Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by marginaliant
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
5.0
Really magnificently written. I thought I wasn't going to resonate with it because I very, very rarely resonate with stories about women where childbirth and menstruation are big themes, but this one was absolutely stunning.
This was exactly what I needed after reading Circe (I was... not on the hype train for that one, to put it mildly.) Where Miller wrote a novel that inserted sexual assault into an existing myth to give a catalyst for the growth of her character (like Greek myth doesn't have enough of that, honestly), Diamant translates the theme of sexual violence. Instead of Dinah being raped, as she is in the Bible, Diamant weaves a story of first love that is cut down by the masculine world of religious fervor and honor. It added depth and complexity to the story where it could have easily fallen into the woman-is-raped-and-becomes-a-badass cliche. Thank god.
The writing is also swoon-worthy. It feels warm, it feels like a story that is being told in a hut like the one Dinah shared with her mothers. The characters felt real, felt deep, even though there were a lot of them. Similarly, I was impressed that Diamant didn't fall into the trap of writing a Biblical polygamous marriage that felt modern. The relationships between Dinah's father and his wives was not just four modern romantic relationships. I appreciated that.
It took me ten minutes to read the final three pages of the book because I was crying and couldn't see the words. So there's that.
This was exactly what I needed after reading Circe (I was... not on the hype train for that one, to put it mildly.) Where Miller wrote a novel that inserted sexual assault into an existing myth to give a catalyst for the growth of her character (like Greek myth doesn't have enough of that, honestly), Diamant translates the theme of sexual violence. Instead of Dinah being raped, as she is in the Bible, Diamant weaves a story of first love that is cut down by the masculine world of religious fervor and honor. It added depth and complexity to the story where it could have easily fallen into the woman-is-raped-and-becomes-a-badass cliche. Thank god.
The writing is also swoon-worthy. It feels warm, it feels like a story that is being told in a hut like the one Dinah shared with her mothers. The characters felt real, felt deep, even though there were a lot of them. Similarly, I was impressed that Diamant didn't fall into the trap of writing a Biblical polygamous marriage that felt modern. The relationships between Dinah's father and his wives was not just four modern romantic relationships. I appreciated that.
It took me ten minutes to read the final three pages of the book because I was crying and couldn't see the words. So there's that.