The Red Tent is fully engrossed within these customs of the story’s timeframe and location, as well as the subtle requirements of the ancient mind. Lessons taught in this way serve to prime the mind, since the recipient of the inherited story must use thought to decipher what is really being said, as was the intent of the ancients. People spoke directly to the life within, and the book captures this.

Those ways of getting around restrictions with manners of speech with words are meant to touch the soul more than the ears. Personally, I love these double-meanings of the Bible and ancient times, as though the writer is trying to get away with saying something that may have very likely been restricted otherwise, and this book does these words justice many times over. Words transform present-day surroundings and breath truth into the action of the story as much as historical facts do. At times the precision of these details may prove monotonous and lengthy, but the historical value outweighs any distraction from Story for the true history-lover, and the historical details are so seamlessly interwoven with Story that it’s not too distracting.Īs much as I was struck by the history integrated into the story, I also admired the use of metaphors and idioms of the time and place – such as specifying that the baby is ‘at the door’ when it’s ready to be born, as an example. Those pieces of information may seem to be on the surface insignificant, but they can open the door to another world and make the story itself engrossing. In this way, the storyline is given the freedom to prosper in imagination, for Story is so much more believable when anchored in verified (by archaeology) historical fact (the little things like type of cup used or what the tents are made of). The fiction of the story is tightly woven with historical facts, allowing for the reader to live in ancient Harran and surrounding Biblical lands, fully saturated in the lifestyle and customs of the time, not only physically, but psychologically as well.

The story takes the reader back to an era when to be remembered was life after death and serves as a metaphor for life within life, when stories were spoken and passed from person to person and family to family. The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant, is more than a book – it’s a time machine, as a truly good book is meant to be.

Diamant the red tent