The Red Tent by Anita Diamant; read by Carol Bilger- Audio CD
- Publisher: Macmillan Audio; Unabridged edition (January 5, 2002)
- ISBN-13: 978-1559277099
Back-of-the-box blurb: The Red Tent is based upon a mention in Genesis of Jacob’s only female offspring–his daughter, Dinah.
Author Anita Diamant, in the voice of Dinah, gives an insider’s look at the details of women’s lives in biblical times and a chronicle of their earthy stories and long-ignored histories. The red tent of the title is the place where women were sequestered during their cycles of birthing, menses, and illness. It is here that Dinah hears the whispered stories of her four mothers — Jacob’s wives Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah — and tells their tales to us in remarkable and thought-provoking oratories. Familiar passages from the Bible take on new life as Dinah fills in what the Bible has left out — the lives of women. Dinah tells us of her initiation into the religious and sexual practices of the tribe; Jacob’s courtship with Rachel and Leah; the ancient world of caravans, farmers, midwives, and slaves; her ill-fated sojourn in the city of Sechem; her years in Canaan; and her half-brother Joseph’s rise in Egypt.
She Is Too Fond of Books’ thoughts: I read The Red Tent over a decade ago, when it was first published in the late 1990s. I remember that I liked it, but, I wasn’t keeping any sort of reading journal at the time, and would only have been able to tell you broadly that it was about women’s relationships in the Bible, those special connections that only women share through menstruation and childbirth.
Recently I listened to the unabridged audio of The Red Tent, read by Carol Bilger in a steady and impactful (full of emotion, without emoting) rhythm. What a pleasure!
The book stood up to a re-read/listen, and, since it’s fresh in my aural memory, I can tell you a little more about it. I realize many readers of this blog have already read The Red Tent - if you have, feel free to chime in with a comment if you recall what what significant to you about the novel.
And, it is a novel. That’s one misconception that I need to address right away. Diamant found the germ of her story in the Genesis mention of Dinah, daughter of Joseph. With meticulous research and clever imagining, she gives us a fuller life of Dinah, creating a personality that extends well beyond that brief mention in the Bible.
The Red Tent seems to be broken into two main sections. The first tells the history of the red tent, the sacred place where women in a community would retire each month during menstruation, where children were born, and the old and infirm cared for. Diamant weaves this story into the story of Dinah and her “four mothers,” her siblings, and her tasks as, first a girl, then a woman, under Jacob’s rule.
The second section of The Red Tent looks at those communities which have “forgotten the gift of the Great Mother” and no longer afford women this sacred space in which to rest and restore their bodies each month. Diamant tells of families, tribes, communities which have split and formed their own traditions, abandoning earlier ways, or even being unaware that such ways existed in other times and other places.
It is Dinah who is the constant throughout the novel; Diamant connects bit and pieces of Old Testament stories to her personal tale, making the legends of such men as Jacob and Joseph (yes, he of the hate-filled brothers and the many-colored cloak) come alive. More alive than even these stories, however, is the narrative of Dinah, whose first-person musings take us with her across lands and across time; through hard-earned joy and deeply-felt sorrow; examining the lives of both royalty and commoner; midwife, tradesman, and scholar. An excellent novel for those who can appreciate good writing and not feel compelled to argue the historical accuracy of each event.
I love books that bring the past alive, but I know so little about the historical fact, I have a bad habit of absorbing the story as truth. I know better, but I still do it. I’m going to have to seek out this audio, as I may be the last person on earth who has not yet read it.
There are months when I wish I had a tent to go hide…
I loved this book when I first read it (also as a new release over a decade ago) and it’s one of the few books I plan to reread one day. I will see if the audio is available at my library. A great option.
Glad you enjoyed so much the second time!
I know this is a much loved book that I should probably read, but it’s not calling out to me. I’ll have to think about it.
I read this book I think after I graduated college? In college? And I liked it MUCH more than I expected. I really steer clear of religious fiction, but my friend told me it was more of a feminist work, and I enjoyed it a lot.
This is one of the only books that I have ever read twice, and the second time around, I wrote a review, but have not yet posed it, I think. It really was such a powerful book about women and the power of our minds and bodies, and I found it fascinating. This would be a great book to have listened to, as I imagine there might be a real increase on the potency of the tale told verbally. Fantastic review, Dawn! I might even consider reading this one again!
I, too, read this book many years ago, right after it came out. I found it very, very interesting and was amazed at how this author took a little known character in Genesis and wrote a story about her life. I found it really fascinating and wondered if the customs were accurate as they were presented in the first half. Quite a different twist on some well-loved Bible characters (Joseph, anyone?). I took it to my book group and we read and discussed it several years ago. Not all liked it, especially the second half (not my favorite half either). One funny thing was that this book group was sponsored by the library branch where I worked. I was the staff member that moderated the group. Anyway, it was a group that had all lady members. We had our first male visitor the day we discussed THE RED TENT. He was an older man and he did very well. Significantly, he never returned. We all laughed about that. We did tell him that our discussions were rarely so “female”. LOL
I am probably the only person who has not read this book. For some reason it just doesn’t interest me.
I remember loving this one when I read it years ago. Didn’t I just read today that Lifetime is developing a mini-series based on the book?
Like Kathy, this book didn’t call out to me, maybe because I’m not familiar enough with Bible stories as I should be, but recently someone gave me this book. She told me that she loved it so much and felt so strongly that I would love it that she thrust it into my hands and told me I had to read it. That was about 3 weeks ago, and I still haven’t picked it up. I WILL, though! How timely this post was for me. Thank you for your thoughts!
I read this a long time ago, too, and like you remember very little. Sounds like I should put it on my list of audio books to check out!
How are you feeling?? Did the cold go away?
I remember thinking, when I first started the book, that there was something quite shameful about being relegated to the Red Tent. As I kept reading, I thought, even though the men may not respect the tent, they are a little afraid of it, and it does give the women in their lives a respite from what had to be a very hard life. I found the book fascinating.
Modern midrash always intrigues me. I both read and listened to this when it first came out.
I remember loving this book when it came out and crying so hard over it. Damn you, Oprah! Why must you bring me tears?
My father-in-law kept pressing me to read this book, but I never did. After he died, I saw it at a library sale and snapped it up. Still haven’t read it though, but I really must change that!