Women are not all alike and they do not "all want one thing"
The psychologist, Sigmund Freud commented:
A Clean Pair of Hands
The great question that has never been answered, and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is 'What does a woman want?'
We are none the wiser today. The female characters in my book are capable of defying logic, just as they do in real life and men should remember this when categorising women or interpreting their messages.
Quote from the book - "Give a man complete freedom and no-one can save him from himself ". The same applies to women more than ever before. Are they smart enough to see that freedom carries responsibility? Some of my characters ignore this at their peril.
There is a confrontation between the world-wide tendency for men to exploit and abuse women and the freedoms that some women exert as a right; the predators are out there alongside their prey. Can leopards change their spots? Men should know that predators can be male or female.
Women like testing their power to its limits
Men may think that women are happy to handle all responses to messages they transmit. Females sprinkle pheromones which attract bugs as well as butterflies and in human life, that's where things can get out of control, especially when drugs or alcohol are involved. 'A Clean Pair of Hands' contains examples of women getting 'carried away'. This is potentially dangerous territory for men too. When the sets of thinking are so different is it surprising that there is no agreement as to where lines should be drawn?
Women have an infinite capacity for responding to life 's challenges and an infinite array of styles to deploy …
Some men marry a woman only because she is attractive and can be seen as a complement to their own ego. Such was the case of Michel Bodin, the principal protagonist in the story.
His wife Charlotte had never loved anybody else, so she takes the full brunt of the shock when Michel decides to do things his way. Her reaction is incomprehensible and frustrating.
Falling in love is one thing, falling into a trap is another.
Despite wider freedom, constraints on women persist, and some of them see marriage or a relationship as an escape. Sometimes, the escape is from solitude or from financial crisis, like Sonia when she met Bodin, but was it a wise move? The consequences become apparent later in the story.
Beware of clever women. Your instrument may be in tune, but if you can 't interpret the music...
Men like to lead in their relationships with women, whatever their capability. Clever women use their feminine intuition to package their strength in attractive but varied ways - less threatening, more palatable, or even stimulating. Michel Bodin learns the hard way from encounters with women who are not prepared to roll over for him. Why do women like Kozi Dubois love sending confusing messages? (For answer see item 4)
Whatever their social worth, women are for men a natural curiosity and will remain so.
They can be a tease, a wonder, an object of hate, of desire or a source of passion, friendship or eternal love. They stimulate the worst and the best in us. Thank heaven, they exist - and may they long remain a puzzle!
Men, are you against women?
Against also means close to in French, and that is the word play the French humourist Sacha Guitry, (a French man, remember) used when he said:
" Regarding women; I am against them. Why? Because you have to keep your friends close and your enemies even closer. Women are my best enemies, the most implacable and the most adorable. I have never been able to do without them because a woman is a virulent and costly drug. But they are so adorable, charming and desirable. So, speaking on behalf of men in general, childish and weak though we are, we should always be against women, hold them close and pray heaven that we will always stay that close. "
My conclusion:
Women and men share all human strengths and weaknesses. They can be just as blind, illogical and passionate as each other, sometimes all at the same time. The messages women and men send out can draw us into the 'if it's there take it' attitude, that provided me with material for this novel and that's what makes life so interesting.
For more information about ' A Clean Pair of Hands ' go to www.OscarReynard.com or you can buy the book online from Amazon or from other leading booksellers.