Anita Diamant
Author of The Red Tent
About the Author
Anita Diamant is the author of Saying Kaddish, Choosing a Jewish Life, The New Jewish Wedding, Living a Jewish Life, The New Jewish Baby Book, Bible Baby Names, and the bestselling novel, The Red Tent. She lives in Newton, Massachusetts. Anita Diamant is the author of the bestselling novel "The Red show more Tent" & several books on Judaism, including "Living a Jewish Life", "Choosing a Jewish Life", & "The New Jewish Baby Book". A journalist who has written for "Redbook", the "Boston Globe", the "Boston Phoenix", & other publications, she lives in Newtonville, Massachusetts. (Publisher Provided) Anita Diamant was born in Newark, New Jersey on June 27, 1951. She received a bachelor's degree in Comparative Literature from Washington University in 1973 and a master's Degree in English from the State University of New York at Binghamton in 1975. She worked as a freelance journalist for numerous years and wrote for such magazines and newspapers as the Boston Globe, New England Monthly, Self, Parenting, Parents, McCalls, and Ms. She also wrote about Jewish practice and the Jewish community for Reform Judaism magazine, Hadassah magazine, and jewishfamily.com. She eventually started writing guidebooks to Jewish life including The New Jewish Wedding; The New Jewish Baby Book; Living a Jewish Life: Jewish Traditions, Customs and Values for Today's Families; and Saying Kaddish: How to Comfort the Dying, Bury the Dead and Mourn as a Jew. She also writes novels including The Red Tent; Good Harbor; The Last Days of Dogtown, Day after Night and The Boston Girl. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Works by Anita Diamant
Living a Jewish Life, Updated and Revised Edition: Jewish Traditions, Customs, and Values for Today's Families (1991) 577 copies, 4 reviews
Choosing a Jewish Life: A Handbook for People Converting to Judaism and for Their Family and Friends (1997) 489 copies, 3 reviews
Saying Kaddish: How to Comfort the Dying, Bury the Dead, and Mourn as a Jew (1998) 192 copies, 4 reviews
Pitching My Tent: On Marriage, Motherhood, Friendship, and Other Leaps of Faith (2003) 148 copies, 7 reviews
Choosing a Jewish Life: A Handbook for People Converting to Judaism and for Their Family and Friends 2 copies
Anita Diamant 1 copy
The Last Days of Dogtown 1 copy
Lều đỏ 1 copy
Dan posle noći 1 copy
Associated Works
The Book That Changed My Life: 71 Remarkable Writers Celebrate the Books That Matter Most to Them (2006) — Contributor — 411 copies, 18 reviews
Frankly Feminist: Short Stories by Jewish Women from Lilith Magazine (HBI Series on Jewish Women) (2022) — Foreword — 7 copies, 1 review
Things We Don't Talk About: Women's Stories from the Red Tent [2013 film] — Contributor — 2 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Diamant, Anita
- Other names
- דיאמנט, אניטה
- Birthdate
- 1951-06-27
- Gender
- female
- Education
- University of Colorado, Boulder
Washington University (BA | Comparitive Literature | 1973)
Binghamton University (MA | English | 1975) - Occupations
- journalist (freelance)
novelist - Organizations
- Mayyim Hayyim
- Short biography
- Anita Diamant is the daughter of two Holocaust survivors. She grew up in Newark, New Jersey and Denver, Colorado. She attended the University of Colorado for two years, then transferred to Washington University in St. Louis, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in comparative literature in 1973. She obtained a master’s degree in English from the State University of New York at Binghamton in 1975. She lives with her husband and daughter near Boston. Diamant began her writing career as a freelance journalist and over the years, she has written for the Boston Globe, Boston Magazine, Yankee, Self, Parenting, Parents, McCalls, Ms., and others. She's the author of six books about contemporary Jewish practice, one collection of autobiographical essays (Pitching My Tent) and three prior novels. The Red Tent (1997), her first novel, was a national bestseller.
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- New York, New York, USA
- Places of residence
- Newark, New Jersey, USA
Denver, Colorado, USA
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Brookline, Massachusetts, USA - Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
This really is a perfect example of HER-story vs history.
I was very familiar about the biblical story of Jacob/Leah/Rachel/Zilpah/Bilhah and their sons, but not about the daughter of the family, Dinah. And man, what a doozy of a story, especially comparing how Dinah story is prefaced in biblical text as opposed to how the pivotal story of Dinah's life is fictionalized/interpreted/couched here.
