The Red Tent

Angel lent me The Red Tent when I was down in Virginia. I wasn't familiar with the book, but I loved it! I read it in about 2 days and was sad to have to put it down for school. I was really swept away in the way the women related to each other, the stories they had to tell and, most importantly, the reexamining of the way that the Bible deals with women. There is comment made in an interview with the author that the Bible delivers facts and narrative, but leaves a lot out. This is certainly true and context is missing repeatedly from the Bible. So the idea that women used their 3 days a month away from the men as a time, not of shunning, but of bonding and rest, is amazing to me. That women got 60 days of recovering for birthing a daughter not because she needed longer away from the men because of her shame, but that she was given rest to honor bringing a birth giver into the world. The women of the time worked constantly, that's factual. The amount of work needed done to care for a large family was phenomenal and it's well illustrated in the book. So to have a few days where you don't have to do anything but spend time with other women, eat sweet bread and drink wine would have been a well needed break. Even now that seems like a great way to spend a weekend.

I also am really taken with the idea of the beginning of the menstrual cycle not as a beginning of the lifetime of pain, discomfort and irritation, but as a step into womanhood. The ritual nature of the way they brought Dinah into the arms of womanhood was beautiful.

I enjoyed the author's voice and the story of Dinah. I know that the author received a lot of criticism for the book from people who believed she overstepped in her interpretations and liberties, but I thought it was really respectful of the time. Several times in the book I was able to see what the men were doing (which was always seen from an outsider's perspective, i.e. Dinah) and relate it to biblical stories that I knew.

All in all, a really fantastic book. I called my mother when I was done and recommended it to her, as well as several of my friends. This will be one of those I read over and over.