Red Tent

The Red Tent
$13.54
Perhaps I am bringing to The Red Tent a set of experiences and expectations that is not the norm revealed in these reviews. As a secular feminist, books that explore the way patriarchal monotheism has stunted the lives of millions of Jewish, Christian and Muslim women are interesting to me. I am drawn to narratives that explore the boundary between myth and dogma. In Dinah's story, I found a neo-mythological account of how the capacity of women to create and bear life was diverted onto the one-male-god model. And the novel left me feeling satisfied that Dinah recognized the resulting impoverishment this misdirection among the descendents of Abraham caused. The Red Tent left me with a wistful longing for a re-balanced world in which women control their own fertility, where trinities have mothers instead of ghosts, and plurality in worship is the norm.

Inside the Red Tent (Popular Insights)
$12.99
If you are secure enough in the biblical truths to realize what is real and what is fiction, then this is a really good book to read. It is loaded with the culture of the times as well as good old Drama! I thought it fun to give 'Dinah' a personality and a story (even though fictional) because her story is not told in the bible. Remember it's fiction and enjoy! For fun, search the bible to see the true lineage and the truth between this tale and the true account of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Water for Elephants: A Novel
$13.95
I really enjoyed this easy read, it makes me want to read more about the circus during the 1930's and 40's. Great characters and descriptions. Enjoy

The Red Tent: A Novel
$15.00
I owe a lot to Anita Diamant. I have used her very insightful books on Judaism as part of a personal spiritual journey, and found her to be a wise, funny and relatable advisor. However, I must admit that her excursion into fiction sadly disappointed me.

It's not that she takes liberties with the foundational text--as other reviewers have noted, that is simply creative license, and is available to any author working in "historical" times. Nor was I too put off by her ignorance of real Bronze Age customs; while accuracy in historical research is valuable, Ms. Diamant at no point claimed to be writing a documentary. Like others, I was distracted by the overt paganism, but could understand that Diamant was trying to show the background against which the stories of the Patriarchs take place. I saw no justification whatsoever for the kinky sex, the ritual defloration (which almost made me gag) or the hints of bestiality, but I will admit that they do add a new and thought-provoking dimension to the text.

Rather, from a storytelling point of view, Ms. Diamant lets down her audience in a spectacular way. The turning point of this book is the destruction of Shechem. Everything in Dinah's life in the first part of the book leads up to it; it affects every element of her life, and changes the course of her life forever. Nor does the attack on Shechem affect only Dinah; the aftermath leaves Jacob a hated man in that part of the world, and undermines his moral authority for the rest of his life. It reshapes the politics of the world Diamant has drawn, and rearranges the family dynamics among the women and their children. Yet this pivotal scene, which should echo with blood and terror and war and ACTION, is so underwritten I actually wondered if pages had been accidentally left out of my printing of the book. Dinah literally sleeps through the most emotionally devastating moment of her life. The emotional focus, temperature and dynamics of the novel change 180 degrees in the blink of an eye--and that eye is closed. We do not see it, only its aftereffects. I was profoundly disappointed when I realized that Diamant had simply not written the most important scene in this book. This has nothing to do with feminism or biblical critique or historical accuracy: it's just bad writing.