What do you think?
Rate this book
Water From The Well: Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Leah
By retelling the stories of the Matriarchs through a sympathetic eye, Anne Roiphe will create portraits of the Bible’s women that will show how they played a role in Western history, how they taught us what is important and what is not, how they inspire our moral and immoral imaginations.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2006
117 people want to read
About the author
Anne Roiphe
32 books35 followersOver a four-decade career, Roiphe has proven so prolific that the critic Sally Eckhoff observed, "tracing Anne Roiphe's career often feels like following somebody through a revolving door: the requirements of keeping the pace can be trying." (Eckhoff described the writer as "a free-thinking welter of contradictions, a never-say-die feminist who's absolutely nuts about children"). Roiphe published her first novel, Digging Out, in 1967. Her second, Up The Sandbox (1970), became a national best-seller and made the author's career.
Roiphe has since published seven novels and two memoirs, while contributing essays and reviews to The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, New York Magazine, and others. In 1993, The New York Times described her as "a writer who has never toed a party line, feminist or otherwise." Her 1996 memoir Fruitful A memoir of Modem Motherhood was nominated for the National Book Award
From 1997 to 2002, she served as a columnist for The New York Observer. Her memoir Epilogue was published in 2008, and another memoir, Art and Madness, in 2011.
Roiphe has since published seven novels and two memoirs, while contributing essays and reviews to The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, New York Magazine, and others. In 1993, The New York Times described her as "a writer who has never toed a party line, feminist or otherwise." Her 1996 memoir Fruitful A memoir of Modem Motherhood was nominated for the National Book Award
From 1997 to 2002, she served as a columnist for The New York Observer. Her memoir Epilogue was published in 2008, and another memoir, Art and Madness, in 2011.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
February 3, 2008
Anne Roiphe has done a masterful job weaving together material about the biblical matriarchs. Taking pieces from the midrash, Talmud, and Jewish legends as well from the Bible itself, she has created a compelling portrait of the four matriarchs. In these pages, the lives and personalities of Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Leah are brought to the forefront. Roiphe adds contours to the well-known stories and characters, providing insights into these women and their realities. She uses insights from anthropology and history to make the biblical age feel familiar. At the same time, these women are presented like timeless Everywomen, struggling with husbands and children, love and loss, just like women have throughout time. The style of this book is not novelistic, rather it is an ongoing unfolding that continually sheds new light and adds depth to stories we think we already know. There is a self-consciousness to the telling that continually reminds the reader that this is not merely a fictionalized retelling but instead a carefully chosen combination of source material and innovative new interpretation.
November 18, 2018
This was a really interesting exploration of biblical women characters and I loved how the author brought in legends about them, many which I had never heard before. This book puts the culture of that time in context in a way I haven’t thought about before.
February 28, 2023
Not usually a fan of Bible stories. But I love stories about women...strong women. The way they were treated made me real upset. But they overcame all the obstacles, raised many sons and made their mark in the world.
May 19, 2023
Can't continue reading this book, and I'm only on page 47. I've lost count of the number of times the author has used the phrase "I imagine....."
February 15, 2014
I'm two-thirds of the way through and so I'm jumping the gun like I often do. I can give this book three stars for being so well written. This really is a fantastic exploration of the personal lives of some of the women of the Old Testament. The author absolutely must conjecture, and she does so to the favor of the women she researches. And she did a lot of in depth, heartfelt research, too. No shooting in the dark without having made intelligent guesses on where her targets may be.
Having said that, Roiphe suffers a bit from The Red Tent syndrome. I call it that because in THAT book, the author loved her female characters but damned her male characters simply because they were male, and she felt she could never have found deep meaning to them or their actions. Now, Roiphe doesn't suffer this as badly, she does not descend that deeply into hypocrisy and madness. She does lean that way, however, at times.
And finally, my really big and doctrinal and thematic accusation: Roiphe does not quite get a few essential facts or even solid conjectures even when she demonstrates the ability to apply reasoning to other aspects of these Old Testament stories. This really shows up in her treatment of the story of Abraham and his near sacrifice of Isaac. Nowhere does Roiphe seem to realize that God never intended for Abraham to take that sacrifice to its awful end. Nowhere does she, and really, her sources don't and so she can't, realize that God may have explained some things to Abraham, to Isaac, to Sarah, at some point or other. She does conjecture to a certain degree, but she keeps mentioning that God didn't say anything. Perhaps He didn't say anything that got recorded. Perhaps some things are too sacred even for sacred texts, and it isn't a fact that God meant to emotionally scar Isaac for life the way Roiphe makes it sound like He meant to. This is where I can teach what I have been taught- that Abraham was tested, that Isaac was tested. That the ram was provided by God to replace Isaac because only after the Messiah came, would we have to offer up our hearts, not our sheep, to Him. Abraham did this, and so did Isaac, and Sarah. Their very hearts were on that altar. And just because we are mortals, through all the generations, maybe we needed a story of a mortal man who offered up his beloved son, so we could marvel within ourselves and come closer to a realization of what our Heavenly Father might have gone through when He made the sacrifice of His Only Begotten.
