The Red Tent

One of my favorite novels from my childhood is Jacob Have I Loved, by Katherine Patterson. Its the story about 2 sisters, both vastly different from the other, and told from the perspective of the least liked child (at least in her mind), the Esau if you will. One of the reasons why I adore this book is because of the redemptive power found at the end of the story, the sister realizes she too was loved just as much if not more than the Jacob in the story and she had to go away from her family to find herself. This is true about Dinah, she had to suffer at the hands of those who should love her the most, leave them and find herself along the way. However, in The Red Tent, I was left feeling that Dinah didn't really get her due, her justice. I was left feeling she was robbed of her mothers because of her stupid brothers who took their misguided anger out on their only sister, whom they never treated like a sister up to that point. I am happy Dinah found another love, an easy love. I am happy she got to see Joseph again and get a bit of closure with her favorite brother. I am even happy that she got to return to her clan and meet so many of her nieces and nephews. But I was displeased with the way things were left with her son. I thought he was a total snot to her, I know this was common of the time period (but was it really??). I was constantly asking myself, Is this true? A lot of it I have to believe was pure fiction on the part of Diamante, and I have to congratulate her on her incredible, imaginative story. But as is true about The Da Vinci Code, this kind of writing can be considered dangerous. It can very easily put untrue beliefs into unknowing minds.

After reading the first chapter I had to go back to the Old Testament and re-read Genesis. The author obviously takes a lot of liberties with Dinah and the entire cast of characters. I can't believe that Rebecca was that uncaring about her family or that she was so strange in her worship. I can't believe that Jacob would be so uncaring about his supposedly beloved wife Rachel by allowing her to give birth on the side of the road and then callously burying her in a shallow unmarked grave. And, I can't believe that the woman worshipped so many other gods/goddesses and performed bizarre rituals. I thought that surely such righteous woman (as they are portrayed in the Bible) would worship one god, the god of their husband.

Another thing I was struck by was the overt sexuality in the book. The men/boys and their sheep. The implied thought that Joseph kept virile young men around him for more than bodyguards. Ewwww. The easy way Dinah gave her body to a man she had hardly met (talk about love at first sight!). I thought that the women would teach their daughter about chastity. Or maybe they did but Dinah's love was so strong and because she acted on this love she was punished. And that's another thing I found odd, the way Rebecca and Leah scorned the "new" idea of showing off the virginal blood to prove a woman's chastity. I don't like that idea either but I thought this is certainly a new way of looking at an ideal/belief that went far into the 19th century and for some parts of the world this is still an indicator of a woman's worth.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. I found it an accessible book (unlike The Historian, which I will probably never finish and will never recommend). And even though I question the honesty of the book, I like the idea that an author can take such small information and turn it into an incredible imaginative tale. I am glad I read this book, and I look forward to the next.