Customer Reviews

Pitching My Tent: On Marriage, Motherhood, Friendship, and Other Leaps Of Faith

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PITCHING MY TENT by Anita Diamant, author of THE RED TENT, is a collection of short and personal essays on family, friends and religion. Arranged by topic, the essays are, for the most part, light and enjoyable reading. Gathering many essays from her days as a columnist, PITCHING MY TENT reflects the things that are most important in the author's life, and they are things that will resonate with many readers.

Diamant begins by exploring "Love, Marriage, Baby Carriage." In this section she shares personal and general thoughts on marriage and partnership. These thoughts, like those in the rest of the collection, in many ways center not just on marriage, but on a life lived within a particular religious tradition. She shares how she and her husband celebrate Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, and his conversion to Judaism. While this section of the book is actually dedicated to her husband, she does discuss her first marriage in frank emotional terms. From pet peeves to health issues, from mutual friends to the birth of their child, Diamant is candid about her marriage; the specifics she shares point to universals.

Next, Diamant dives into the topic of motherhood and her focus is on her daughter Emilia. She writes loving essays about parenthood as both "an adventure and an education." Two essays in this section stand out. The first is entitled "One" and discusses Diamant and her husband's decision to have only one child, despite the pressure to give Emilia siblings. The other is "The Mother's Bat Mitzvah Speech." This speech is a touching and tender tribute to her daughter on a very special occasion.

The third section in PITCHING MY TENT gathers essays about friends and friendship. These are short yet sweet.

"Time Zones" is the fourth section and one of the most interesting topics of the book. Here, Diamant examines sacred time and ordinary time by looking at the Jewish year and some of its holidays and commemorations. In essays about Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, the holidays of Sukkot, Chanukah and Purim, as well as Thanksgiving and Christmas, Diamant writes about being Jewish in a culture both Christian and secular and how she celebrates and understands Jewish (and non-Jewish) holidays. The essays are quite short but are full of insight and honesty. As a daughter of Holocaust survivors, she writes about Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, and the idea of memory as a sacred trust. Both this essay and the brief one in tribute to her father are poignant and nicely written.

Diamant also has collected essays on middle age but she ends the book with more discussion about religion in her life. She writes that Judaism is her "journey" and her "home" and that it is an "essential lens" through which she understands herself and her place in the world. But these final essays are not as solemn as the introduction to the section would have you believe. Here, Diamant addresses serious issues such as congregation politics and the expectancy that all Jews read Hebrew --- but she does so with a light and witty touch.

PITCHING MY TENT is not exactly a book about religion or family in general but about Diamant's family and her religious life. Her essays are insightful if not challenging or academic. This collection is a great gift idea for fans of Diamant, those who enjoy easy yet interesting reading, and especially for Jewish mothers. A personal look at contemporary Jewish life, PITCHING MY TENT will not generate controversy or create the kind of following that THE RED TENT had, but it won't disappoint those who are looking to learn more about this author.

--- Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman

As a long time fan of Anita Diamant's work - THE RED TENT and then GOOD HARBOR, I was thrilled to see that a new one from Ms. Diamant was on the shelves! I bought it right away!
PITCHING MY TENT was a fast read but one that I can see revisiting from time to time. In this compilation of articles and musings, the reader will get a real sense of what it was like for a woman who had choices and took chances - while her faith in Judaism and living a Jewish life blossomed!
Written in such an honest and personal way, this book stirred many thoughts and emotions and really made me think about life.
This is a book to give to the women in your life, messages that we will all identify with. It may even enourage you to pick up a pen and jot down some of your own memories!

A wonderful and inspirational collection of stories and insights on life, love, and faith. Diamant does a beautiful job of making a uniquely Jewish meditation palatable and applicable to people of all faiths. Anyone who has ever raised a child, made a friend, lost a lover, or wondered about the world should invest in a copy of this fantastic collection. I borrowed it from the library, got to the end and flipped back to the front to start again. As soon as I could, I bought my own copy. I know it will never be far from reach in every heartbreaking, wonderful moment when a kind word or new insight will make all the difference. It's like having a stunningly insightful and delightfully funny friend living on your bookshelf. I know from reading the book that Diamant occasionally reads the comments on her books on Amazon, so if you're reading this, my friend, thank you. For this, and many of your other works, I'll be forever grateful.

