WOMAN, THE FULL STORY
A dynamic celebration of freedoms
By Michele Guiness
Zondervan. 318 pages. ?9.99
ISBN 0 310 25059 5
This is a book of contradictions, and so quite a hard book to write about! It has been written by Michele Guiness, author of the bestseller 'Child of the Covenant' telling of her conversion from Judaism. 'Woman, The Full Story' too contains lots of autobiography, along with discussion of Scripture, sociology and lots of humour.
It is an extremely readable, personal and passionate (and therefore winsome) exploration of womanhood. But before I sound too positive, I must say that the appeal of Guiness's warm personality does not outweigh the serious flaws in some of her ideas.
The book starts at the very beginning, in Genesis, but in the 25 pages of the first chapter we visit Augustine, Afghanistan, oppression and redemption among many other topics. Quite a whistle-stop tour! This busyness of style makes the book entertaining; the illustrations are memorable and the applications moving. Unfortunately, the pace can sweep the reader into unquestioningly accepting Guiness's central thesis. In trying (quite rightly) to reclaim the nobility of the woman, she falls into the trap of the feminists, downgrading men and exonerating women. The curse on women - 'your desire will be for your husband' (Genesis 3.16) - is read as a desire to give in to men, to become dependent on a husband or father rather than God.
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