Rating: 
Summary: Captivating historical fiction
Review: Great book. I'm a fan of historical fiction and this was no disappointment. Kinda reminds me of _The Mists of Avalon_ in its feminist retelling of an old tale.
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Summary: What if, on the first day, God had created woman?
Review: When I finished The Red Tent, I thought I would rate it with 4 stars. However, it still lingers with me after completing it a week ago, so I gave it 5 stars. Dinah, Jacob's daughter is a fleeting name in the book of Genesis in The Bible. Like most women mentioned in the B, she matters only as a brief catalyst, someone who has been "defiled," an interesting word since even the Bible indicates she adored her princely lover. Anita Diamant blow's life into Dinah just as Eve was created from Adam's rib; but with a woman doing the creating, we get a full blown character with real life images. Diamant's Biblical women really breathe, think, talk, and do interesting things in this beautifully imagined sojourn into the desert with Rachel, Leah, Dinah and other women who silently populate the Bible, a man's book, if there ever was one. I would be delighted, if Anita Diamant took every book of the Bible, starting with Eve, and gave life, from a woman's point of view, to all of the women.
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Summary: The Red Tent
Review: What a beautiful read! I was so mesmerized by the tale of this family and the women that held it together, I could not put the book down. Wonderfully written and a book that I will keep in my collection. Awesome!
Rating: 
Summary: Extremely disappointed - highly inaccurate
Review: I picked up this book because I love reading stories about lesser known people in the Bible. I was disappointed when I finished this book. I was expecting a biblically accurate novel, instead I got what I believe to be a feminist, anti-Bible account. For example, Dinah was portrayed by the author as a woman who had premarital sex. In the Bible she was raped. In the book she was portrayed as more "enlightened" than her relatives when she chose a goddess over God. If you appreciate accuracy, then you will dislike this book. If accuracy doesn't bother you, then you will probably like this book. One thing this book teaches you (maybe the only thing) is that you must *always* check the facts.
Rating: 
Summary: Questions and more questions....
Review: Gosh - where to start?!? From a pure fictional point of view, I truly enjoyed this book. The female characters were well drawn, the prose was almost lyrical, the plot moved quickly. My first problem, tho, was reconciling a fictional book written about factual people with factual lives. Anita Diamant sticks closely to the biblical account on some details, but starkly vears away on many details. So my first question was: what is this author's worldview? what are the passions driving her direction of her novel? what is she trying to teach me? So, of course, I check out the other books she's written - modern day books about jewish culture. Ok, so she's a self-proclaimed (reform?) Jewish woman. But what I know about Jewishness really doesn't jive with the heart's cry of this novel which seems to have more to do with the strength/power/individuality of the women and their passionate pursuit of the goddesses they worship. Back to my original question - fictional account using factual people/places/ideology - what's fiction and what is fact? The Old Testament is filled with numerous accounts of God's "chosen people" turning their backs on Him and following other gods. The first commandment, thus, was "You shall have no other gods before me." It is my belief that this struggle to purely follow God has existed from the beginning of time (ie. Adam & Eve's fall from grace in the garden of eden...) and that the struggle continues to this present day (disclosure: yup, my worldview is a biblical one...) So I acknowledge that the struggle equally existed for Rebekkah, Leah, Rachel, etc. - biblical evidence includes Rachel equally calling out to God to open her womb (and subsequently praising God for hearing her and vindicating her) while she also steals her father's idols. So back to my original question - what's real, what's not? The conclusion that I came to is thus: Anita Diamant's rendering of the Genesis stories must not be accepted as "truth" or "fact" or even as an "alternative interpretation" of history. But her fascinatingly told story might be used to gain understanding of some of the pagan thought/practice/worship that our biblical ancestors struggled against and fell under the influence of.
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Summary: Love, Betrayl, Family and Womanhood
Review: The book is written from the voice of Dinah who was the daughter of Jacob and Leah and it tells her history and the relationships and stories of the women in the bible, adding flesh and voice to the names we all know. It is a captivating story because it is both familiar from the standpoint of being a woman and current in terms of the difficulties of family relationships, but mainly because it gives life to a whole other story often lost in most bible stories which center on the men and are often limited to the major accomplishments and miracles that occurred. The Red Tent, in essence, reads between the lines of the bible and weaves a story of day to day life for the individuals that we know of - Abraham, Jacob, Rachel, Issac, Leah - a story that is wrought with love, deception, sexuality, murder, betrayl, empowerment, mystery, miracles, history and triumph. Given these universal themes and the timelessness of the stories, The Red Tent is a book that is equally written for men as it is for women. The title comes from the name of the tent where women go when they are menstruating for three days, away from the men. The time in the red tent was a sacred, empowering and beautiful time for the women where they would discuss matters including husbands and lovers, rivalries, sex, family history, gods and goddesses, gossip and where girls entering womanhood would learn how to be a woman. It is beautiful to see a book that elevates what is often discussed in biblical history or in history in general as a taboo to the status of sacredness. This is a trmendous book recommended to all.
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Summary: Meeting our ancestors for the first time
Review: I hated even the IDEA of this book; I've always cringed at anything resembling Biblical historical fiction. But after three failed attempts, and reading the rave reviews here at Amazon, I decided to give it another try. By the time I got a couple of chapters in, I was hooked.With her spicy and textured prose, Diamant paints an honest and three-dimensional heroine. Her brothers, too, spring to life on the page: Reuben, Simon and all the twelve tribes right on down to Joseph. In this book, Diamant has managed to weave midrash with modern insights to bring her women's lives into focus. While the men tend to fade into the background, probably some would say the Bible itself is guilty of this in reverse. Some readers may object to Diamant's diverges from traditional interpretation; for instance, Dinah's rape is turned into a love affair. But Diamant writes so knowledgeably and with such respect for existing traditions that it's difficult to fault her, especially given her clear fascination with her subject matter. While it may be uncomfortable to discover in our foremother Rebecca a petty old crone, or see our other mothers practicing the fertility rites of their ancestors, there is a reverence here as well, a compassion for all these mothers and fathers who paved the way for monotheism and morality as we know it today. This is an important work for Jews and non-Jews, believers and non-believers. The Bible wasn't given in a vacuum -- it was earned by the sweat and blood of the earnest, hard-working desert nomads we meet perhaps for the first time through Diamant's novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Too bad it's an AUDIO book
Review: The material of this book appears to be interesting, and the novel would probably be quite enjoyable. But the audio tape is greatly damaged by the breathless, over dramatic style of Ms. Bilger, the reader. Often emphasizing the wrong word or the wrong syllable, Ms. Bilger distorts the meaning of the text to the point where this listener could not even make it though the first tape!
Rating: 
Summary: A book for women and well worth it
Review: At the risk of sounding sexist, I think this is a fine novel which will appeal to women of all ages. It is finely written, and thought provoking, and has all the real flavour of biblical times and places. But it is a novel of women, written by a woman, and in my opinion with the intention to be appealing to women. I sought out the relevant passages in my Bible, and there they were, just the bare bones of the story as Dinah suggests at the beginning of her narrative. But let me stress, this is the author's FICTIONAL fleshing out of that tale, and to all of those who may be looking for more, you will not find it. What you will find is a riveting tale of women living and loving in difficult times, but coping with humour and wit and grace. It is a very entertaining novel, and I recommend it.
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Summary: I never wanted it to end
Review: I loved this book. At first I thought all the names were going to be a problem, but I soon was emersed in the lives of the women of the red tent. All women should read this book and then pass it on to all your friends. I just ordered three copies to send to my friends as a summer reading gift. You have to read this book!!!!!
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