The Last Days of Dogtown

The Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamant
Fiction/Literature

This book is a collection of stories about the last inhabitants of a village just north of Gloucester, MA in the early 1800s. There is a wide variety of individuals.

There is Black Ruth. A black woman who dresses like a man and who is a stone mason. She lives with Easter Carter, the local witch. Easter runs a sort of local bar and dispenses fortunes along the way.

There is Oliver Younger, whose aunt treats him more like a slave than a relation. Mrs. Stanley operates the local brothel and provides customers for Polly and Sally. Mrs. Stanley's grandson also lives there.

There is Cornelius Finson, a freed slave. He is in love with Judy Rhines. A forbidden love which makes each of them the lonliest person alive.

This book details each of their stories and how they came to leave Dogtown. It is a read about hardship and endurance and about love and loss. I loved the eccentricities of each of the individuals and how Judy Rhines seemed to be the glue holding everyone together.

First Line: "Judy Rhines decided to take the footpath through the pasture"

Rating:

(4.0/5)

The Red Tent - Anita Diamant

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
Historical Fiction

When I first picked up this book, I thought it was going to be a heavy read. The Red Tent is basically the continuation of an underlying story in The Bible. I knew about Joseph before reading this book (specifically about Joseph's multi coloured coat), but didn't know anything else about them. I was amazed at how easy this book was to read! I couldn't put it down!
I like Dinah as a character very much. She was strong and brave and I felt she made good choices in her lengthy life. I very much enjoyed her mothers too. Each one was so unique and they each obviously gave Dinah their most valuable trait. Honestly, I didn't feel like the mothers needed to be forgived because I didn't feel that they did any wrong-doing. Infact, it was sad that they each met such horrible ends because they didn't have much of a choice in what happened, and they each treated Dinah so well during her time with them.
In the beginning, I quite liked Jacob and Joseph. Jacob seemed like a loving husband and father, and a gentle spirit. I don't really understand what made him turn around. The meeting with his brother turned out better than expected, so that couldn't have been it, and I don't think his sons could have turned him to be such a horrible person. How anyone could do that to their own child is unfathomable.
I felt sorry for Dinah with her lacking relationship with her son. But it seemed that Dinah met some very special people during her life and they treated her very well. There was one quote in the book which I loved from Meryt, Dinah's adopted mother/sister: "Now that I know who you are and what life has cost you, I am in awe that I number you among my beloved."
Overall, a fantastic book. My best read of the year so far!

Rating:

(4.5/5)