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The Red Tent  

post #1 of 35
9/10/06 at 12:26pm
Thread Starter 
I just finished this book a couple of days ago. OH MY GOSH. What a stinking good book!!! I laughed and I cried through it! It was so awesome.
I really, really ache for that kind of sisterhood. And needless to say..it got me burning to be a midwife, dude.
Oh I just love the way the author wrote this book! I love how she described menses and birth and even sex!
post #2 of 35
9/10/06 at 12:32pm
I agree, I love this book. I've read it several times and I NEVER do that! There is just something about this book, the characters are great, the writing brings you in, it spans time well, I really enjoy it! Thanks for mentioning it, I might have to pull it back out and read it again!
post #3 of 35
9/10/06 at 8:10pm
I also loved this book. It made me feel in tune with all the women in history who have gone through birth and all the highs and lows of womanhood before me.
post #4 of 35
9/10/06 at 8:32pm
I also really loved this book! I must find it and read it again... (I own it but who knows where it is!).
post #5 of 35
9/11/06 at 10:38am
Thread Starter 
hehe...I think I'll read it over again too..at least the first half of it when it's all happy and go-lucky! I love the birthing parts in it...how inspirational!
post #6 of 35
9/11/06 at 12:55pm
I have it and remember loving it when I first read it, but now that it's been awhile I think I've forgotten enough that it will be really fun to reread it. I'll have to wade through the books to find it though. . .
post #7 of 35
9/11/06 at 5:02pm
I've read it over and over. I've heard her other books weren't as engaging though
post #8 of 35
9/12/06 at 12:35am
Another fan here. I LOVED it. Wow, it really affected me and I absolutely bawled at certain points later in the book. 'Course I read it when I was pregnant!
post #9 of 35
9/12/06 at 12:43am
You have made me want to read it again. I loved it too.
post #10 of 35
9/12/06 at 12:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by sunset
You have made me want to read it again. I loved it too.
Me too!
post #11 of 35
9/12/06 at 12:55am
One of my favs!
post #12 of 35
9/12/06 at 4:27am

What's it about?

I see it mentioned here quite a lot. Anyone care to give me a brief synopsis?
post #13 of 35
9/12/06 at 9:59am
Quote:
The red tent is the place where women gathered during their cycles of birthing, menses, and even illness. Like the conversations and mysteries held within this feminine tent, this sweeping piece of fiction offers an insider's look at the daily life of a biblical sorority of mothers and wives and their one and only daughter, Dinah. Told in the voice of Jacob's daughter Dinah (who only received a glimpse of recognition in the Book of Genesis), we are privy to the fascinating feminine characters who bled within the red tent. In a confiding and poetic voice, Dinah whispers stories of her four mothers, Rachel, Leah, Zilpah, and Bilhah--all wives to Jacob, and each one embodying unique feminine traits.
http://www.amazon.com/Red-Tent-Anita...e=UTF8&s=books

Excellent read.
post #14 of 35
9/12/06 at 2:32pm
*Skip this post if you have not read the book*



I did not love this book. It kind of fell apart for me. Why did Jacob and his sons just go bad out of the blue? I mean, not even bad, but psychotic. And then Dinah's son went bad, even Joseph became a jerk... I guess it just surprised the heck out of me. I felt like these loving, devoted mothers had no influence over how these men turned out. (I do have 2 sons, so it could have just scared me, )
post #15 of 35
9/12/06 at 5:14pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mom2x
*Skip this post if you have not read the book*



I did not love this book. It kind of fell apart for me. Why did Jacob and his sons just go bad out of the blue? I mean, not even bad, but psychotic. And then Dinah's son went bad, even Joseph became a jerk... I guess it just surprised the heck out of me. I felt like these loving, devoted mothers had no influence over how these men turned out. (I do have 2 sons, so it could have just scared me, )
AGAIN---DO NOT READ THIS POST IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE RED TENT BUT PLAN TO!!

lol, yeah, that shocked the heck out of me. I honestly thought about not reading the rest of it when I hit the part where the massacre happened. I just couldn't believe it. I mean, how awesome was the first half of the book? I was pretty devastated after the bad stuff, but then started enjoying it again when Dinah started doing midwifery.
What bummed me out the most was that Dinah instantly didn't have contact with her mothers. That blew me away. I mean, after growing up with them and learning from them, then all of a sudden having NOTHING to do with them. Wowzers!

But, overall, I think it's a very good book and was very inspirational to me on many levels.
post #16 of 35
9/12/06 at 5:20pm
pretty interesting how circumscision was enough to enable them to murder all the men....
I know that story is in the Bible too-It just never effected me like it did reading this book.
I have a question:
why did their periods only last 3 days??
post #17 of 35
9/12/06 at 11:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by arismommy
why did their periods only last 3 days??
I've always assumed that it was probably because they had such a physically strenuous lifestyle, but I could be wrong (and probably am wrong ).

Also, here is another thread where the book was talked about too: http://www.mothering.com/discussions...t=the+red+tent

*******TALKS ABOUT PLOT BELOW*******


As for the brothers going bad- I think that it is hinted at in the book while the brothers are all growoing up- it talks about the division in the groups of children due to age/mother plus the general temperament of the boys. I don't know- to me, that has to be the hardest part of the book to get into- I looove the story up until that point and I like it after she gets into Egypt (once she grows older- I hate the part where her baby is essentially "taken" from her by Re-nefer (I think that's the name- the MIL)) but the part where she wakes up suffocating in her lover's blood, kills me every time. Then the part where she curses her father and walks back to the town to kill herself so she can be with ther dead lover, just so painful to me (the agony and grief of loss of her lovey plus the loss of her mother/aunts). Can you imagine leaving your mother/aunts like that forever at such a dramatic point in your life? Needless to say, I love the book.
post #18 of 35
9/13/06 at 10:38pm
This is one of my all time favorite books!!!!!!! I loved it. I should read it again.
post #19 of 35
9/14/06 at 12:51am
This has always been in my top 5 faves. The 2nd half was really heart wrenching though.


Blessings,

Traci
Mom to 3 homebirthed boys 16,13 &11
post #20 of 35
9/29/06 at 3:12am
I was reading this just a couple of weeks ago, but did not finish it.

I have been meaning to ask this, so I hope it is ok to ask here. I was wondering how it compaired to the Jewish account of the story. Although I found it quite interesting, I could not overcome the discrepancies between it's story and the Biblical story. I know that the Jewish scriptures are sometimes translated differently than the Christian scriptures, so I was wondering how they compaired to this story.

I love reading Biblical fiction, but found that this one was just too far off.
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