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Summary: The Red Tent
Review: I picked this book up at the store not knowing what it was about but I liked the title. During the reading, I was compeled to search Biblical references regarding the characters. It felt like more than a novel. To understand the nature of women's desire to be with each other and also their desire to cling to their men became the theme of the book for me. I could identify with many of the situations and the desires. I liked it. I am presently reading Good Harbor and I like it too.
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Summary: Not what I expected
Review: I thought this book was great. My english prof. told me to read it, after we read The Mists of Avalon in class. I was expecting to read a book that would pale in comparsion to Bradley, but The Red Tent can't even be considered next to it. The book was very well written, and it wasn't an overly religious, of which I was afraid of. It was simply an honest telling of the life of a girl easily looked over by the men, but made into a doll by the women. I highly recomended this book.
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Summary: This book is soooo good!
Review: I kept repeating that phrase to myself over and over as I read this book! Some books I've read because I got caught up in the story and just had to see what happened next. Some books I've read because I was just determined to finish it. This book was just wonderful! I not only enjoyed the story line; I enjoyed just reading the book. Picking it up and moving my eyes across the pages was sheer pleasure. It is a definite re-read for me.The Red Tent presents a fictionalized account of Dinah's life. If that word "fictionalized" bothers you, don't read it. However, I found the book to be believable and quite realistic. I didn't see such a big leap from the Old Testament to this fiction. This book really humanized the Bible personas for me and caused me to relate to their stories in a different way. But the main thrust of the book is about women. Celebrating womanhood and our rites of passage and cycles of life with ritual, something that has largely been lost in today's society. The Red Tent shows the power of history (or rather herstory). Reading how the women lived and interacted together was fascinating and dare I say empowering. This book was about sisterhood without shame. I loved the words the author used. She was very descriptive without being too drawn out.I could picture everything and hear everything. I felt such emphathy for the characters. I really got something from this book. It is the best book that I have read in a long time. I highly recommend it. It was a refreshing change for me from dumb selections that I kept encountering. By the way, if people think The Red Tent was just about bleeding, then I say they just don't get it. The Red Tent was a war room, a boudior, a salon, a birthing chamber, a confessional, a school room, a nursery, and a sanctuary. Read it for yourself!
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Summary: Absolutely Wonderful!
Review: I am not of Judeo-Christian background but am an avid reader of the Bible. This is a wonderful book full of love, suspense, heartbreak and happiness about a biblical life so greatly overlooked by the sons of the Chosen. It is fiction but it has the flavor and feel of truth. It also gives us a good look at some of the real people in the Bible. Their faults and foibles should in no way color our acceptance of the good they did and the history they created. Anita Diamante is a credit to authors everywhere. These characters are very real and human. I'll read it again!
Rating:
Summary: Compelling -- but a little flat at the end
Review: I found this book to be a compelling read, and an interesting interpretation of the Biblical story. I have read the Bible, but I don't think all of the people in them were saints. Think about Jacob's treachery with respect to Esau, how he stole his birthright; or Laban's treachery with respect to Jacob, how he gave the young man a bride different to the one he had pledged? And what about the story of how the brothers sold Joseph into slavery, and then lied to their father about it, saying that he had been eaten by a lion? These are instances of imperfect people, even if they were chosen. Certainly Jacob's wives believed in the old gods & the idols; why else would they have taken them from Laban? Finally, at least to my view, the slaughter of the Schechemites was despicable -- if the prince did rape Dinah (& he was obviously ready to marry her, and to make great sacrifices to do so) then should the brothers have responded by killing ALL the men in the compound? Did they ALL deserve to die? I would give the book five stars, but the end is not that satisfying. In a way, Diamant had no choice -- Dinah's story seems to end; in the Biblical account there is no more mention of her. The author is forced to invent, and sends her to Egypt, so Dinah (and we the readers) can witness the great reconciliation beteen Joseph and his brothers. Given the fact that that was a scene of great reconciliation, it might have been more satisfying for there to be a reconciliation between Dinah and her relatives at this point. But that would have been an unjustified invention as well.
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Summary: This book was GROOVY
Review: The book The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant, was a very good book. As a woman, it made me realize that the menstrual cycle used to be cherished and rejoiced instead of dreaded. In the book, the narrator, Dinah, tells the store of her life. She had four mothers and more than a dozen brothers. She was the only girl, and very loved by all of her mothers, who each taught her life lessons. Ever since Dinah was born, she was allowed in the red tent during the women's moon cycle, which was usually not permitted unless she had started her first blood.
The story was relatively peaceful, with only smaller conflicts, until Dinah fell in love with a Prince. Her brothers, infuriated with the romance, conspired against the two lovers.
This book was very well written. It is the story of Dinah, daughter of Jacob, in the Bible. In the Bible, there is only a brief mentioning of her name, so Anita Diamant took this and made up the story of her life. I would give it seven thumbs up, but I only have two hands.
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Summary: A beautiful look into one of the stories of the bible
Review: The Red Tent is a fine book about the barely mentioned Bible story of Dinah, a girl who grew up in a different world from what we live in now and her sad story. This book is more appealing to a female audience but a book that should be read by everyone. The book begins before her birth, settling the audience into the time. The author does a wonderful job of grabbing the reader by the collar and dragging them into the book, with the audience looking through the eyes of Dinah her story is one that could cause laughter or salt tears.
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Summary: The Red Tent
Review: Anita Diamant has an amazing talent for convincing you that you are part of her story. She has taken a base from the bible, and greatly expanded on it. Her writing style is enticing, drawing you in. Dinah is mentioned in short violent passage in genesis, and is then forgotten. You are given a base on which to set Dinah's story, and without it you wouldn't understand what was happening.
The start tells you about Dinah's four mothers and father. Diamant then begins telling of Dinah's life from her [Dinah's] point of view. Her mothers led a life that cherished a woman's "coming of age" and menstrual cycle. As an only daughter with 4 mothers Dinah is told all her mothers' stories, and tradition is sometimes bent. Although not told from a religious point of view, this book has a great story to tell and is very enjoyable to read.
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Summary: Bored in Bethesda
Review: What a tiresome read! Endless and boring. I don't know what all the hoopla is about.
Rating:
Summary: never hinted
Review: In the regular Bible, Dinah is rarely ever heard from or talked about. We are taught that she is the quiet overly protected daughter of Jacob and Leah. This was the assumption I brought to my mind as I began to read this bestseller. I thought well, she will just be the narrorator to her brothers' lives and I thought that the red tent was just one of the colors of the tents they used. After about the 4th page I fell in love with this book. History which as a child had bored me stiff was now fascinating and intriguing. I couldn't believe (although fiction) the life of our ancestors could be so thrilling. This book is nearly the best book I have ever read because of its truthfulness yet originality. And I would like to point out that since I am a little young to be reading this, most of my friends have stated that only their mothers have read it, but this is for any woman at any age who comprehends the hardships of being a woman.
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