The Red Tent

Rating:
Summary: A Must Read
Review: This is one of my all-time favorite books - a must read for every woman. It is one of those books that when you're done, you want it to keep going and going and going. Every woman should have a copy in her collection.

Rating:
Summary: Sleep Outside in The Red Tent
Review: Anita Diamant gives us a story from the bible through her eyes. The Red Tent is an amazing story about John and his five wives. At the beginning of the story, a conflict immediately starts, whether or not Rachel should get married. With a conflict this early in the story, you know this has to be a great read. I think The Red Tent is an awesome story that everybody can learn from. Some situations in this book may make you laugh and some may make you cry. If you need some inspiration in your life, I suggest you read this book. I give this book a 3 on the rating scale. I give it a 3 because I think some of the situations are a little too descriptive and the story could have a little more suspense.

Rating:
Summary: Diamant & Shulman: Two Great Books; Two Different Genres
Review: The Red Tent is an excellent novel that breathes new life into the ancient heroes and heroines of the Book of Genesis. An outstanding companion to the Red Tent is the well-written and less known, The Genius of Genesis: A Psychoanalyst and Rabbi Examines the First Book of the Bible (nonfiction) by Dennis G. Shulman. Read these books together, as I just did, and you'll certainly see things in the Genesis text and yourself that you have never seen before.

Rating:
Summary: GREAT GREAT GREAT!!
Review: I was reluctant to start reading this book--but I'm glad I did. As I read the introduction I found myself being drawn into the book. The author has a great, poetic way with words. I could also tell quite a bit of research went into the book. I loved the main character, Dinah, and wished that I too could be in the red tent and share stories, cakes, and laughter. The author starts the book by telling the story of Dinah's 4 mothers and how they met Jacob and fell in love with him. Then the author tells Dinah's story. Dinah was the last child of Leah and Jacob. She was also the only girl of Jacob's seed, so all of her mothers tell her their stories. Despite the happy beginning, Dinah's story isn't happy. Very excellent read!

Rating:
Summary: AMAZING!!
Review: I am an avid book-reader, and found this to be one of the best books I have ever read. I didn't think I would like historical fiction. I always thought it would be too much like "history." But it's not. It is an amazing story in which I was totally absorbed. I couldn't put it down and finished in 2 days.

Rating:
Summary: A must read for any woman
Review: This book is fascinating, down to every detail. Not only does it take the story of Dinah, from the Bible, and expand it to give this woman some attention, but it expounds on the natural beauty, the elegance, the power, and the love of a woman. I have read it twice and the second time hit me even harder than the first. This book made me rethink everything about being a woman and made me realize for the first time ever that there is real beauty in a monthly cycle and having close friendships with women. The details in The Red Tent are phenomenal and you won't be able to put it down. When my husband and I have children someday (if we have a daughter), I will buy her a copy to read.

Rating:
Summary: HUH? No storyline to follow-
Review: It went on and on until I could not take much more and stopped at page 136, lord knows I tried to get through it. It was so boring and the writing style was boring boring boring.
It was so confusing, who is who and who is having sex with who and I was at the point that I was so totally bored and confused by this book I had to return it to the library before I even dared try to continue.

Rating:
Summary: absolutely beautiful
Review: I can't find the words to descibe the connectedness I found with the main character of this book. If I had the funds I would buy it for everyone I know. This has been by far one of the best reading experiences I have ever had. So much was accomplished in it's three-hundred and some pages. I look forward to reading it again as well as this author's other writings. Full of female yayness!

Rating:
Summary: Remember that it's fiction
Review: I enjoyed this book as a work of fiction, noting that it departed radically from the true story of Rebecca and Issac's descendents found in Genesis. Description of characters in this book is entertaining, though inconsistent with the Bible. Through Diamant's writing, Dinah's mothers were reduced from women of God to pagans. Dinah was not raped, but allegedly fell in love with the prince Shalem. The family life portrayed was interesting, though a little much. I grew tired of their songs, goddesses, and child bearing. I was disappointed at the lack of a relationship between Jacob and Dinah, the rapidity with which Jacob (and the entire family) fell, and what I perceived as the weakening of Dinah's character near the end of the novel. All in all, a good read, if one keeps in mind that it is purely fiction and often contradictory to the Bible.

Rating:
Summary: A Fantasy Novel using Familiar Names
Review: I am almost finished with the Red Tent and I have to admit, it is very engaging. However, as a Christian and a student of the Bible the book is at best, a guilty pleasure. It is a wonderful fantasy but SO FAR DEPARTED from the Scriptures that it no more resembles the Bible than Joseph and the Multicolored Dream Coat or The Last Temptation of Christ. I almost have to wonder at the author and her purpose for writing it. I am almost certain that she too must be a man-basher, and a paganist. The fables she weaves about the gods and goddesses drip with her admiration and fascination with them. She seems almost indifferent to the True God and her Jewish faith. It's sad really how lost she is if her writings are any reflection of her true faith. That she would refute and dismiss facts such as Leahs weak eyes and the circumstances surrounding Leah's marriage to Jacob is shocking. She is also cavelier about the truth surrounding Dinah's rape and disgrace. She explains that Jacob's wrestling with God and being renamed by Him is nothing more than an attack by demons. If so then the foundations of true religion are shaky at best. Then again, one must remember this is only a work of fiction. However, to weave such a tale makes me believe that she must not truly embrace Biblical truths and certainly does not hold them sacred. I sincerely hope that no poor soul ignorant of the Word of God will embrace this farcical creation as truth. In it the great matriarchs of faith are reduced to man-hating witches. It makes a sad statement really.