The Red Tent

 

By: Anita Diamant

 

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3

 

Summary: Her name is Dinah. In the Bible, her life is only hinted at in a brief and violent detour within the more familiar chapters of the Book of Genesis that tell of her father, Jacob, and his twelve sons.

Told in Dinah's voice, Anita Diamant imagines the traditions and turmoils of ancient womanhood--the world of the red tent. It begins with the story of the mothers--Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah--the four wives of Jacob. They love Dinah and give her gifts that sustain her through childhood, a calling to midwifery, and a new home in a foreign land. Dinah's story reaches out from a remarkable period of early history and creates an intimate connection with the past.

 

Review: The Red Tent is one of those novel's that I have had numerous people tell me is wonderful and that I just HAVE to read.  I remember my cousin reading it after it first came out and just loving it; I've wanted to read it for years but have just never done it.  Almost in a way because I was scared it wouldn't live up to the hype or what my expectations of it had been built up to, but it really did for the most part.  

 

The Red Tent tells the story of Dinah, Jacob and Leah's daughter.  (Jacob, the son of Issac who was the son of Abraham.)  It follows Dinah's story and that of her "mothers"  (Jacobs wives) from Jacob's entry into Labon's nomadic dwelling through his marriages to Rachel and Leah, and through them their concubines,  into the births of their children,  then segwaying into Dinah's childhood, entry into adulthood, and the story of her life.  The language that Diamant uses in the novel to describe the camaraderie between the women made me as a reader feel as if I could see what she was describing and feel as if I was actually there, in addition I thought that this author gave a realistic portrayal and strengthened the image of the role women played in ancient times. Women are not mentioned a lot in Biblical manuscripts because  the authors were men and women were considered to be little more than property. 

 

I liked the way Dinah's story was taken, I thought it was a realistic portrayal of what could have happened; In addition the way each of the mothers was described in the ways they interacted and in how their personalities differed made this a story that was very easy to relate to, because you could've been reading about women in a room together today; the surroundings and objects might be different but the emotions and having to work to be able to live in peace is something women have to work on in every generation.  The only thing I did not relate to in this book was how Joseph was portrayed, as far as his personality, and other traits other than that I would recommend this book it was a wonderful read!