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 … Bilhah-the four wives of Jacob. They love Dinah and give her gifts that are to sustain her through a damaged 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, immediate connection.
Deeply affecting, The Red Tent combines rich storytelling with a valuable achievement in modern fiction: a new view of Biblical women’s society.
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I love a historical novel that makes me feel like I’m living in another time and place, which is exactly what The Red Tent will do for you. Such an incredible look into the difficult situations women faced in ancient times.
Just who gets to decide what is religion? Who’s god(s) is/are more important. Throughout history women’s voices have been stifled to promote a male-centered world view. An excellent informative read for all women.
This was such an original story with loads of historical information. The author does not tell the biblical story exactly.but she transported me to that era of time and kept me riveted to the pages all the way through. Very entertaining.
This year marks the twentieth anniversary of this exceptional novel that is always included when I write or talk about my favorite works of historical fiction. Please don’t think you won’t be able to connect with a novel twenty years old, because this is a timeless story.
I always like to praise authors who come up with completely original ideas, and Diamant has done just that. She has taken a little-known, barely mentioned woman in the Bible and fictionalized her life. Dinah’s life is compelling and unpredictable, and as you follow her story, you will also learn a great deal about womens’ lives during the Biblical era. The Red Tent will stay with you for a long time. Simply stunning and unusual.
What more can I add to thousands of reviews for a book published more than twenty years ago? The book is a story of women, told from the viewpoint of Dinah, from before Dinah is born. The red tent was a gathering place for the women on their monthly cycle. The story takes place in Biblical times, which were harsh times. In fact, I had to reference the family tree drawn in the beginning, preface as I read the entire book.
I confess this was a very hard book to get interested in as I struggled with a complicated family tree and a lot of names. The first hundred pages reference so many names, children of four different wives, I had a hard time tracking it. I only stayed with it because it was a book club choice. It was not until I finished that I realized the fete of writing this book represents. Perhaps, if I had more Bible studies, I would have recognized the names from the Book of Exodus. A five-star fete of research, writing, and imagining of day-to-day life, for me a four-star read only because it took so long to stay interested.
This is a totally spectacular book.
It is based on a Biblical event from Genesis. Dinah is the daughter of Jacob – the Jacob of a dozen sons. In the Bible she is mentioned briefly – because of an event that happens to her which leads to a massacre.
But the book is more than just the story of a woman who had a brief moment in the Bible. More importantly it is the Story of the Red Tent – and what goes on through the years in that Red Tent.
The Red Tent is the centre of women’s rituals in the society – the place where women go to give birth, where they go to during their time of menses, and even times of illness. The histories of the women of the culture are told in The Red Tent.
It is also a history of the events occurring during the historic period of Jacob, his sons, and especially of his son Joseph.
The Red Tent is a treasure – a book to be read again and again – keeping it and it wonderful characters, close to one’s heart.
Loved this historical fiction book! This book is very well written and compelling from the first page. Highly recommend this page turner about the love of family.
I enjoyed this book very much. It shares a woman’s perspective of growing to womanhood in biblical times
A captivating read.
A beautiful book that gave voice to Dinah. While not exactly biblical fiction as I was expecting (this story varies from its biblical origins), I still greatly enjoyed this book and have gained a new perspective on ancient and biblical women.
It was great!
I read it so long ago all I can remember is that I really enjoyed it.
It was an interesting read, but not very biblical.
I wanted to love this book after reading all the positive reviews but there was just something rather unsettling about the inter-marriages, cruelty & rituals playing out amongst the characters. The author writes such beautiful prose & I loved her ‘Last Days of Dogtown’ but this was far more tedious & seemed to take forever to get to the conclusion.
This story which is beautifully told, takes place in Biblical times and is told in the voice of Dinah, the only daughter of Jacob. He also sired 12 sons by his four wives, who were all sisters, Dinah’s mother giving him the most children..
Dinah’s life in the Bible was only hinted at in the book of Genesis, and the author has used her character to develop a wonderful insight into what life in that time must have been like for women. It starts off with the story of her mother and her mothers sisters, who also become mothers to her, and how each of their relationships developed with Jacob and their roles in his life, and how the women relate to each other. Full of wonderful and insightful lessons this story reveals the traditions and turmoils of ancient womanhood and the goings on within the red tent a place where only women are allowed. (the place women visit to give birth or have their monthly periods) Each of Dinah’s four Mothers give her a different gift, which is insight into each of theirs strengths, lessons which will help her as she grows and goes out on her own.
This is a story that will stay with me for a long time.
An interesting take on how women lost their virginity that has nothing to do with the marriage bed, and everything to do with pagan rites and sacrifices. I’m not really sure this book should be labeled Christian fiction just because it’s about Biblically based historical women.
It was a wonderful book. Very moving.
This book, although historically “stretched” in places, is very interesting and informative. It develops the women characters exceptionally well, discusses food, traditions and patriarchy. The male characters, Jacob, etc., are well developed but take a sub-set position to the women who are forceful, dynamic, impressive, feminine and true role models. Do not miss this book! It will resonate with you long after you complete reading it.
One of my favorites.
t took me approximately 2,919 years to read the first fifty pages of The Red Tent. Slight exaggeration. I did find the start of the novel to be a slog to get through. This family is impossible to keep straight! Thirteen children, four wives… all with impossible to pronounce names. Too bad I didn’t discover the family tree until after I finished the novel.
I finally gave up on trying to remember who was who and things went much better. Once I got over the names, I had to get over the sister wives issue. Somehow Jacob had four wives and still had time to be gentle and loving to each of them. Not only did he have time for them but he was apparently a gentle lover. Hmmm… If you’re his only daughter, though, he won’t be able to recognize you. He will, however, avenge you by killing your beloved and his entire family. Oh my. The family saga aspect of the novel was obviously not my favorite part.
I also struggled with the blatant sexism portrayed in the novel. I realize this is historically accurate, but it only served to remind me that there are many cultures where treating women as second class citizens remains the norm. I usually enjoy novels that take me away from my daily life instead of reminding me there’s a lot in society we still need to improve.
The description of the daily life in Dinah’s time period is the crowning achievement of this novel. The herbs they used for midwifery, for example, was incredibly detailed as was the description of what daily life looked like for women of the time period. It made me more than a bit thankful for living in a modern age.
As someone who studied history, I enjoyed the descriptions of the locations and the various tribes. The landscapes and rivers were easily recognizable despite the passage of thousands of years. Thanks to Diamant’s descriptive voice, I could imagine what Ancient Egypt was like when Dinah arrived there.
Although there were aspects of the novel I appreciated, I wouldn’t have slogged through those fifty pages had it not been for my book club. If you enjoy historical novels, give it a try.