Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Red Tent - 20th Anniversary Edition by Anita Diamant

24 reviews

jennflattery's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Domestic abuse, Murder, Body horror, Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Slavery, Child death, Ableism, Gore, Infertility, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Animal cruelty, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Medical content, and Suicide

shotzee's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Beautiful and kind. Read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Sexual violence and Sexual assault

lucymight's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Beautiful book, viscerally written, learned a lot. I would recommend, although parts of her story felt a little hurried. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual content, and Murder

dahliaden's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Blood, Rape, and Physical abuse

bookellys's review against another edition

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Despite having gone to Catholic school, I’m not religious and so am not familiar with the biblical tales of Jacob, his sons and his only daughter Dinah. My understanding is that in the bible there is a fleeting mention of Dinah and this book looks to build out her story.

Where the bible typically focuses on the story of men, The Red Tent gives life to Jacob’s wives and the world of women of the time, following Dinah from birth to death. Whilst I appreciate this is a work of fiction it is a great example of how the same events can be retold very differently depending on the perspective and narrator. 

This was an interesting and easy read with some very strong female characters. The writing evoked beautiful imagery and gave insight into the religious practices of the time, including the worship of many gods and goddesses, a close relationship to the earth and nature and a pagan background upon which Isreal was built.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage, Murder, and Child death

eshiltonn's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Mental illness, Murder, Animal death, Sexual content, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Slavery, Violence, Child abuse, Child death, Incest, Infertility, Miscarriage, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Death, Domestic abuse, and Medical trauma

cc0906's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Rape, Murder, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Violence, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Child death, Torture, Terminal illness, Medical content, Sexism, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Miscarriage, Gore, Abortion, Grief, Incest, Infertility, Death, Bullying, Confinement, Blood, and Adult/minor relationship

phantomgecko's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

On one hand, it's a fascinating retelling of parts of Genesis.

On the other hand, I greatly disagree with some of the characterization/explanations/actions. It really felt like the author just wanted to take biblical people and smear them as much as possible because she can. "Look, your biblical figures were horrible people with no actual redeeming qualities." The female characters were lifted onto pedestals at the expense of the morality of the men.

idk, I think depicting Rebekah as a pagan priestess  bothered me the most. My girl Rebekah was a righteous, chosen woman. It does her so dirty to have her act cruelly with family and despise her husband while she runs the moon temple. It's not empowering or feminist. It sucks. Obviously she wasn't a perfect person, but when you're righting a novel exploring characters, why would you choose to make her wicked?

Again, there were some really cool parts of this novel. Some perspectives were great, the relationship between Jacob's wives was actually delightful. But a lot of the book felt spiteful.

Reading statements from the author makes me feel better about things. Still not my favorite book tho.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Death, Infertility, Murder, and Miscarriage

smallredboy's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

It's a beautifully written book; some parts were a bit of a lull and I didn't find myself liking them, mostly the sudden end to Dinah and Shelem's romance, but afterward the book took shape again and I found it really enjoyable. As much as I'm only woman-adjacent nowadays, the depictions of womanhood and mother-daughter relationships were really tender and I loved them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Misogyny, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Death

Moderate: Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Miscarriage, Violence, Rape, Incest, Grief, Domestic abuse, Child death, Sexual content, Physical abuse, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Pedophilia

jaynekernodle's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This is one of my all time favorite books of all time. I love the way Anita Diamant created a whole life around a single line from a Biblical story. I have genuinely thought about this story at least once a month since I first read it in 2015. 

One of the select few books I've ever reread.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Rape