Fiction

The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant

I had a copy of The Red Tent a full week before I picked it up and started reading. From the first passage I was hooked.

This is a wonderful story told in the voice of Dinah, a much overlooked character in the bible. For the first time you see a glimpse into her stories and the story of her mothers, the wives of Jacob, the famed biblical father of a dozen sons. There are parts of this book that are so explicit that I cringed but plowed through to really get a sense of life back in this time.

The theme, and title of this book, The Red Tent, describes the actual tent that women huddle together during their 'moon time' - modern day known as a menstruation cycle. The bonds between the women are explored as they share the red tent together. The stories that are told and handed down from generation to generation are wonderful and something that is not done today. They had a verbal family tree and account of their generations that I yearn for now.

In this era their stories were the only way to hand down family lore and legend. Today we barely have enough time to talk around the dinner table - let alone take a week out of every month with our mothers, daughters, sisters and friends to unload all our problems and stories.

The comradeship between the women in this story was awe-inspiring. Although they dealt with the same envies and jealousies that we do today they knew they needed each other in almost a spiritual way and this bond was apparent through the book as something completely unbreakable.

The Red Tent starts with Dinah's mothers' stories, moves on to her own story and then finishes with the story of their travel to Egypt and their life thereafter.

I recommend this book to anyone. There isn't a woman out there that I think would not enjoy this story and as did I will find it very hard to put down once you start reading.

Undoubtedly you will seek out a copy of the Bible when you're done reading to glimpse the small story of Dinah. Diamant opens up a world to her readers that for most is long forgotten or barely thought of. For the duration of The Red Tent I felt as though I lived in biblical times, shared the red tent with my family and friends and listened intently to my own generational stories.

Deeply affecting, The Red Tent combines rich storytelling with a valuable achievement in modern fiction: a new view of biblical women's society. ~ Picador USA

Copyright 2002
This review is available for reprint.