THE RED TENT: Anita Diamant: Picador: 1998:Fiction: 336 pagesThe Red Tent is historical fiction retelling the book of Genesis through the eyes of Dinah, Leah's only daughter. Though she is only mentioned in one verse of the bible, Diamont follows her story until she, like her brothers, is united with Joseph in Egypt and then eventually passes away. It was interesting for the bible characters of my flannel board story youth to have daily lives; but even more interesting to see her take on some of the Bible characters (if only for the sake of a good story). Joseph, for example, isn't the wise, kind, and forgiving prophet he is often portrayed as, but a "foreign born", arrogant, second best. There were a couple of weird scenes involving female maturation rituals of the culture, but I guess the book was largely about that. I wasn't ooed and awed by this book, but it was a fairly interesting read. It got a little boring at parts - but It was good enough to finish.
BES
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Red Tent is one of my favorites for historical fiction. It was probably one of the first books of its kind that I read, and it lead me to other historical fiction books about Old Testament women. It also gave me an interest in the history of the time period as a whole, making seminary and school topics more interesting. Since there is very little about the women of the 12 tribes of Israel, amid all the other Bible chapters about this important family, I think this book fills a much needed space to tell about these remarkable women (even if it’s fiction). There are a lot of people to keep track of in this novel, but Diamant does a good job investing in each character and their relationships, so you get a in depth scope of the entire family and what’s happening.
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