I spent the weekend reading "The Red Tent," by Anita Diamant. There's a literary movement right now towards women's literature (ever noticed all the pink bestsellers at Barnes & Noble??), and one branch of that is Biblical women. I LOVE reading books about the historical Bible...stories that retell an old tale from a different perspective, stories that delve into and humanize famous characters, stories that give you an understanding of the social and geographical world that the Bible is set in (Michener's "The Source" does an amazing job of that, in particular).
So I was eager to read "The Red Tent," which is the story of Jacob's only daughter, Dinah. The poor girl gets a bit shortchanged in the Bible; she's at the crux of a very violent and important occurrence, yet she doesn't speak a word. It's kind of nice to let her have her say, and it's interesting to see the Biblical events through her eyes. It's also a fascinating peek into the everyday life of women in that society. And of course, as Dinah travels around, she sees that even within her own culture, women have vastly different roles in other societies and villages.
The book is extremely well written, with poetic language and exciting events blending well.
I was a bit surprised by all the negative reviews of it, though. Readers were highly offended by it and repeatedly referred to it as sacreligious (and in one instance, "Satan-inspired"!). Frankly, I don't understand why people took it so seriously. Diamant never claims that it's God's truth; she says right at the beginning it's a fictional account of what this girl's life was possibly like. True, Jacob and his 12 sons aren't always portrayed in a good light, but...hello?...have you read the Bible? If anything, Diamant gives them enough of a background to explain some of their more reprehensible actions. The angry readers did make a point about some of the direct Biblical references being inaccurate, and they're right; I'm not sure why she has Jacob work for 14 days instead of 14 years. But then, I didn't get hung up on it, either. I read it as a fictional novel, and was quite happy with it.
And now I'm going to slow down on the book-fest; 3 books in 5 days is a bit much! I have a biography of Elizabeth I waiting for me, but Good Queen Bess can cool her heels for a while. I have some painting to do!