Colleen McCullough
Paperback | Pages: 320 pages Rating: 3.57 | 2176 Users | 102 Reviews
Identify Books Toward An Indecent Obsession
| Original Title: | Indecent Obsession |
| ISBN: | 0751508365 (ISBN13: 9780751508369) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Ilustration In Favor Of Books An Indecent Obsession
Did the weak demand, or did the strong offer themselves unsolicited? Did strength beget weakness, or reinforce it, or negate it? What was strength, what weakness, for that matter?World War II has been over for a matter of months and Ward X of Base Fifteen has gradually emptied until only five patients and one nurse remain. Some are there for legit reasons and others, including newcomer Michael Wilson, are there for reasons not-so-legit.
Ward X is a tight-knit little group, administered by Honour Langtry, who loves her patients and who has their loyalty and love in turn. Wilson upsets the balance, and the fact that he is well, that Honour doesn't need to "fix" him, makes her dream that she can - after six grueling years of war - have a relationship with a man who she doesn't feel maternal towards. For once, she feels like she's the one whose needs could be tended to.
But even though the reason for Michael's being in the ward seems innocuous and trumped-up, it masks a deep need of his own to heal and protect, due to his failures in the past. He feels Honour doesn't need his strength, but that some of the men in the ward do. The night Honour finally gets what she wants from him is the same night when nothing can possibly end well for them. Honour is ready to shed her duty, but Michael hasn't reached that emotional point.
I don't think it's too surprising that fans of McCullough's The Thorn Birds wonder "What went wrong?" with this book. It's really not historical fiction. It certainly wasn't what I was expecting, but I enjoyed it nevertheless. There was a lot of psychological baggage, some obsessive romance, and a vague "historical" backdrop of post-war pulling of stakes from the military life into the civilian. Honour faces the pull of duty vs. desire and wonders if the two can be one and the same, once she's reached a certain age and has become used to what her life has been and where she can expect it to go.
McCullough, prior to becoming an author, had medical experience and the details of life in the ward, the procedures and "shop talk" was interesting, despite it sometimes dragging down the narrative. It was a fascinating glimpse into the military hospital system and the medical field of the time, the stigma of homosexuality and mental illness. It definitely rang true.
It's hugely depressing, but not in the way of grand-scale tragedy (though there are several deaths). Overall I felt like it was a solid analytical melodrama on the cost of war on the bodies and souls of men and women alike, and the hopelessness they must have felt when the war ended and everyone expected those on the front lines to "get back to normal." As the military rends this family of strangers apart, they react in ways that one would think are reserved only for "real" families of blood ties. And it gets ugly.
Definitely a different kind of book from The Thorn Birds (what I've assumed, anyway - I haven't read it) and her Masters of Rome series.
Point Epithetical Books An Indecent Obsession
| Title | : | An Indecent Obsession |
| Author | : | Colleen McCullough |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 320 pages |
| Published | : | 1999 by Warner Futura (first published 1981) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Historical. Historical Fiction. Romance. Cultural. Australia |
Rating Epithetical Books An Indecent Obsession
Ratings: 3.57 From 2176 Users | 102 ReviewsCritique Epithetical Books An Indecent Obsession
Set in a military hospital in the waning weeks of WWII somewhere in Indonesia, although it never specifies the place - just the jungles & the tropics. The story centers on Honour Langtry, a nurse in charge of the psychiatric Ward X , and the men that occupy it. They have become a sort of family but when a new "patient" arrives, he upsets the dynamics and becomes the catalyst for underlying emotions and actions to erupt affecting them all.This book portrays perfectly the human nature at its best and its worst. I don't understand the low rating of this novel.I thought it was really good.As I was reading it, it felt like the author took the "most notorious" characters of the world daily life, and put them all together to create a powerful story.Honour Langtry - a courageous nurse - "the normality"Michael Wilson - the haunted sargent - "the good"Luce Daggett - the soulless sargent - "the evil"Neil Parkinson - the lost capitan - "the
Another good read from one of my favorite authors. This is a story of an army nurse and her small group of psychiatric patients somewhere in the tropics at the end of WW2. The story follows the patients and nurse, their relationships with each other and what they each face as a new arrival to the group and the ending of the war and decommissioning of the base disturbs the dynamics they have been functioning under. They all face readjusting to the changes this causes, and the idea of going back
Another great piece of writing from this author. I always feel so easily drawn in to her stories. This one has some surprising darkness to it, which I think makes it feel more authentic an experience. The army base X that is the setting has little to offer in events but is brought to life by the drama between the inhabitants of the ward and the staff. A delightful read.
Maybe it was due to the fact that most of the characters are or were crazy, but I had a very difficult time relating to them. They also weren't memorable enough either. It took me until I was half way through the book before I remembered which character was which. Not my favorite Colleen McCullough.
another recent re-reading after many years absence! I do love Col's books they are so dense with detail and yet the plot moves along at a great pace. Another recent bargain from a book sale for an original edition hardback copy.
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