ongs to somebody else." She doesn't care. Yet she considers this encounter to be a blessing from God. She is essentially thanking God for an opportunity to sin. Page 167 more or less defines what the women are searching for when Robin describes why Russell is her ultimate man: "...he can dress his butt off, he's the best lover I've ever had since I've been in Phoenix, he's fine as can be, and I know he'd make some pretty babies." By making this her search criteria, she is doing nothing to protect herself from multitudes of men (such as Russell) who will enter her life, get all the sex they want, and then leave her hurting and wondering what's wrong with men when her main problem is with her. This of course leads to her view on page 318 that all men are whores. We all know that isn't true, but Robin's style of selecting men makes her more likely to date whores than any other type of man. Pages 392 and 393 do show that she finally gives up the astrology and quits trying to be with Russell, but at best she is a little worse than the others were at the beginning of the book.
             Bernadine is perhaps the most difficult to analyze because unlike the other characters, the novel does not show how she enters into the relationship that triggers her problems. However, it is clear from page 74 that troubles were building in her marriage for some time. When Bernadine went to Gloria's beauty salon, she would often talk to her about how bored she was with life, especially with her husband John. Being bored with your husband is a clear trouble signal in a marriage. It is likely that they failed to seek any counseling to deal with their marital problems. We also see on pages 90-94 that there are significant personality conflicts between Bernadine and John. John is a neat freak and is v
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