Red Tent By Anita Diamant

RL Stine’s, Archie Comics and Bobson Twins were not only my introductory reading pleasures when I was a kid. Believe it
or not, my parents bought us 2 heavy sets of Bible Stories at a time when Encyclopedias were a fashion and a must-have, and I loved it! It’s the perfect way for children to get to know the stories in the bible with excellent drawings and representation. It’s like reading a Fairy Tale book only that you get to read about Jacob, Elijah, Ester, David, Solomon, Jesus and so forth.

But sadly, Dinah is not very familiar to me. I can’t say that I’m an expert in Bible Stories, but I guess I am comfortable with what I know and I can say that I didn’t know who Dinah was.  To have her as the main character in Anita Diamant’s force of a novel was enough to make me want to read it.

The book is told on a first-person narrative of Dinah, the only daughter of Jacob and Leah. Yes, Dinah is the sister of Benjamin and the popular Joseph who was famous for receiving his brothers'  wrath, a colorful coat and was appointed in high office of the Pharaoh because he has a gift of interpreting dreams.  Though the book is fiction and is inspired by biblical texts and research, it’s like reading a novel about old village life during biblical times having the same ancestors like Jacob, Sarah, Abraham attending to domestic needs and troubles. But there are no grand romantic versions of the story which can be easily found in the Bible. Here, they are humans with shameful and relatable weaknesses. Despite their lineage, their humanity and sinfulness were greatly depicted.

The book centralizes on the Dinah’s family from the start of Jacob’s betrothal to the more popular women in the bible called Rachel, which then was moved to Leah who became his first wife. The book strengthens the story of what women’s roles are in family and society in which the Red Tent in their camp pertains to the symbol of womanhood, camaraderie and the gifts of being a woman. The life was told under Dinah’s perspective and day to day observations until she reached adolescent, womanhood and motherhood.

The characters you have known so well from the bible were humbled by the story. We also get to glimpse the position of women at those times. We’ve come a long way from being treated as mere properties, child factory and ornaments in a man’s household. Most importantly, you get to know this daughter of Jacob who has a darkened story in the bible and after which was silenced. Admittedly she is not one of the most popular women like her mother Leah or her Aunt Rachel; and in this book you’ll know why. You’ll see her glory and pain, but most importantly you’ll appreciate women’s life through her eyes.