This novel is written from the perspective of Dinah. In the Bible, her life is only hinted at briefly. She's mentioned as the daughter of Jacob and sister of Joseph and his eleven brothers. And then there's an episode where she's raped.

In this novel, the traditions and turmoil of ancient womanhood are told in Dinah's voice. It begins with the story of her mothers - Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah - the four wives of Jacob. Other than in the Bible, Dinah is not raped but lets herself be seduced by her lover. The novel follows Dinah through her youth, her work as a midwife, and to a new home in a foreign land.

I really liked how vividly the story was told from Dinah's perspective. I don't mind that the author added a lot of details that she thought appropriate for the historical setting of the novel. I would have liked even better, though, if she had just added to what's said in the Bible about her life and that of her family, instead of changing it: for example, making her rape into something like a love affair. This makes her brothers' reaction seem much more vicious than if it had been the original rape. I also had a much different impression of Joseph's character from the Bible than what it turns out to be in the novel when she meets him again. I was also wondering how believable it is that the women still believe in the household gods and know so little about God (or El as he's called in the novel) after the men in the family have been following him for a couple of generations already. This might be believable though considering how little communication there was between men and women according to the novel.

I'm taking this book to the BC in DC meeting at Cosi in Rosslyn unless the snow makes it impossible.

This was left over at today's BCinDC meetup. I really enjoyed the other 2 Diamant books I read, so I'm looking forward to this one.

Most people know the story of Joseph and the coat of many colors, but do you recall that he also had a sister? Dinah is only mentioned in a single chapter of Genesis, and then only as a victim. This is her story. Though told in first person by Dinah herself, it covers the time period from her parents meeting to years after her own death. I admit I was more interested in learning about Bronze Age life than Old Testament drama, but I enjoyed the narrative as well - more or less. I never felt any sort of emotional tie to any of the characters, perhaps because Dinah herself was so fixated on motherhood as to almost be a caricature of pre-suffrage womanhood. Though I understand and accept that motherhood was the primary occupation and ambition of most women of the time, I got a little tired of the constant obsession with wombs and menstruation and pregnancy. Then again, the male characters weren't any more developed. I was surprised by the devoted polytheism of the wives of staunchly monotheistic Jacob, though given the lack of communication between the sexes I suppose it's not so far-fetched. I'm not sure if I'd recommend this one or not. I mean, it was okay, but not a story that will stick with me.

Setting aside for MaryZee, who has a friend who would like to read this book.

I read this book years ago and really enjoyed it. (I think this was the first book I read solely based on a BC recommendation.) I recently mentioned this book to a work friend of mine when we were discussing some facts about this aspect of the Jewish religion. I mentioned this book to her, but she'd never heard of it. I told her I'd look for a copy of it, but haven't seen any recently, so I decided to check to see if any of my BC buddies happened to have an available copy. Thanks for bringing this for me, Melydia!

I'll be taking this along to work tomorrow for the 2 ladies who want to read it. (Actually, one wants to read it, and she's told a good friend of hers she should read it too.) Not sure if there'll be any journals forthcoming on it, but we can hope. Marking it as travelling for now. Not sure what will happen with it later.

Hard to keep up with the amount of characters with the Biblical names, but this book is great!!

Read this in a day and a half. What a gret book!