Author: Anita Diamant
Publication date: 1998
It is the rare (but cherished book) that paints a tapestry of such vivid locations, characters and storylines that you can picture yourself in their midst as the pages turn. The Red Tent is such a book for me.
Anita Diamant’s novel crafts the story of Dinah, daughter of Jacob and Leah; sister to Joseph and 11 other brothers in Canaan more than 2,000 years ago. Dinah serves as narrator telling first the story of her father and his courtship of her aunt, his inevitable marriage to her own mother and her mother's three sisters. The second part of the story is Dinah's own story and she tells of her childhood playing with Joseph and being adored by her mother and aunties as the only girl child of Jacob's tribe. The final story encompasses Dinah's years in Egypt.
Despite taking place more than 2,000 years ago, The Red Tent, for me, was a story of feminism at its core. The red tent itself is the physical location where all of the women congregate during that most womanly time of the month. The women of this time were certainly not equal to the men. However, the women within Jacob's tribe asserted themselves more so than would be expected of that time. It is Diamant's skill as a writer and Dinah's voice as a narrator that make me pause to consider that this is a work of fiction.
Though it was published 17 years, The Red Tent remains as powerful today as it was when it was first released. If I hadn't been pushing the limits of my typical book picks to satisfy this reading challenge -- and if a friend hadn't thrust the book in my hands with the decree "you have to read this" -- I would not have experienced The Red Tent.
Five stars
Next challenge: A book that takes place in your hometown
No comments:
Post a Comment