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A review by badseedgirl
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
2.0
edit June 10, 2015: On further deep thought, the women in this novel would NOT have been christian anyway, this was an Old Testament story, but they were not acting very Jewish either with their prayers to multiple deities.
I'm not sure how I feel about this novel. I waited 24 hours before writing this review, because I thought I would be able to sort out my feelings about it. Here is what I do know. In this novel the biblical heroes, Jacob and Joseph do not act very biblical. In fact they break almost every commandment Moses brought down from the mountain at some point in the book, and if they actually followed biblical laws would have been stoned, had their hands cut off and been stricken from the tribe so many times I actually lost count. The women in this novel are NOT christians. They worship numerous gods, El, the god of Jacob being just one. And not a major one.
All that being said, I enjoyed the novel enough to finish it. The first 2/3rd of the book are about Dinah "mothers" Leah, Rachel, Zilpah and Bilhah. I called these first 2 books SISTER WIVES: BC (BEFORE CHRIST), or if you are politically correct or a school student from the last 10 years BCE (Before Common Era). In these books we find out how hard it is for four sisters to be married to the same man. Plus we also got to glimpse what happens when one family has 14 children. (like "19 Kids and Counting", and we have recently seen first hand how well that went!) Seriously, I thought I was reading an episode of a TLC show!
The last third is what happened to everyone after Dinah's family conspired to kill and rob her husband AND HIS ENTIRE TOWN! She suffers hardship and joy and ultimately finds peace and happiness.
I'm giving this novel 2.5 out of 5 stars, it was better than "OK" but not really something I would call "Good"
I'm not sure how I feel about this novel. I waited 24 hours before writing this review, because I thought I would be able to sort out my feelings about it. Here is what I do know. In this novel the biblical heroes, Jacob and Joseph do not act very biblical. In fact they break almost every commandment Moses brought down from the mountain at some point in the book, and if they actually followed biblical laws would have been stoned, had their hands cut off and been stricken from the tribe so many times I actually lost count. The women in this novel are NOT christians. They worship numerous gods, El, the god of Jacob being just one. And not a major one.
All that being said, I enjoyed the novel enough to finish it. The first 2/3rd of the book are about Dinah "mothers" Leah, Rachel, Zilpah and Bilhah. I called these first 2 books SISTER WIVES: BC (BEFORE CHRIST), or if you are politically correct or a school student from the last 10 years BCE (Before Common Era). In these books we find out how hard it is for four sisters to be married to the same man. Plus we also got to glimpse what happens when one family has 14 children. (like "19 Kids and Counting", and we have recently seen first hand how well that went!) Seriously, I thought I was reading an episode of a TLC show!
The last third is what happened to everyone after Dinah's family conspired to kill and rob her husband AND HIS ENTIRE TOWN! She suffers hardship and joy and ultimately finds peace and happiness.
I'm giving this novel 2.5 out of 5 stars, it was better than "OK" but not really something I would call "Good"