The Red Tent

A review of Anita Diamant's The Red Tent

Anita Diamant is a storyteller. In The Red Tent she weaves together an account of Dinah, based on the bare details of her existence as Jacob's daughter in the Bible. Diamant's descriptions of Dinah's life as it moves across the Middle East drew me in. I read the whole book over the course of a couple days.

Where Diamant excels as a storyteller she falls flat as a philosopher. When she tries to draw grand and final metaphors about Dinah's life it is confusing and a little cheesy. Diamant is at her best when she sticks to the earthiness that makes the women in her story so engaging.

I like the concept of this book. The women in Jacob's life are mentioned in little more than passing thought in the Bible. As Diamant points out their names are buried in the glorious accounts of Jacob and his son Joseph. So she creates a very plausible and interesting "What if..." for the life stories of these women. The notion of playing with our pre-conceived ideas and images of historic figures appeals to me, and Diamant is an inspiration here.