Skip to main content

Review: "The Red Tent" by Anita Diamant


From Goodreads:  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 are about her father, Jacob, and his dozen sons. Told in Dinah's voice, this novel reveals the traditions and turmoils of ancient womanhood--the world of the red tent. It begins with the story of her mothers--Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah--the four wives of Jacob. They love Dinah and give her gifts that sustain her through a hard-working youth, 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. Deeply affecting, The Red Tent combines rich storytelling with a valuable achievement in modern fiction: a new view of biblical women's society.

My Thoughts: 
I didn’t know what to expect when I picked up this book.  I had heard good things about and picked it up multiple times but never got around to reading it.  I really wish I hadn’t put it off for so long because I really enjoyed it.  I loved seeing the story of Jacob and his sons as told by a woman (Jacob’s daughter, Dina) and it was interesting to see that the author didn’t make Joseph into this amazing person.  Joseph was almost one of the many villains in the story which goes against everything I was always taught as a kid which I think is great.  This was a very unique story of women in ancient Canaan and it was so fascinating to see the customs of the time and how everyday life was for women.  I felt like Dinah was such a strong character and I found myself not being able to put the book down because I wanted to see what would happen to her next.  The writing in this book is excellent and made the story that much more enjoyable.  This was definitely an excellent read.  4 stars.

Labels:

Comments

  1. AnneOctober 26, 2011 at 7:23 AM

    I have had this one on my bookshelf for a really long time. I hope I find time to read it soon, it sound like a great book.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Danielle ZappavignaOctober 29, 2011 at 8:22 AM

    This is one of my favourite books. I know it's not the best written, or most literary book in the world, but I just really love the story of the women.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ShoshanahNovember 5, 2011 at 3:37 PM

    I loved this first half of this, although I wasn't a huge fan of how it changed when the story moved to Egypt. It has been several years since I've read it, I think back in high school, so I'd love to be able to go back and reread it.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: "Oleanna" by Julie K. Rose

Synopsis:  Set during the separation of Norway from Sweden in 1905, this richly detailed novel of love and loss was inspired by the life of the author's great-great-aunts. Oleanna and her sister Elisabeth are the last of their family working their farm deep in the western fjordland. A new century has begun, and the world outside is changing, but in the Sunnfjord their world is as small and secluded as the verdant banks of a high mountain lake. The arrival of Anders, a cotter living just across the farm's border, unsettles Oleanna 's peaceful but isolated existence. Sharing a common bond of loneliness and grief, Anders stirs within her the wildness and wanderlust she has worked so hard to tame. When she is confronted with another crippling loss, Oleanna must decide once and for all how to face her past, claim her future, and find her place in a wide new world. My Thoughts:   I was very surprised by what an absolutely beautiful story Oleanna is.  The ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review and Giveaway: "Distant Signs" by Anne Richter

Synopsis: Distant Signs is an intimate portrait of two families spanning three generations amidst turbulent political change, behind and beyond the Berlin Wall. In 1960s East Germany, Margret, a professor’s daughter from the city, meets and marries Hans, from a small village in Thuringia. The couple struggle to contend with their different backgrounds, and the emotional scars they bear from childhood in the aftermath of war. As East German history gradually unravels, with collision of the personal and political, their two families’ hidden truths are quietly revealed. An exquisitely written novel with strongly etched characters that stay with you long after the book is finished and an authentic portrayal of family life behind the iron curtain based on personal experience of the author who is East German and was 16 years old at the fall of the Berlin Wall. Why do families repeat destructive patterns of behaviour across generations? Should the personal take precedence over...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mailbox Monday (49)

It's time for another Mailbox Monday post!  Once again I could not resist the cheap ebooks that Amazon and Barnes and Noble were promoting this week.  I really need to stop!  I already have more than I can read.  I also was able to spend a little time browsing at the library and I came home with a nice stack of books.  These days, I hardly ever get to spend time at the library by myself for more than a minute or two so it was wonderful to have time to just wander and see what I could find. Purchased (for kindle): The Color of Secrets by Lindsay Ashford The One I Was by Eliza Graham House of Bathory by Linda Lafferty   Purchased (for nook): One Night in Winter by Simon Sebag Montefiore  Becoming Queen Victoria by Kate Williams From the Library: The Messenger by Daniel Silva   The Ripper's Wife by Brandy Purdy Hotel Moscow by Talia Carner Brazen by Katherine Longshore What books did you get...
15 comments
Read more