The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)

I get the impression that this book is something of a feminist classic - it's a retelling of the Biblical story of Dinah, the daughter of Leah and Jacob, sister of Joseph. Well, when I say a retelling, I don't think there's that much about Dinah in the Bible in the first place - as far as I know, it focusses on Jacob's sons rather than his daughter.

I loved the rich culture that Diamant imagines in this book - the red tent where the women gather once a month, letting their menstrual blood seep into the earth, sharing stories, laughter and tears. I found that I became less involved in the story in the last quarter, where Dinah grows older in Egypt - it somehow felt less powerful than the earlier parts of the story, although I liked it when she encountered Joseph.

Diamant's language has an attractive rhythm to it which fits the story perfectly, although towards the end, I found it somewhat stilted (although this was probably because my interest in the novel was waning). Despite that, I enjoyed this very much - a 4/5 book.