Book Club September The Red Tent

Here we are together!

Jill and Nancy preparing dinner.

The table is ready and we enjoy a fine dinner of Lamb, fresh peaches, vegetables, pomegranate salad, olives (3 kinds Burgundy, Green, and Black),sweet potatoes, and Rosemary Bread.

The Discussion ~
With radical literary license “The Red Tent” is a story about Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah. In the Bible Dinah appears only as a victim avenged by her 11 brothers. In “The Red Tent” she’s a much awaited daughter in a family of many sons and four mothers. The story embraces all the soft feminist qualities ~ midwifery, New Age goddess worship, menstrual poetry ~ while avoiding harsher or more radical stances.

Men as a group don’t fare well in the book, especially in the first section, where virtually every male is described as a sheep-molesting monster. Dinah, on the other hand, being the main character, is independent, intelligent and from an early age learns the stories of her four mothers, who gather in the red tent for childbirth and other female experiences. Oh, wouldn’t it be loverly ~~~ a 3 day bookclub.

Our discussion, of course, turned to factualities (hmmm is that a word?)from the Bible ~which version??... All in all a delightful evening. Nancy as always is up for the challenge of making the night an event to remember!
The book probably won’t make it onto our list of favorites. However, I thought Dinah was a spunky little lower-class heroine who lived by the belief that love can conquer all.