The Red Tent

Book Jacket Summary:
Her name is Dinah. In the Bible, her life is only hinted at in a brief and violent detour within the more familiar chapters about her father, Jacob, and his dozen sons in the book of Genesis.

Told in Dinah’s voice, this novel reveals the traditions and turmoil of ancient womanhood – the world of the red tent. It begins with the story of her mothers – Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah – the four wives of Jacob. They love Dinah and giver her gifts that are to sustain her through a hard-working youth, a calling to midwifery, and a new home in a foreign land. Dinah’s story reaches out from a remarkable period of early history and creates an intimate, immediate connection.

Deeply affecting, The Red Tent combines rich story-telling with a valuable achievement in modern fiction: a new view of biblical women’s society.

Keren’s Review – 7 out of 10 Stars:
This book was suggested by one of the Book Club members. It intrigued me immediately to see another viewpoint of one of the more familiar stories in the Bible – that of Jacob and his 12 sons. As I expected, some of the points of the story that we’re familiar with were slightly different, so as to make the story more realistic. For example, in The Red Tent, Jacob worked for seven months for each of his brides, not seven years. Although some believe that the Bible is “gospel” (sorry to use a bad pun!), but I personally believe that it’s the message behind the stories that’s important, not the details.

One the parts of the story that I truly found difficult to relate to was how two sisters could share the same husband. I don’t have a sister, but I can’t imagine sharing my husband with ANYONE – let alone a relative! Although the author does a good job of making you understand that it was a part of life back then. Families were very important and every part of the family worked hard to provide the best life they could for the group.

I also found it interesting to see how such a young faith, and it’s different customs, were viewed by others. Although they didn’t fully understand it, the women of The Red Tent were able to accept it and blend their old ways into it. To me, it spoke much to tolerance, understanding and learning.

It was horrifying to hear a more detailed story of Dinah and Shechem. Although there is a chapter devoted to it in the Bible, it is told from a distant perspective and no thought is given to Dinah’s role. In The Red Tent, a love match, a city, and a young woman’s view of the world are turned upside down by mankind’s basic faults – jealously and greed.

Except for a section toward the end that I felt was a little slow, The Red Tent did a good job of keeping my attention. It was an easy read (I read it over a weekend) and I truly felt for Dinah and the other women in the book. Although I couldn’t necessarily understand how Dinah viewed the world, because she was living in a different time, I admired her spirit and her willingness to continue.

For more reviews and posts by Keren, search Keren's Korner on the blog.

Eat Pray Love

Book Jacket Summary:
In her early thirties, Elizabeth Gilbert had everything a modern American woman was supposed to want – husband, country home, successful career – but instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she felt consumed by panic and confusion. This wise and rapturous book is the story of how she left behind all these outward marks of success, and of what she found in their place. Following a divorce and a crushing depression, Gilbert set out to examine three different aspects of her nature, set against the backdrop of three different cultures: pleasure in Italy, devotion in India, and on the Indonesian island of Bali, a balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence.

Keren’s Review – 6 out of 10 Stars:
This book wasn’t a part of our Book Club, but was recommended to me by a friend. It was sold to me as an easy read, which it was, that was extremely inspiring and uplifting.

I need to say up front that personally, I had a huge issue with the fact that the author was unfulfilled in her life and decided to walk away from it all. This comes from my belief that when you say “I Do,” you’re making a promise to God – “Till death do us part.” Just because you’re unsatisfied (and I’m referring to just a not being happy, not situations involving abuse or infidelity), you don’t have a right to just walk out. I realize that this is my personal belief, and is not shared by everyone, but I believe it is important to state because it provides additional perspective on my review of the book.

That being said, I have to admit that I was envious of the journey the author was able to take. The book is divided into three sections, each representing four months of her life and areas she focused on – Eating in Italy, Praying in India and Loving in Indonesia. Over this year, she was able to learn about herself, take stock of her life and find a new path – something that we often feel our daily responsibilities will not allow us to do.

First, she went to Italy. She immersed herself in the Italian life in order to learn to speak Italian, eat incredible food, and generally learn to live a slower paced life. Because it was so soon after her divorce, she dealt with depression, guilt and emotional impacts. Eventually, she learns to be at peace with her past and look forward to her future.

