A review by _fallinglight_
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

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

2.5

Men are bad and boorish and everything evil under the sun unless they can do their jobs as studs and pleasure women. Women are mystical beings whose biggest accomplishments are bleeding and birthing because that's the real meaning of Womahood™. A simplification of this wack ass retelling. I don't know anything of the author and I'm not a super expert on the Old Testament story (I did see José do Egito, a Brazilian biblical tv series/telenovela about Joseph's story lol) but I can tell there were choices made here that were just to shit on the tradition just bc she could but were kinda sus. That's within her artistic license sure but there was no profound commentary, just a very New Age, White Feminist take that hasn't aged well. There were a few good passages but overall it was a version of glorifying a type of Womanhood™ I really loathe. I only finished it bc it had the keyword in one of my reading challenges and was intrigued how she'd tackle some other points of the story but it was unbearable to say the least. 
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