SBBC - The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

The Red Tent by Anna Diamant (ISBN 0312195516).

Book Genre: Historical Fiction

Summary: The Red Tent tells the little-known Biblical story of Dinah, daughter of the patriarch Jacob and his wife, Leah. In Chapter 34 of the Book of Genesis, Dinah’s tale is a short, horrific detour in the familiar narrative of Jacob and Joseph. Anita Diamant imaginatively tells the story from the fresh perspective of its women. In the Biblical tale Dinah is given no voice; she is the narrator of The Red Tent, which reveals the life of ancient womanhood—the world of the red tent. Readers of The Red Tent will view the Book of Genesis in a new light.

Swap details: I've set the sign-up date for about three weeks from now to give folks time to pick up a copy and read it a bit (if you wish) before you decide to join this swap, but you can start reading whenever you'd like. For this swap, you can either hand-write or type and send (via snail mail) the answers to your questions. Please use your best judgment. If it elicits a yes or no, please answer it with at least one complete sentence. I would say most questions should be answered with a minimum of a few sentences. The purpose is to create a dialog, a discussion about the book - with your assigned partner, perhaps you will be in touch via e-mail, or private message or through the forum as part of a larger group, or you just want to see what someone else thinks about what we've read. If you only answer yes or no, it doesn't really leave room much room for a discussion.

Category 1 (answer all 6 of these questions for your partner)

1. Have you ever read this book before? Did this book fall in the usual genre of books you read?

2. As an overall experience, how did you feel about this book? Did you enjoy it, hate it, did it make you irritated, angry, sad, did you find it easy to read or did it take you a while to get into, was it entertaining, annoying or something else entirely?

3. Did you have a favorite part of the book? Describe what it was. If you didn't like the book, please tell more about why.

4. Would you recommend this book to others?

5. On a scale of 1 to 10 (one being low and 10 being high), how would you rate this book?

6. Does this book remind you of others you have read? if so, recommend a book that has some likeness in your opinion (even if the likeness is not apparent). Please include the title, and author and a brief description about the book, or why it reminded you of this one.

Category 2 Please pick 6 of the following questions (below) to answer with the above questions. These questions are taken directly from the book’s reading group guide. Please be honest in your answer and use constructive criticism. You can choose to answer more questions below, but you must choose a minimum of 6. If there is something not asked in the questions that you'd like to share, please feel free to discuss that too.

1. Read Genesis 34 and discuss how THE RED TENT changes your perspective on Dinah’s story and also on the story of Joseph that follows. Does THE RED TENT raise questions about other women in the Bible? Does it make you want to re-read the Bible and imagine other untold stories that lay hidden between the lines?

2. Discuss the marital dynamics of Jacob’s family. He has four wives; compare his relationship with each woman?

3. What do you make of the relationships among the four wives?

4. Dinah is rich in "mothers." Discuss the differences or similarities in her relationship with each woman.

5. Childbearing and childbirth are central to THE RED TENT How do the firtility childbearing and birthing practices differ from contemporary life? How are they similar? How do they compare with your own experiences as a mother or father?

6. Discuss Jacob’s role as a father. Does he treat Dinah differently from his sons? Does he feel differently about her? If so, how?

7. Discuss Dinah’s twelve brothers. Discuss their relationships with each other, with Dinah, and with Jacob and his four wives. Are they a close family?

8. Female relationships figure largely in THE RED TENT Discuss the importance of Inna, Tabea, Werenro, and Meryt.

9. In the novel, Rebecca is presented as an Oracle. Goddesses are venerated along with gods. What do you think of this culture, in which the Feminine has not yet been totally divorced from the Divine? How does El, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, fit into this?

10. Dinah’s point of view is often one of an outsider, an observer. What effect does this have on the narrative? What effect does this have on the reader?

11. The book travels from Haran (contemporary Iraq/Syria), through Canaan and into Shechem (Israel), and into Egypt. What strikes you about the cultural differences Dinah encounters vis-à-vis food, clothing, work, and male-female relationships.

12. In THE RED TENT, we see Dinah grow from childhood to old age. Discuss how she changes and matures. What lessons does she learn from life? If you had to pick a single word to describe the sum of her life, what word would you choose? How would Dinah describe her own life experience?