Second was India, where she goes to pray and discover her spiritual side. Although I love the idea of taking the time to come closer to God, whoever your God is, the pages of discussion about repeating mantras, eating vegetarian food and visiting other spiritual planes were not something I could relate to. I hope that others who read this book are able to take as much this section as the other two, but I had a tough time relating to it. The author does a good job of trying to relate the Buddhist search for enlightenment to spiritual searching of other faiths, but certain aspects of her stories were hard for me to relate to and appreciate.

Finally came the visit to Indonesia, and the island of Bali. Although this section is about Love, it wasn’t the author’s intention when she goes there. Love develops, as it often does, when it was least expected and not looked for. Because it wasn’t part of her plan, she goes through a personal struggle to decide if she is ready and deserving of love in her life.

As I mentioned, I was envious of the journey the author was able to take, but I disagreed with some of the choices that lead her to the journey. Many people would not only love to take such a trip, but would benefit from the time to think and reflect. And I was impressed at the awareness of the author to set limits on herself based on where she was in her journey – recognizing that certain behaviors would not be healthy based on where she was in her life. I think that this book is a good read for anyone who is looking to be inspired in their personal journey.

For more reviews and posts by Keren, search Keren's Korner on the blog.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

Book Jacket Summary:
In nineteenth-century China, in a remote Hunan county, a girl named Lily, at the tender age of seven, is paired with a laotong, or “old same,” in an emotional match that will last a lifetime. The laotong, Snow Flower, introduces herself by sending Lily a silk fan on which she has written a poem in nu shu, a unique language that Chinese women created in order to communicate in secret, away from the influence of men. As the years pass, Lily and Snow Flower send messages on the fan and compose stories on handkerchiefs, reaching out of isolation to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments. They both endure the agony of footbinding and together reflect upon their arranged marriages, shared loneliness, and the joys and tragedies of motherhood. The two find solace, developing a bond that keeps their spirits alive. But when a misunderstanding arises, their deep friendship suddenly threatens to tear apart.

Keren’s Review – 9 out of 10 Stars:
One of the things I most enjoyed about this book was the look into life and society in early 19th century China. The view into daily life on a farm and what was expected of women (compared to their perceived value) kept me reading. It is amazing to me that the gender that everyone thought had so little value, or seemingly contributed so little compared to the cost of their housing, contributed so much to the day-to-day lives of the people around them.

Obviously, one of the areas of the book that if found amazing was the view into ritual foot binding. Although I knew it happened, I didn’t realized that it essentially reduced the area they walked on to the size of their big toe. Now, I have big toes, but seriously, to walk with all my weight on my big toe - it just wouldn’t happen!

Ironically, one of the things that added to a woman’s value was the size of her feet – the smaller, the better. The size of Lilly’s feet awards her a place of honor well above her current social status. It’s an interesting balance to Snow Flower’s declining social status, which although her family is seemingly of a higher level, the social disrespect brought on her father was enough to change the path of her life.

In the end, the inability of one the “old-same’s” to recognize and adapt to the changes in her life – and in the other’s life – that ultimately leads to the climactic confrontation. She only then realizes how her perceptions of life are far from what really happens.

Overall, I loved this book. It was an easy read (I finished it in about 10 hrs), it kept my attention and I wanted to keep reading. There was one section in the later half of the book that seemed to drag a bit, but it provided necessary background for the climax of the relationship. We also had a great conversation about the book at Book Club, including the perceived value of women, if there anything like footbinding in today’s society, and the relationship between women.

For more reviews and posts by Keren, search Keren's Korner on the blog.

Keren's Korner

Keren’s Korner Book Reviews

So late last year, a bunch of my co-workers and I discovered that we were all reading the same series of books. (Yes, I will confess that it was the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer, and I am a HUGE fan of hers!) For weeks, we wasted large quantities of the company’s valuable minutes not only introducing others to the books, but catching up daily on who was where in the series. (I had a huge advantage as I had read them over my sabbatical. I got through the 1st 3 books in a week but then was crushed when I had to wait nearly a month for the 4th book!) Shortly after, we found out Twilight the movie was coming out, and decided that it would be great fun to take a group to the movie and then out to dinner to discuss. Well, we went opening weekend and had a great time.

Based on that experience, we decided that it would be fun to start a book club at work. I volunteered to co-ordinate the club, which has turned out to be much more work that I expected, but I’m really glad that we’re doing it. I’ve read so many books that I never would have picked up on my own. Mark teases me all the time that it’s an old-lady thing to do, but I don’t think he understands that it’s about the girl time

I welcome comments or recommendations on other books to read. No promises, but I’ll do my best to read them!

For more reviews and posts, search Keren' s Korner on the blog