I loved how the family life in Jacob's encampment is detailed from Dinah's perspective (rituals, show more stories, rivalries) as well as how the tale of Dinah's life after leaving her family unfolds. show less
I was very familiar about the biblical story of Jacob/Leah/Rachel/Zilpah/Bilhah and their sons, but not about the daughter of the family, Dinah. And man, what a doozy of a story, especially comparing how Dinah story is prefaced in biblical text as opposed to how the pivotal story of Dinah's life is fictionalized/interpreted/couched here.
I loved how the family life in Jacob's encampment is detailed from Dinah's perspective (rituals, show more stories, rivalries) as well as how the tale of Dinah's life after leaving her family unfolds. show less
It took me a very long time to read (via my ears!) Anita Diamant's amazing book, The Red Tent. I was raised "in church" . . Bible stories were part and parcel of my childhood. I was familiar with Jacob, his multitude of wives and their twelve sons . . Dinah, the lone female among his offspring never caught my attention . . until I read this book. Anita Diamant imbued such strength, fortitude, intelligence and lust for life into Dinah's character that - by book's end - I was roaring "I am show more WOMAN"! I carried the audiobook around, unread, on my classic iPod for many years . . the question that resonates, now that I've read it,is . . "What on earth took me so long!!". VERY highly recommended. It's one of the few books I have sitting on my virtual "read it again" shelf! show less
Wow. I was really impressed with this book. I always enjoy when authors take old mythologies/folklore and bring them to life. I will admit I was a bit iffy with this one, since I read (and immensely disliked) the Secret Magdalene. However, this book did not disappoint me at all, and brought the character of Dinah to reality.
I've heard the story of Dinah before, and it was always cast into such a negative light, but when I read the actual Bible scripture, it seemed very ambiguous on whether show more Dinah was actually taken against her will or not - it seemed more that her brothers and father were angry about the fact that their sister had a lover (if she did indeed choose him on her own and laid with him with her consent) without their approval, since women back then were seen as chattel and so on.
That is what this book does - Dinah actually enjoys and cares for her lover, and she wants more control over her own fate, something which her father and brothers don't like as they're more of the 'my daughter/wife/woman, my rules' instead of letting women have a say in major decisions in their lives.
This book is also very well-written, with beautiful imagery and it's easy to imagine how women lived in this era. Overall a very wonderful book which brings to vivid life an ambiguous Bible story. show less
I've heard the story of Dinah before, and it was always cast into such a negative light, but when I read the actual Bible scripture, it seemed very ambiguous on whether show more Dinah was actually taken against her will or not - it seemed more that her brothers and father were angry about the fact that their sister had a lover (if she did indeed choose him on her own and laid with him with her consent) without their approval, since women back then were seen as chattel and so on.
That is what this book does - Dinah actually enjoys and cares for her lover, and she wants more control over her own fate, something which her father and brothers don't like as they're more of the 'my daughter/wife/woman, my rules' instead of letting women have a say in major decisions in their lives.
This book is also very well-written, with beautiful imagery and it's easy to imagine how women lived in this era. Overall a very wonderful book which brings to vivid life an ambiguous Bible story. show less
I read the whole Isaac/Jacob/Esau/Joseph Bible story before I read this. Knowing these stories, plus reading through the family tree in the beginning of the Red Tent meant the book didn't hold a lot of surprises in terms of plot. There was still be at least one big surprise, but I knew who was going to marry whom, who would be betrayed, who would have babies, etc.
Still, this book was a joy to read. Sure, Dinah's descriptions of childbirth were sometimes horrifying and some of the characters show more she met had only evil in their hearts. But, all in all, this book made me feel happy to be a woman. Dinah's story felt epic and at the same time intimate and true.
If you don't know the stories from Genesis about Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, I think this book will inspire you to go back and read them. It may then spark a debate about whose version of history gets passed down. show less
Still, this book was a joy to read. Sure, Dinah's descriptions of childbirth were sometimes horrifying and some of the characters show more she met had only evil in their hearts. But, all in all, this book made me feel happy to be a woman. Dinah's story felt epic and at the same time intimate and true.
If you don't know the stories from Genesis about Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, I think this book will inspire you to go back and read them. It may then spark a debate about whose version of history gets passed down. show less
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Awards
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Statistics
- Works
- 27
- Also by
- 5
- Members
- 26,369
- Popularity
- #793
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 704
- ISBNs
- 208
- Languages
- 13
- Favorited
- 43