And there are other things she misses. BUT she does an excellent job with what she does understand, and I am grateful for her research into Jewish writings (which I find fascinating and deeply human) and for all the carefully thought out writing that she provides. I'm looking forward to her conclusion to see how she wraps things up.
Now back to the story.
Having said that, Roiphe suffers a bit from The Red Tent syndrome. I call it that because in THAT book, the author loved her female characters but damned her male characters simply because they were male, and she felt she could never have found deep meaning to them or their actions. Now, Roiphe doesn't suffer this as badly, she does not descend that deeply into hypocrisy and madness. She does lean that way, however, at times.
And finally, my really big and doctrinal and thematic accusation: Roiphe does not quite get a few essential facts or even solid conjectures even when she demonstrates the ability to apply reasoning to other aspects of these Old Testament stories. This really shows up in her treatment of the story of Abraham and his near sacrifice of Isaac. Nowhere does Roiphe seem to realize that God never intended for Abraham to take that sacrifice to its awful end. Nowhere does she, and really, her sources don't and so she can't, realize that God may have explained some things to Abraham, to Isaac, to Sarah, at some point or other. She does conjecture to a certain degree, but she keeps mentioning that God didn't say anything. Perhaps He didn't say anything that got recorded. Perhaps some things are too sacred even for sacred texts, and it isn't a fact that God meant to emotionally scar Isaac for life the way Roiphe makes it sound like He meant to. This is where I can teach what I have been taught- that Abraham was tested, that Isaac was tested. That the ram was provided by God to replace Isaac because only after the Messiah came, would we have to offer up our hearts, not our sheep, to Him. Abraham did this, and so did Isaac, and Sarah. Their very hearts were on that altar. And just because we are mortals, through all the generations, maybe we needed a story of a mortal man who offered up his beloved son, so we could marvel within ourselves and come closer to a realization of what our Heavenly Father might have gone through when He made the sacrifice of His Only Begotten.
And there are other things she misses. BUT she does an excellent job with what she does understand, and I am grateful for her research into Jewish writings (which I find fascinating and deeply human) and for all the carefully thought out writing that she provides. I'm looking forward to her conclusion to see how she wraps things up.
Now back to the story.
December 10, 2010
I expected this book to be a novelized story about the Old Testament women, Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Leah, but it is very different. It has the feel of well researched nonfiction rather than a novel. Roiphe gives us context and details about these women’s lives based on historical information and the writings of Jewish rabbis. She does delve into what they must have been thinking and feeling, and this adds a lot to the Old Testament women, gives them depth and character. Much of her information is based on writings that are legends, and they certainly add color. I enjoyed this book although it was very slow paced and I took a long break in the middle.
May 12, 2009
This was a very interesting book. I have known the story of these women for most of my life, but I have heard them from the Christian point of view. Roiphe, however, is Jewish and comes to this story with a different viewpoint. So she quotes the sages of Judaism and some folklorists that I would never have encountered without her book.
I think I would like to look at more of the Hebrew Bible from the point of view of the people for whom it was written. I especially think I would like to encounter more writings by Jewish women.
I think I would like to look at more of the Hebrew Bible from the point of view of the people for whom it was written. I especially think I would like to encounter more writings by Jewish women.
August 8, 2007
I am struggling to make it through this book. It takes the stories of Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah and fleshes them out with thoughts from ancient rabbi's , and multiple other sources. It starts getting interesting and then seems to forget that it is supposed to be from the women's point of view. Maybe it well get better
January 3, 2014
Actually, I seriously dislike the way this book is written. The author uses "she might have..." "she likely..." "perhaps she..." and it gets really annoying, particularly because there were also times when she didn't use these phrases. Is this a novel or isn't it?! I'm not sure that even the author knows. Why did I finish reading this book? Because it gives a lot of insight into the lives of these four women, and for that it was worthwhile.
September 28, 2009
this is an amazing view of our biblical matriarchs. it brings together noncanonical stories about each of these women, and interweaves history, geography, mythology, and quotidian detail into a compelling narrative. this is one of very few nonfiction books to keep me up late reading.
December 2, 2012
I thought this work would be a historical fiction take on these four biblical characters. Instead it was a collection of stories regarding these characters that Roiphe compiled after intensive research. Beautifully written just not my cup o' tea.
June 8, 2015
A book about the women at the well where Jesus came to get water on his long journey, and he has to take a shortcut trough Samaria (not his usual territory) but he pays that no mind and when the whole village finds out he is the Lord they are transformed.
January 30, 2008
WOW what a read, couldn't put it down!
July 8, 2008
About four ladies of the bible. A lot of this you could read in the bible, but I think this book goes into a lot of detail. Plus, it maybe easier to read in book form.
March 10, 2016
The stories of these four major Biblical with many Jewish writings incorporated. Concludes with the author's visits to pray at their graves.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews