Anita Diamant

   In 2003, I read "The Red Tent" for a book club.  This is the review that I wrote then:
   This Jewish author is a fabulous storyteller!  The story is told by Dinah (Deenah) who says in the prologue; "I am so grateful that you have come.  I will pour out everything inside me so you may leave this table satisfied and fortified.  Blessings on your eyes.  Blessings on your children.  Blessings on the ground beneath you.  My heart is a ladle of sweet water, brimming over. Selah."
Dinah is the Biblical sister of Joseph and the daughter of Jacob.  This book gives a different perspective from the brief Biblical account.  It is a woman's perspective and it is fiction.
From the small details of life in Bible times to the catastrophic events, they are all woven into a spellbinding story- including Dinah's experience of her own death.  The introduction peaks your interest and the conclusion weaves in all the loose threads.  A deeply satisfying story!
"Blessings on your eyes and on your children.  Blessings on the ground beneath you.  Wherever you walk, I go with you. Selah"
It is a passionate and earthy story portraying the continuity and unity of women.

Anita Diamant

   
   Anita is an American author who has written 5 novels as well as 6 guides to modern Jewish practice.  I just read another of her novels, "The Boston Girl".  It has not been as popular as "The Red Tent" but there are still many good reviews.
   However, this is one of those times when I don't necessarily agree with the popular opinion.
   I found the book a disappointment.  

   Eighty-five-year-old Addie Baum is being interviewed by her granddaughter with the question: "How did you get to be the woman that you are today?"  The whole book is the answer to that question and it covers the years 1900-1985.
   It seemed like a recitation to me.  Growing up a Jewish daughter of immigrants in Boston, she had total recall of all the events, but the telling was too sterile for me.  I never really got into Addie's mind.  It was a portrait of one woman's life in a generation of women finding their way in a changing world.  Addie was spunky and interesting, but the events of her life were skimmed over and left me unsatisfied at the end.