The Red Tent by Anita Diamant Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Red Tent
Book Review: "The Red Tent".
Summary: 5 Stars
A fascinating tale of women and men borne of Joseph. It truly is as the Bible would have read if written by a woman. It reveals many aspects of the women's lives that were before untold. (Hard to believe this is a novel .) Very believable. It has many unexpected twists and turns. A wonderful read, I didn't want it to end. Hope Anita writes another SOON!Book Review: (this is not going to be a popular review)
Summary: 1 Stars
I have read hundreds of books. I have started, but not finished, thousands. Almost always it's because I lose interest in the book for one reason or another. This is the first book ever that I have thrown down in disgust and refused to read any more. It wasn't because it's a "woman's book." Most of my favorite authors are women. I can see the value in the repeated awe-filled descriptions of birth and menstruation. I can see how these are mystic experiences, though by the third or fourth or fifth birth, I admit I grew a little weary of the repetition. It did perturb me a bit that, while the women were colorful, complex, well-rendered characters, the men were cardboard brutes. But men have written women in the same manner for centuries, so even if it's an intentional feminist choice instead of the author's weakness, it's understandable, forgiveable. No, that's not why I quit reading.
It wasn't the Biblical inaccuracies. Though they are so plentiful and obvious it seems like it would have just been simpler for Ms. Diamant to change her characters' names and written about a contemporary of Dinah, Leah and Rachel. I don't know enough to judge the accuracy of Ms. Diamant's rendering of the time period, but it is convincing and captivating. Eventually, I stopped thinking, "wait a minute...that's not the way it happened," and just let the author tell her story her way. Actually, I'm kind of glad she did as she did; the people in Genesis are mean and nasty to each other, and wouldn't be much fun to read about. With a few changes, Ms. Diamant takes Rachel and Leah and their horrible rivalry and changes it into something respectable, even admirable.
It wasn't the worshipful adoration of paganism, though it's true that bugged me almost to the point of quitting. I know it's true that Rachel and Leah et al probably worshipped gods other than the God of Jacob. But while Ms. Diamant may have the freedom to change the details of the Genesis account to fit her story, but surely she owes some thematic debt to the original telling - whether you consider it simple literature or a sacred text. If there's one major theme you take away from the history of the people of Israel that's called the Bible, it's that pagan gods are their bane, their major weakness. When they get rid of them, they prosper. When they bring them back, they suffer. To treat this bane with such reverence, awe, and admiration is to mock the original work itself. But while this irked me, I lived with it; perhaps she worships pagan gods herself, and desires to rewrite their role in the history of her people (From the titles of her nonfiction books, I'm pretty sure she's Jewish.) OK, understandable. I'll disagree, but I'll keep reading.
No, what caused me to throw the book down in disgust was this line in particular:
"...'You serve the God of Jacob' was one of the worst insults one man could hurl at another for many generations."
After making Jacob into a weak, violent coward, after (through her narrator) cursing him and all his children and all their children, after taking every major interaction Jacob has with his God and making it ugly and base, she makes the name of God a vile curse in the mouth of the people of the land.
What if I were to sit down and write a fictional account of Gandhi and make him a murderer, a liar, a coward, make all his actions not motivated by a higher ideal, but by lust, or greed? Would it matter that this book was fiction and didn't claim to be anything else, or would it still be offensive? Would it even be worth reading, or would you write it off as propaganda and reactionism? I have no illusions about Jacob or his sons -- even the Biblical account of them is far from flattering, and they are not my heroes -- but through this telling, Ms. Diamant has managed not only to spit on their names, but also on the name of the God of Jacob whom they serve.
I, too, serve the God of Jacob. And, Ms. Diamant, if you were intending to insult me and my people with this book, you have done so.
I'm just astounded so few have noticed.
Book Review: 10 stars! This Book Blew me away!
Summary: 5 Stars
Let me just say that I sobbed all over the last thrid of the novel as I read it last night. The PASSION, The Heartbreak and heartache, the bond of women..this book slayed me! Thank you for the poetry, for the words of our ancestors and for the emotion!Book Review: 5
Summary: 5 Stars
this was the best book i read last summer- it deserves Five StarsBook Review: 777 stars...all those 'negative' reviews mean something positive!
Summary: 5 Stars
it's about time that orthodoxy in all its forms crumbles.
here is part of the crumbling of the weak mortar.
love it.
the overly patriarchic impulse needs it's own tent to cower in.