CONTACT CAROLINE
facebook
rss
tumblr
twitter
goodreads
youtube

  • Home
  • Write Away Blog
  • Books
    • Books
    • Trompe l’Oeil
    • Heart Land
    • Gothic Spring
    • Ballet Noir
    • Book Excerpts
  • Video Interviews
  • Press
    • News
    • Print Interviews
    • Plays
    • Ballet Noir in the Press
    • Trompe l’Oeil In The Press
    • Gothic Spring In The Press
    • Heart Land Reviews
  • Contact
  • About
  • Resources
    • Writer Resources
    • Favorite Blogs
    • Favorite Artists



French Forbidden Fruit

Nov 13, 2017
by Caroline Miller
"Two Lipsticks and a Lover", "What French Women Know", Debra Ollivier, Frith Boswell, how French women differ from American Women
2 Comments

On July 3 of this year, I wrote a blog referencing Two Lipsticks and a Lover by Frith Boswell, a book which details how French women differ from their American counterparts. Yesterday, while I was browsing among titles at the Dollar Store, I came across another book on the subject: What French Women Know by Debra Ollivier. The author is a U. S. expat who married a Frenchman and lives in Paris with her husband and their two children. Scanning the first few pages of her book, I found her style lively and amusing, so I tucked it under my arm and brought it home. I could tell she and I were comrades, of sorts, both in awe of the chic, Parisian woman.

 In her introduction, Ollivier explains that while American women are hampered by their Puritan backgrounds, French women have no qualms about opening themselves to desire and pleasure. For them, men are not the opposite sex, suggesting a position of combat, and do not seek to domesticate their husbands, as American women are said to do. For the French women, men are to be treated as potential lovers. All of them whether they are fat, bald, sweaty or have beads that fall to their knee caps. Women extend this courtesy because they know it is unwise to expect too much of men. Or, as Marguerite Duras, a grand dame of 20th century letters explains:

 You have to love men a lot. A lot, a lot. You have to love men a lot. Otherwise they are simply unbearable. (What French Women Know, by Debra Ollivier, G. P. Putnam & Sons, N.Y, 2009, pg. 18.)

 Accepting men’s peccadilloes also means accepting that sex can be funny. (Ibid. pg. 10) I know this is true,. A French man taught me it was so.

 When I was in my early 20s and ship bound for Europe, I met a delicate and deliciously beautiful Frenchman, also in his 20s. He had been married a scant 3 days yet during the passage, he pursued me with ardor wherever I went. One evening, he cornered me at the ship’s stern where I’d been hiding. As he approached, I could feel nothing but exasperation. “Why are you bothering me?” I snapped . “You have a wife of three days. You’re still a groom!”

 A wicked gleam came into my suitor’s eyes. “Ah yes, I am a groom. But don’t you see, cheri? I offer myself because I am married. What greater pleasure could I offer than a taste of forbidden fruit?”

 Now that was funny.

Forbidden Fruit

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Courtesy of www.poxpulse.com)

(Originally appeared 8/8/13)

 

Social Share
2 Comments
  1. Susan November 16, 2017 at 7:31 pm Reply
    Did that line work?
    • Caroline Miller November 19, 2017 at 7:56 am Reply
      You will have to read my memmoir when it comes out.u

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

*
*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Contact Caroline at

carolinemiller11@yahoo.com

Portland, Oregon author Caroline Miller had distinguished careers as an educator, union president, elected official and artist/advocate.

Her play, Woman on the Scarlet Beast, was performed at the Post5 Theatre, Portland, OR, January/February 2015

Caroline published a serialized novelette, Marie Eau-Claire, on the website, The Colored Lens.  She also published the story Gustav Pavel,  a parable about ordinary lives, choice and alternate potential, on the website Fixional.co.

Caroline has published four novels

  • Ballet Noir
  • Trompe l’Oeil
  • Gothic Spring
  • Heart Land

Subscribe to Caroline’s Blog


 

Archives

Categories

YouTube-logo-inline2 To access and subscribe to my videos on YouTube, Click Here and click the Subscribe button.

Banner art “The Receptive” by Charlie White of Charlie White Studio

Web Admin: ThinPATH Systems, Inc
support@tp-sys.com

Subscribe to Caroline's Blog


 

Contact Caroline at

carolinemiller11@yahoo.com

Sitemap | Privacy Notice

AUDIO & VIDEO VAULT

View archives of Caroline’s audio and videos interviews.


Copyright © Books by Caroline Miller