Rating: 
Summary: Not worth twenty minutes of your time....
Review: I read this book for my book club - and I wish I didn't. It is written at about the fourth grade reading level. The liberties this author took with the bible is astonishing! Why don't we just all rewrite history to suit our feminist whims and be done with it!? This was hugely disappointing. I would have preferred she make this a fictional story about that period of time instead of insinuating it is a woman's version of the bible. What dribble, what gall! Consider this a badly written romance novel with a great PR machine out there trying to sell it. Horrible!
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant, Profoundly Moving Tale of Mother & Sisterhood
Review: This is one of the most extraordinary novels I have ever had the pleasure to read. Anita Diamant brilliantly captures the texture of Biblical times through the eyes of the wives and daughter of the founding father of the nation of Israel: Jacob. Dinah, the forgotten daughter of Jacob who narrates this extraordinary tale, grows up in the shadow of her famous brothers, but as the only daughter of the clan, she becomes the repository for her female kin's stories, carrying their legacy forward into a future that is at once horrifying, and uplifting. I have rarely been as moved by a book as I was by THE RED TENT; I have never felt any connection to my Jewish heritage until I read this book. My father's family are descendants of the Levite tribe of Israel, and as I read Dinah's extraordinary story, I felt as if I were reading about my own ancestors. And this is where Diamant really shines - beyond the mere historical facts of this tale lies a deeper, more profound truth: we are all the sum total of our ancestors, and each of us is responsible for carrying their stories and spirit into the future. Or as Diamant more eloquently puts it, "There is no magic to immortality...Egypt loved the lotus because it never dies. It is the same for people who are loved. Thus can something as insignificant as a name - two syllables, one high, one sweet - summon up the innumerable smiles and tears, sighs and dreams of a human life." THE RED TENT is the ineffably moving tale of an extraordinary life.
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Summary: Comments on Red Tent
Review: A wonderful book and a deeply interesting story. Diamant does an outstanding job transporting the reader into the life of Dinah and her experiences as a woman in ancient times. I could not put the book down and was sad to turn the last page - I just didn't want it to end!
Rating:
Summary: A brilliant look a biblical women's society
Review: Diamant has created a masterpiece here. Her prose is straightforward and overwhelmingly honest, and the story she weaves is one that makes the book nearly impossible to put down. Dinah, the narrator, although living in the times of the biblical characters Jacob and Esau, shares the universal sentiments felt by all women today. Reading the book is like being invited into a sacred circle of womanhood, where secrets are shared freely and each person is a member of a greater family. It's a great read and one that leaves you thinking afterwards.
Rating: 
Summary: A very disappointing book
Review: I had high expectations for this book, but it was flat and insipid. The author rearranged historical fact to suit her story and in the end, it just wasn't interesting at all.
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Summary: A Great Biblical Drama
Review: The Red Tent is extremely well written and a tribute to the author. From page one the writer captivates the reader and the story lines get better and more interesting. The author has great insite to biblical history and has fictionalized an intriguing web of characters and story lines. It all ties togather very well. A must read for the avid reader. Put down those dull novels and pick up this great story. I wept for Dinah!!
Rating:
Summary: Exotic and succulent
Review: Even though this book is a simple, quick read, do not think for a moment that it does not touch or challenge the reader. Often, I found myself hardly waiting for what could possibly happen next, and at other times I found myself rereading a paragraph and saying "How fresh for a story that was from so long ago." The language is not fascinating, but it does have its own cadence, and gives the book a gait that moves the reader forward, as if the reader could need anymore prodding beyond the plot. I am not sure how true to scholarship the meat of the book is, as I am less of a Biblical scholar than most, but I do know that I found it very credible, even in terms of language and slang used. (There are a couple of places where it does slip-toward the end of the novel the narrator claims to have "peed," which didn't strike me as a consistent manner in which to refer to the act as befit the rest of the novel.) The description, literally, is the novel's best feature-I became very thirsty, hungry, etc. just from reading of the narrator's various experiences. A good book to curl up with a spend a rainy day reading, and better to pick a rainy day to combat the dust of the desert that you will surely taste as you read the book and are swept away by its exotic, succulent voice.
Rating: 
Summary: Not just a biblical story!
Review: How many of us have heard the story of Jacob's daughter, Dinah and not really paid much attention? This book is a fascinating description of Dinah's story and live in these ancient times. A terrific women's book and also great for book club discussions. I have given this book all of my women friends and the reaction has been most enthusiastic.
Rating:
Summary: Simply wonderful. I LOVED it!
Review: This is a story that is vivid, complex and compelling. It is narrated through the voice of Dinah, whose life is only hinted at within the more familiar chapters in the Book of Genesis about her father, Jacob, and his dozen sons. The bible lists the names of Jacob's wives: Leah, Rachel, Zilpah and Bilhah, but it is the skill of Ms. Diamant who breathes life into them. She places them within the context of their time and makes them totally human. Much of the story takes place with the red tent, the place where women retreat during their monthly periods and the place where births occur. I love reading details of midwifery and childbirth and the author made me feel I was right there, sharing the labors of the women as they brought new life into the world. The book also shed light on the communal lives of co-wives and the unique relationships that each one had with each other as well as with Jacob, their husband. But the story is much more than all this. There's tension, drama and conflict throughout, and a violent incident that changed Dinah's life forever. It was so horrendous that it sent me straight to a bible to check out the story and make sure that this was not something that Ms. Diamant had made up, because, after all, this is a novel. Sadly, I discovered that even though she did make up the personalities of the women, the incidents she described are right there. From the moment I picked up the book, I could not put it down. I was drawn right in and found myself trying to read it slowly to make it last longer. This is absolutely one of the best reads I've had in a long time. It's an historical novel at its very best. Not only did I love the story, but I also learned something about the time and place. And Ms. Diamant transforms the long list in the bible about who begat who into a living breathing story of real people. I give this book my very highest recommendation. It's simply wonderful!
Rating:
Summary: Interesting premise, great story
Review: Extrapolating an entire, colorful life's story from one brief mention in the Old Testament poses a big challenge. Meeting the challenge with an engaging, well-researched novel is an even bigger accomplishment. My book group read this recently and gave it a big "thumbs up". Each reader responded to different aspects of the book, but they all enjoyed it because it really is a great read: well-rounded characters, interesting plot, finely told details. Consensus of the group: "It took us to a time and place where we'd never been." If you've got a biblical bent, the story of Rachel and Leah (as it might have been) will be fleshed out for you, and you'll get a new look at the relationship Joseph (coat of many colors) might have really had with his brothers. Even if you're not up on the Old Testament, you can enjoy this sprawling story of a family just as it is.
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