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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I never realized just how much I hate new age mystical goddess worship, and mother earth menstrual reverence until I read this book. I have a period, and trust me, there is nothing mystical or reverential about it.
Something else the author insists on doing throughout this book which I hate is using the book to show off how much research she's done and how interesting she finds said research, to the detriment of the novel's plot, characters, and pacing. We do not need every tidbit of info that you found "fascinating" crammed into the story, because trust me, reading pages and pages of food descriptions for the 300th time isn't exactly interesting reading. Especially when in contrast, an entire city of men is murdered and you spend only a paragraph describing it. Where's the balance?
Also, what was with all the sheep fucking? I realize that this does happen in lonely agricultural settings, but at one point in the novel, one of the girls is taken to look out over a field to see that all the shepherds are just going to town on the sheep, in some sort of bestiality orgy. WTF? ALL the men just fuck the livestock? At the same time? It's a bit excessive and just pointlessly gross.
And if that wasn't enough we get child rape via a statue, child brides, and bride swapping (because who cares who you're marrying, as long as you get to have sex with something that isn't a sheep?). This book was just filled with ick that was never purposeful or going anywhere.
Something else the author insists on doing throughout this book which I hate is using the book to show off how much research she's done and how interesting she finds said research, to the detriment of the novel's plot, characters, and pacing. We do not need every tidbit of info that you found "fascinating" crammed into the story, because trust me, reading pages and pages of food descriptions for the 300th time isn't exactly interesting reading. Especially when in contrast, an entire city of men is murdered and you spend only a paragraph describing it. Where's the balance?
Also, what was with all the sheep fucking? I realize that this does happen in lonely agricultural settings, but at one point in the novel, one of the girls is taken to look out over a field to see that all the shepherds are just going to town on the sheep, in some sort of bestiality orgy. WTF? ALL the men just fuck the livestock? At the same time? It's a bit excessive and just pointlessly gross.
And if that wasn't enough we get child rape via a statue, child brides, and bride swapping (because who cares who you're marrying, as long as you get to have sex with something that isn't a sheep?). This book was just filled with ick that was never purposeful or going anywhere.
Remarkable. What if the Bible had a female share their side of their story? The Red Tent does exactly that through Dinah’s version. It puts into perspective how different a story can be when it’s shared through a female’s voice. The strength and role of a female during the biblical times are often hidden or oppressed and is brought to light in this fiction. Loved the feminism throughout and the stories of ancient history of childbirth, childbearing, celebrating mensuration at every new moons in the red tent (makes me wonder how are we really valuing our cycles nowadays?), and carrying joy, sorrow, sufferings and love in one’s heart. An incredible read for anyone no matter what your belief might be nor whether if you know biblical stories or not. Not a light read, and have many possible triggers including: rape, abuse, child/ren being taken away at birth, male power, sexism, and racism.
This is my second reading of The Red Tent. The first reading reduced me to tears for the second half of the book. The second time I was able to enjoy the beautiful, moving prose and the way Anita Diamant captures the lives of these women and creates a full picture and complete human beings for characters that many of the Judeo-Christian culture think they know so well. This is a brilliant concept, beautifully executed.
The Rent Tent. This is a wonderful book. The story is pure and ancient. A timeless tale for women of all ages.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
challenging
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
informative
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
2nd time reading this as part of my February "Love Month" in which I am re-reading a large chunk of the books I've marked as favorites over the years to see if they are still truly favorites or if they were only a favorite because they struck at the right time/place in my life.
It is necessary for me to note the then of my first time reading this versus the now of my second time reading this. I promise this is somewhat relevant to how I review this book.
THEN
I first read this eight to ten weeks after having my first child, a daughter who is now a preteen (GULP). I vividly recall weeping over the contents of the book while hooked up to a breast pump at work during one of the generous twenty minute time slots the company allowed in a glorified closet they called "the mother's room."
I imagine that my hormones were all over the place at that point, and this was the perfect book to fiddle with my new mom emotions.
Why? Because this book is FULL of the power of women and their ability to bleed and to bear children, women supporting women, childbirth, midwives, etc. It contains lines such as these:
Just as there is no warning for childbirth, there is no preparation for the sight of a first child. I studied his face, fingers, the folds in his boneless little legs, the whorls of his ears, the tiny nipples on his chest. I held my breath as he sighed, laughed when he yawned, wondered at his grasp on my thumb. I could not get my fill of looking.
There should be a song for women to sing at this moment, or a prayer to recite. But perhaps there is none because there are no words strong enough to name that moment. Like every mother since the first mother, I was overcome and bereft, exalted and ravaged. I had crossed over from girlhood. I beheld myself as an infant in my mother's arms, and caught a glimpse of my own death. I wept without knowing whether I rejoiced or mourned. My mothers and their mothers were with me as I held my baby.
Pretty impactful stuff for a twenty-five year old brand spankin' new mom recently back to work and unaccustomed to being separated from her baby for ten hours a day, five days a week.
NOW
Oddly enough, my second reading of this once again aligns with mom stuff. I am currently 35 weeks pregnant with my third and last child/daughter. I wasn't sure how this would hit; I couldn't even recall much about the book other than my original response to it.