I picked up this collection of essays after reading "The Red Tent" which absolutely adored.

Half-way through the book I thought, "Converting to Judaism might be a good idea!" I don't mean to jest about a serious subject...and it is Diamont's friendly, heartful, down to Earth tone (and the fact that she shares her being vis a vis her judaism)that makes me want to adopt some of her ways.

I zipped through this book in record time, and I know I will read and re-read and give copies to many friends.

Long before The Red Tent and Good Harbor, Anita Diamant was a columnist. For some twenty years, her columns delivered her own refreshing takes on life. Written with warmth, common bonds of womanhood, a sense of spirituality, and her own unique take on adult life, these essays are personal and yet universal.

The author of several books on contemporary Jewish life as well as her two popular fiction works, Diamant shares her classic essays with readers in this new publication.

Subtitled "On Marriage, Motherhood, Friendship, and Other Leaps of Faith," the book promises much and delivers even more. Ms. Diamant draws the reader into her world with a personal invitation at the end of her introduction:

"My tent is filled with friends and songs and books and memories. My tent and I hope yours too, is filled with blessings. Come see."

Throughout these essays, the author's passion for life reaches out and beckons her readers to look within. By interjecting aspects of her Jewish life and customs into her essays, Ms. Diamant brings a higher degree of understanding to those unfamiliar with contemporary Jewish lifestyles. Her essays speak of tolerance, acceptance, enjoying life to its fullest, and counting blessings in each of life's passages.

Pitching My Tent is divided into six parts. Each section looks at an integral part of adult life and offers wonderfully enjoyable readings. My favorite essay is "Girlfriends, In Particular." Opening with a profound statement, Diamant's brief essay speaks volumes about the mystique and wonder of the bonds formed by women. "Women's friendships are, I think, one of the great secrets of the social universe." By the time I finished reading, I was so touched that I had to connect with my own dear friend and sister of my soul. It is the ability to stir such inner emotion that sets these essays apart from most I have read in recent months.

This book is a gift to give yourself, your friends, your sisters, your mothers, and any other woman whose life is somehow a blessing to yours.

by Lee Ambrose

for Story Circle Book Reviews

reviewing books by, for, and about women

This book has made me laugh out loud. Ms. Diamant possesses the exquisite gifts of language and insight into the thought processes of today's 'modern' Jew. A person lives their life, day by day, and sees nothing worth talking about, let alone writing about...but she has taken these mundane moments and caste a light upon them that brings them upward and makes them sacred.

What impresses me most about Anita Diamant's book, Pitching My Tent, is how she conveys so much warmth and love is so few words. She is a talented writer. I bought the book for some light summer reading. During the summer, while vacationing at the beach, I always like to a have a book or two to read in the afternoons when we retreat from the heat and glare of the sun. When my book order arrived, instead of putting it aside and saving it for the beach trip, I read the introduction and the first story. Big mistake. I then had to finish reading all the stories. Now I will have to find another book to take to the beach.

Coming off the total fabrication of the 'Red Tent' this collection of essays is simply a dirty mirror of the far more organized book they were made into. Capitlizing on interest in feminism and the Bible these essays serve up a cold plat eof fabrication and misinformation, mostly detailing the life of Dinah and her relations with other women of the tribe of Joseph, unfortunatly Dinah comes off as a harlot, and her friends as Pagans and idolworshipers full of a mishmash of psuedo-pagan religions, none of which actually existed at the time of Jacob but this book simply fakes these other religions pretending that the women in the Red Tent would have resorted to heathen barbarism when not in the presence of Jacob and his sons. The reality is that no acts of human sacrifice or the bleeding of cats took place among the women of Jacobs family and since none took place this read is mere conjecture.