The Red Tent
By Anita Diamant Reviewed by Helen Ogden
For someone who is not the slightest bit religious, biblical stories never fail to fascinate me. One of the oldest stories in the world, if not the oldest, is told lovingly here, and from such a different perspective that the story draws you in with its power.
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant retells the story of Dinah, which is found in the biblical book of Genesis, Chapter 34. This episode, usually known as the “Rape of Dinah” has been a difficult passage for bible readers for centuries because of the murderous behavior of Jacob’s sons. In Genesis, Dinah does not say a single word - what happens to her is recounted and characterised as rape by her brothers. In Diamant’s spellbinding version, Dinah finds her voice.
The book is an epic celebration of womanhood from childhood to adulthood in which Dinah’s life is told in equally harrowing and joyful shades. It is the men that are traditionally remembered in her history - her father Jacob and brother Joseph and his famous technicolour dreamcoat.
All the major themes; birth, death, love, hate, forgiveness and betrayal, are plentiful showing that Diamant has accurately researched this account of biblical life.
The tent in the book’s title refers to the where the women went each month to pass their |
|
 |
menstruation - and what sane woman wouldn’t want to spend their time in a tent gossiping and eating during their period?
Jokes aside, this book is a real tribute to Diamant as a writer. All the colours, sounds and sights of life as a Jewish woman in that time are told with such conviction it’s difficult to believe Diamant wasn’t invoking some reincarnation of herself to write the book. The scenes of violence surrounding the supposed “rape” of the main character are heart-wrenching, especially as Dinah loses everything she loves and has to re-build her life, seeing someone else bring up her only son.
Published worldwide in 1997, the book’s appeal found support from readers largely through word-of-mouth. Diamant says herself that the fact it was so a highly regarded in book groups worldwide, has contributed to its success.
And it is easy to see why. The friendship and rivalry between Dinah’s much celebrated “mothers” is echoed time and time again in the modern world and makes for compelling and uplifting reading.
|