It wasn't quite the same. This is still a great book, but it didn't knock my socks off like it did over twelve years ago, which leads me to believe much of the feeling I had towards it directly correlated with where I was at in life when I first read it.
As I said, this is (still) a great book. There's a lot to love -
I love the bonding of the women in the story. I love looking at periods as something empowering rather than something shameful or embarrassing. I love that sex was not treated as a shameful act and was written about in a way that merely enhanced the story - it was neither dialed way down nor amped way up for the sake of sales either way.
I didn't feel as much for Dinah as I hoped even though I had been on this journey with her from start to finish. Terrible things happened to her (and some wonderful things, too), yet I felt like I was reacting from a distance. Sometimes I wasn't reacting at all.
Still the story is intriguing, and I wasn't ever bored. I didn't even flinch at some of the repetitive points such as the food (this may just be the pregnancy talking but man am I ever craving cheese and olives now) or the midwife deliveries. I did long for shorter chapters because that personally propels me to keep reading, but I'm not taking any marks off for that personal preference. I also thought the first half of the book in which Dinah is still with her mothers was far stronger than the second half in which she is in Egypt.
With this being historical fiction, I wasn't concerned with how biblically accurate this was or was not, so that was not an issue for me either way. If nothing else, the strings of names after names after names after names of "son of" and "daughter of" and "mother of" and "father of" and so on and so forth made me feel like I was reading the Old Testament.
Jeepers. I'm not sure how this review became so long. Maybe I'm just avoiding having to admit what I'm about to admit.
This is not really a favorite any longer. [Insert tears here]
Again (again!), I think it is a great book, but I'm not completely over the moon about it nor am I prone to gush about it to anyone and everyone in the upcoming years.
4 Stars
It is necessary for me to note the then of my first time reading this versus the now of my second time reading this. I promise this is somewhat relevant to how I review this book.
THEN
I first read this eight to ten weeks after having my first child, a daughter who is now a preteen (GULP). I vividly recall weeping over the contents of the book while hooked up to a breast pump at work during one of the generous twenty minute time slots the company allowed in a glorified closet they called "the mother's room."
I imagine that my hormones were all over the place at that point, and this was the perfect book to fiddle with my new mom emotions.
Why? Because this book is FULL of the power of women and their ability to bleed and to bear children, women supporting women, childbirth, midwives, etc. It contains lines such as these:
Just as there is no warning for childbirth, there is no preparation for the sight of a first child. I studied his face, fingers, the folds in his boneless little legs, the whorls of his ears, the tiny nipples on his chest. I held my breath as he sighed, laughed when he yawned, wondered at his grasp on my thumb. I could not get my fill of looking.
There should be a song for women to sing at this moment, or a prayer to recite. But perhaps there is none because there are no words strong enough to name that moment. Like every mother since the first mother, I was overcome and bereft, exalted and ravaged. I had crossed over from girlhood. I beheld myself as an infant in my mother's arms, and caught a glimpse of my own death. I wept without knowing whether I rejoiced or mourned. My mothers and their mothers were with me as I held my baby.
Pretty impactful stuff for a twenty-five year old brand spankin' new mom recently back to work and unaccustomed to being separated from her baby for ten hours a day, five days a week.
NOW
Oddly enough, my second reading of this once again aligns with mom stuff. I am currently 35 weeks pregnant with my third and last child/daughter. I wasn't sure how this would hit; I couldn't even recall much about the book other than my original response to it.
It wasn't quite the same. This is still a great book, but it didn't knock my socks off like it did over twelve years ago, which leads me to believe much of the feeling I had towards it directly correlated with where I was at in life when I first read it.
As I said, this is (still) a great book. There's a lot to love -
I love the bonding of the women in the story. I love looking at periods as something empowering rather than something shameful or embarrassing. I love that sex was not treated as a shameful act and was written about in a way that merely enhanced the story - it was neither dialed way down nor amped way up for the sake of sales either way.
I didn't feel as much for Dinah as I hoped even though I had been on this journey with her from start to finish. Terrible things happened to her (and some wonderful things, too), yet I felt like I was reacting from a distance. Sometimes I wasn't reacting at all.
Still the story is intriguing, and I wasn't ever bored. I didn't even flinch at some of the repetitive points such as the food (this may just be the pregnancy talking but man am I ever craving cheese and olives now) or the midwife deliveries. I did long for shorter chapters because that personally propels me to keep reading, but I'm not taking any marks off for that personal preference. I also thought the first half of the book in which Dinah is still with her mothers was far stronger than the second half in which she is in Egypt.
With this being historical fiction, I wasn't concerned with how biblically accurate this was or was not, so that was not an issue for me either way. If nothing else, the strings of names after names after names after names of "son of" and "daughter of" and "mother of" and "father of" and so on and so forth made me feel like I was reading the Old Testament.
Jeepers. I'm not sure how this review became so long. Maybe I'm just avoiding having to admit what I'm about to admit.
This is not really a favorite any longer. [Insert tears here]
Again (again!), I think it is a great book, but I'm not completely over the moon about it nor am I prone to gush about it to anyone and everyone in the upcoming years.
4 Stars