Leah because she was only able to bear two children with Jacob. Inna was the old wise woman who was the midwife and helped women deliver their babies. Inna knew early on that Dinah (Leah's last child) had potential to be a good midwife. As a young child, Dinah accompanied Inna to births and eventually mentored Dinah to be a well -known midwife. Dinah encountered many life crises as a woman, facing the death of her husband killed by her brothers, and forbidden to reveal her identity as the mother of her own son.
The detail and explanation in The Red Tent is very good. The ideas are very well written. Even though the story takes place during the biblical time the words and language are easy to understand. Realism of the characters was pretty good except for the fact that there are so many different characters. With all these characters in the book, it was confusing in the beginning. It was also hard to follow because each character was related to one another in some way. The writer's attitude toward the subject was good. My attention throughout the book wasn't held very well because I had to work hard at keeping track of who the characters were. I liked the subject and theme of the book, but I didn't really like the time period very much. In order to write this book it had to be during the biblical times.
The theme of The Red Tent was the development of becoming a woman. Different stages within the lives of women were told through generations. The major theme relates to me because I am becoming a young woman. I am learning about who I am and thinking about what is my purpose in life. I think that a parallel to the purpose of the red tent is the woman's restroom in today's society. Girls go the restroom in pairs or small groups and usually talk about special feelings or secrets during this time. A major difference is that the sharing of wisdom from older generations doesn't happen. There are two events that happen in my family where there is a sharing between the generations of women. One is the ritual of the Sperstad women spending the day after Thanksgiving shopping together. It begins early evening of Thanksgiving with reviewing the advertisements, making lists and planning out the stops for the next day- with a special site for lunch. Another significant event was when my mom held a ceremony for me when I turned sixteen. She invited significant women of many generations (my grandma, my mom, my godmother, my mom's close friend and my best friend). All the members at the ceremony did activities to honor me- for who I am and for being a woman.
Rating:
Summary: The Red Tent
Review: If you are curious about this book- get it from the library ! The author is so incorrect about known Biblical history that when she weaves this ficional story one has to wonder what "facts" she has just created for "story sake"! I wanted to learn about certain Jewish and ancient customs- now I wonder if those depicted are fiction too - one has to be carefull in writing a "story of fiction" from Biblical history- don't change what is already known-- it confuses everything ! I've read another fiction book about Mary and Joseph's time and their trip to Bethlehem (a most famous Bible story)- none of the known facts as it related to the Bible were changed- and that was a "good read"! If you are a sincere reader of the Bible's Old Testament- you will be upset when you read this book-- too many known facts distorted! A lot about the other gods and religious practices of anciesnt times is included--but are these fact or fiction too? Iam surprised that one who has written so many other books about (real) Jewish cutoms, practices would write a book such as this. Disappointing read!
Rating:
Summary: Feast & Famine for the Soul
Review: This book is for you if you are female, Jewish (not required, but probably helpful, or else very interested in Biblical history), and if you have ever had your heart broken. This book will wring you out and stand you back up again. Sobering and inspiring at the same time.
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