Her name is Dinah. In the Bible, her life is only hinted at in a brief and violent detour within the more familiar chapters of the Book of Genesis that are about her father, Jacob, and his dozen sons. Told in Dinah's voice, this novel reveals the traditions and turmoils of ancient womanhood—the world of the red tent. It begins with the story of her mothers—Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah—the four wives of Jacob. They love Dinah and give her gifts that sustain her through a hard-working youth, a calling to midwifery, and a new home in a foreign land. Dinah's story reaches out from a remarkable period of early history and creates an intimate connection with the past. Deeply affecting, The Red Tent combines rich storytelling with a valuable achievement in modern fiction: a new view of biblical women's society.
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Though I didn't know anything about Jacob/Leah/Rachel before starting this book, let alone who Dinah was, I was floundering a tiny bit at the start, and wondered if there was information that I didn't have that would help my understanding.
But I was intrigued very quickly and enjoyed reading about Dinah's life. A few parts were a little slow, but there was definitely drama enough to make things entertaining. It was obvious that Diamant did a huge volume of research, which was impressive.
After finishing this novel, I borrowed the Old Testament and read a couple of chapters about Jacob, and I'm not sure if it was the version I was reading or not, but there seemed to be a couple of differences, not major discrepancies to the red tent. But I loved that Diamant took these bare bones of the OT and fleshed them out, and also from a unique perspective. I've been wanting to read Orson Scott Card's Women of Genesis series, and this book will be a nice alternative to compare!
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