The Red Tent

Historical fiction based on the biblical story of Jacob, as told through the eyes of Dinah, his youngest child and only daughter. In the Bible, Dinah has no voice, but Anita Diamant has provided a voice for her through this imaginative story of her life that offers a convincing portrait of a community of women in ancient times. The titular red tent is a place where women gather for rituals such as monthly cycles, recovery from illness, and childbirth.

For me, this book is a story of empowerment and strength. Dinah lived in a patriarchal society and we see it through her eyes. She would not have been privy to the men’s world, so the focus is on the female relationships and the connections among the women. Fertility, midwifery and show more childbirth are prominently featured, and Dinah becomes a respected midwife. It effectively evoked the ambiance of an ancient culture. The writing is beautifully descriptive, and the daily lives of the characters seemed believable. This book is filled with engaging characters and multifaceted relationships. While it is based on religious text, there is little formal “religion” portrayed and I did not find it didactic. Knowledge of the biblical story is somewhat helpful, but not required. A family tree of relationships among Jacob, his four wives, and thirteen children is provided.

Themes include storytelling, motherhood, tradition, memory, renewal, and the power of nature. Contains sex, violence (including murder and rape), and graphic descriptions of childbirth. This book helped me appreciate what life would have been like for women in those days and makes me very glad I live in the present time. Recommended to anyone interested in biblical fiction. show less

The Good: The Red Tent blew me away. I actively avoid religiously themed books and I don't have an overwhelming love of historical fiction. That said, The Red Tent amazed me in ways I couldn't have imagined. It mesmerized me. The woman-centric storyline drew me in and made me look at things in a new light. You don't have to be religious to enjoy this book (believe me). When read as a purely fictional novel set in the past with feminist overtones, it's one hell of a good read.

The Bad: Not a thing.

The Boston globe wrote of this book: "It is tempting to say that The Red Tent is what the Bible would be like if it had been written by women, but only Diamant could have given it such sweep and grace." I think this is the most befitting tribute to this story, and utterly true.

Diamant takes the mention of Dinah, the only daughter of Jacob, and fleshes her out in this historical fiction with such depth and humanity, that it is easy to forget just about all of the men the Bible serves to record. For it is in the Red Tent where the women of Jacob's life, his wives and daughter, the wives and daughters of his sons and bondsmen, share their wisdom, their stories, their skills, their histories, and prepare for the future of their clan. show more

Diamant tells the story of four women who have to share their husband, yet none of them bemoans her fate or status; each finds meaning in her roles and grows richer in her talents as the years pass. The story moves on to the one daughter born of all of them, who is beloved by all and shared by all, taught by all and raised by all.

These women are severely restricted by their time and place in history, and it would be easy to turn this into a tale centered around the male domination of the time and place. Yet Diamant does each women in the story justice, showing her individuality, importance, value and power. It is clear that given half a chance and a little luck, a woman could express herself and find a meaningful place in the world, even far from the place of her birth and the people of her tribe.

Diamant spins a moving tale full of love, bravery, loss, & honor. We meet many characters who remind us that for all the trappings, the world hasn't changed much: young men and women yearn to find loving, supportive mates; men seek to fulfill their duties with work and to secure their places with wealth and power; women seek to fulfill their duties as wives and mothers, and to earn respect for their skills and contributions to their society; good men who treat the women in their lives with respect will be rewarded with honorable, devoted families; bad men who treat the women in their lives as property or worse will be cursed to die alone like dogs; and each new birth gives the world a chance to get it right this time. show less

Taking as its starting point a brief mention of Jacob's daughter Dinah in the Bible Anita Diamant has created a whole life for this woman. Going back to the arrival of Jacob at the tents of Laban this account does follow the biblical source but told from the point of view of a female character. Obviously documentary evidence for life in the early biblical times is scanty but what Diamant has done is create a plausible polytheistic lifestyle coming into contact with the monotheism of the bible. There is archaeological evidence of bronze age idols in the region and the way they are woven into the story and the customs of Laban's daughters seems possible.

I really enjoyed this re-imagining of Dinah's life - from a seemingly idyllic show more childhood to the after affects of the horrific biblical story she is part of. After reading The Red Tent I went back and read the last half of Genesis and Diamant has expanded that story in a fresh, vividly imagined way. Probably not for everybody, as I can see that some aspects might be seen as offensive to others, but it worked for me. 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 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 show more 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

When I first heard about this book, my first thought was to mentally prepare myself of some dry account of Biblical times. Boy was I ever wrong!

This was a totally entertaining first-person narrative of the life of Dinah, Jacob's only and basically forgotten daughter - she is only mentioned in the Bible in terms of being a victim. Her story, as much influenced by her mother(s)and the women of the red tent as it was by her famous brothers and father, begins when Jacob first entered the world of Laban and his daughters and follows Dinah through her life, through her joys and tribulations. This sudden interest in women in the Bible in literature is refreshing since women are generally absent from the Bible!

I have to admit that this was one show more of the best books I had read in a long time and I found that I didn't want it to end! A must read for all (except if you are pregnant with your first child, in which case you may want to wait - a part of the narrative describes Dinah's experiences in midwifery and therefore there are many graphic descriptions of childbirth during Biblical times) show less

There are certain factual differences from biblical accounts, but a daringly new perspective is what really sets this book apart. Diamant peers between the lines of the Bible, asking if Leah was really ugly and unpleasant, why Jacob went to her bed so often that she bore nine of his thirteen children. Women in the Bible are part of the frame—here they are the narrative. Particularly moving is the lack of choice possessed by women like Zilpah and Bilhah, and how little ownership they and Dinah have of their children. I had seen a description of this book and decided not to read it, and then received it from my sister as a birthday gift—let this be a lesson to me about deciding not to read something! I had been afraid the book would show more seem like an obligatory attempt to get at Bible stories from a women’s perspective—especially with the inclusion of midwifery—but it doesn’t read that way at all. The writing is a little over-the-top, but it’s supposed to be; it is written as though by Dinah as a storyteller. Even the bits that seem thin, notably all the love at first sight that seems to be going on, are appropriate in their way, matching biblical conventions and forming part of a majestic story. Dinah’s story is not a happy one, and her life is not an easy one, but the idea that one can find contentment at the end of such a life in the love of an aging husband and in simply being remembered is immensely comforting.

A more straightforward, traditional, and in some ways more respectful version of the stories of Biblical women can be found in Orson Scott Card's Women of Genesis series. show less