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I thoroughly enjoyed this beautiful story woven from a brief reference in the Bible. I'd recommend this book to any woman.
But Diamant's exploration of this girl (and this woman) goes beyond the gender roles she plays, and allows me to see the omnipresence of femininity, in terms of growth, dreams, and desires.There are claims that this novel is a bit too free with the sexual descriptions of Dinah, her mothers, and the workings of female lives in general (birthing, feeding, caring, pleasuring), but this could not be further from my read of the novel at all. What it means to be a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother, a mid-wife, a wet-nurse, a widow, a wanderer.
at least for me.The story of Dinah (she gets chapter 34 of Genesis, kind of.). I must be on a biblical fiction streak, because, wow, this was another fabulous read.
This kind of exploration of a character, who on a read-through the Bible might not (and didn't for me, at least) garner any further questions, is breath-taking.Not only are we given a peak into Dinah's life, though, we are given a possible universe in terms of female relationships in the times of Jacob and Joseph. is told from her point of view in this massive book of her life.
We are given background, shadows and highlights, details and grand scheme images, all of which I was fond of. these are what it means to be Dinah.
Instead, I think the book could not have worked without all of these snapshots of a woman's body and the creation of a niche for that body in the every day lives of the people of the Old Testament.This is a powerful book for any woman interested in the historical period of Jacob and Joseph, for any woman interested in interpersonal relationships between women (and how they might have a constant structure in time), for any woman interested in faith - how it can be viewed as intrinsic, irresolute, and increased over the course of a life.
It has an excellent story line and is very well written. I don't usually read modern day literature, but I have heard that this book was a winner and boy were they right. This book is an excellent read. It is the kind of book that leaves you thinking (and feeling) days after you read it. I can't wait to explore her other books.
I picked it up a year or so later and read it again. I first read this book a few years ago and loved it. I was so touched by the characters in this book. I bought it for every woman I know, and told everyone about it. I even bought an audio version for my mother-in-law. Their life story, the conditions in which they lived and the way they navigated the complicated relationships. I loved the fact that it was rooted in religious history, but I dont think that should turn people off either.It is a very empowering book for women, and families.
I fear that those who do not know God for who He is have probably been and will continue to be misled by this work of fiction. And, by the way, they were FALSE gods not OTHER gods regardless of how SHE interprets the 10 Commandments. I do wish she would've given a disclosure stating that the story is NOT biblicly accurate, however, in order to save others from believing a twisted form of the real story. I don't doubt that it was challenging for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but I do believe that they were successful after all Jacob is the father of the people of Israel.
God, who is holy and righteous and unable to tolerate sin, yet willing to go to the greatest lengths to forgive mankind because of His love for all of us came across as being brutal by her point of view.as vicious as a wild boar. There's no reason to doubt the paganism that was prevalent in the culture in the land of the Chaldeans who were Abraham's people and therefore Rebecca's, Rachel's, etc.cultural paganism that was Abraham's own practice until he was called out by God to purify himself from that life and disciple his family in the ways of the One True God. Her portrayal, instead, glorified false gods, sexual perversion, ancient mysticism and most importantly unforgiveness.something that goes against the nature of our God. Still, what left me with a bad taste in my mouth, was, as I said, how our God was portrayed. There's no reason to be so upset over the displays of sex for we do not know exactly what was considered to be permissible sexual behavior in a culture ruled by false gods as was the culture they were living in.and I think we all know how difficult it is to be IN the world and not OF it. There was also much paganism in the land of Canaan where the descendants of Abraham spent much of their time prior to moving to Egypt and eventually becoming slaves there.
But never the less, my criticism has to do with her slant on the God of the Hebrews and the God of the Christians as He is one and the same. My criticism is not based on too much sex, or historical inaccuracy or even Biblical inaccuracy. I give Him glory for how longsuffering and forgiving He truly is and am amazed by it more and more every day. I read through Diamont's website and many of the reviews here on Amazon. It makes me wonder if her changes to scripture could have been on purpose to color the readers' opinion of God Himself.
Who of us knows how difficult it is to drive the old ways out of a group of people. Though its true that nothing of forgiveness is mentioned on the part of Dinah, the point of the historical true story found in Genesis is that God forgives even the most abominable of sins and so we should as well, or at least be amazed by His forgiveness and accept it with thanksgiving since we are all in need of it. Though, I might add, a good writer even of fiction should go through the painstaking work of ensuring that her work is historically accurate since it will be assumed by her readers. I just finished The Red Tent. Just because SHE couldn't see how the main characters who were so offended in the story could ever find forgiveness doesn't mean that they actually nurtured bitterness until the day they died. I would be the first to say that even the greats of the Old Testament had many, many faults, but that was in spite of the God they followed. The murderous acts of Jacob's sons were not because of God, but because of their own sinful flesh.
But Diamant wrote the story with such a twist it was as if she were saying that it was their God who caused them to do such an abomination. I do believe her writing is highly entertaining, but the lump that grew in my stomach as I read more and more of her interpretation of the One True God left me feeling mournful for how she blasphemed His Name, even assigning Him the generic name of El which is unheard of among orthodox Jews. Hopefully nobody embarrasses themselves by getting into a discussion with a real Bible scholar. I would give it no stars for that, but the system wont let me. She wasn't writing a documentary or a history book, so I really don't care that much what was and what was not accurate in that respect. And quite frankly, God created sex to be passionately enjoyed as long as it's within the parameters of a covenant marriage between a man and a woman in the privacy of their marriage bed. Scripture makes it clear that Joseph forgave his family.
I do pray that the author will someday come to know the personal, loving, and righteous God of the universe since she claims to be such a scholar of Judaism.
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