Books in Brief: An Indecent Obsession

An Indecent Obsession, by Colleen McCullough (Harper & Row, 317 pp., $13.50). There is a thin line that separates the potboiler from a “good read.” Colleen McCullough, author of the best-selling The Thornbirds. hovers precariously on that dividing line in her latest novel. World War II is ending, an Australian field hospital on one of the Pacific islands will soon be closed, and the patients and personnel are to return to Australia. The central character, Sister Honour Langtry, is in sole charge of the mental ward. She is, though in less obvious ways, as disturbing a character as her charges; noble, strong, and caring, she is a victim of one of the more subtle sins of vanity— the belief in one’s indispensability—and enjoys the power that illusion creates. However, the men rely on her to maintain their own balance and the delicate balance that has been constructed within the group. Then a newcomer, Mike, sane, sensible, and handsome, arrives and innocently destroys this equilibrium. The disruption has tragic consequences for “Sis” and her men; in the world of the deranged sanity can be deadly. The book appears to have larger ambitions than mere bestsellerdom: the theme of the call of duty (the indecent obsession) as opposed to normal life, and the observation of a confined group under stress. But Colleen McCullough either is incapable of dealing with the more profound implications of her story, or deliberately chooses not to do so. The result is a book that cannot quite cross over the line.

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Judith Chettle

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An Indecent Obsession, by Colleen McCullough (Harper & Row, 317 pp., $13.50). There is a thin line that separates the potboiler from a “good read.” Colleen McCullough, author of the best-selling The Thornbirds. hovers precariously on that dividing line in her latest novel. World War II is ending, an Australian field hospital on one of the Pacific islands will soon be closed, and the patients and personnel are to return to Australia. The central character, Sister Honour Langtry, is in sole charge of the mental ward. She is, though in less obvious ways, as disturbing a character as her charges; noble, strong, and caring, she is a victim of one of the more subtle sins of vanity— the belief in one’s indispensability—and enjoys the power that illusion creates. However, the men rely on her to maintain their own balance and the delicate balance that has been constructed within the group. Then a newcomer, Mike, sane, sensible, and handsome, arrives and innocently destroys this equilibrium. The disruption has tragic consequences for “Sis” and her men; in the world of the deranged sanity can be deadly. The book appears to have larger ambitions than mere bestsellerdom: the theme of the call of duty (the indecent obsession) as opposed to normal life, and the observation of a confined group under stress. But Colleen McCullough either is incapable of dealing with the more profound implications of her story, or deliberately chooses not to do so. The result is a book that cannot quite cross over the line.