Book Review: The Red Tent
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
I read this with my online book club, so I'm just going to repost my review from there.
Okay, I finished the book last night. Overall, I think it was pretty good. I think there was something about the author's writing style that didn't appeal to me. The best I can describe it is as too staccato for my taste.
I felt like the second and third parts were better than the first. The ritual that Dinah went through after her first period made me think about how women are made to feel about menstruation in general these days. It's an embarrassing and dirty thing. I'd really like my daughter to feel like she's joining an important and exclusive club...although definitely without the creepiness of the ritual in the book. That was whack.
I think that the preface to the book pretty much let you know that the story was going to mostly be sad. So I was always waiting for the other shoe to drop. For all her terrible luck, though, Dinah was actually really lucky in many other ways (which I think she acknowledged towards the end). I mean, I thought Dinah's life was pretty rough and then Werenro shows up and takes the cake.
I also wanted Dinah to confront her father or her surviving brothers at the end, but I guess she just wanted to know that her real story was still being told. And I'll bet it didn't hurt to know that her father and brothers were all so effectively cursed. :-)
I read this with my online book club, so I'm just going to repost my review from there.
Okay, I finished the book last night. Overall, I think it was pretty good. I think there was something about the author's writing style that didn't appeal to me. The best I can describe it is as too staccato for my taste.
I felt like the second and third parts were better than the first. The ritual that Dinah went through after her first period made me think about how women are made to feel about menstruation in general these days. It's an embarrassing and dirty thing. I'd really like my daughter to feel like she's joining an important and exclusive club...although definitely without the creepiness of the ritual in the book. That was whack.
I think that the preface to the book pretty much let you know that the story was going to mostly be sad. So I was always waiting for the other shoe to drop. For all her terrible luck, though, Dinah was actually really lucky in many other ways (which I think she acknowledged towards the end). I mean, I thought Dinah's life was pretty rough and then Werenro shows up and takes the cake.
I also wanted Dinah to confront her father or her surviving brothers at the end, but I guess she just wanted to know that her real story was still being told. And I'll bet it didn't hurt to know that her father and brothers were all so effectively cursed. :-)