An Indecent Obsession by Colleen McCullough

Colleen McCullough’s An Indecent Obsession is one heck of a plot twist roller coaster. Set during World War 2, the novel follows the life of one Sister Honour Langtry, and her battle fatigued army patients in Ward X. located in the Pacific, Ward X is the kind of place where army men have been sent for going “troppo” at a certain point of the war, but are not too critical to be admitted in a mental asylum. Sister Langtry, also called “Sis” by her patients, is, or was, a nurse on the battlefield, but has been repositioned to take charge of Ward X. Being the only one to take charge of the ward, without anyone to help her with her duties, the patients have, each, grown to be fond of Sister Langtry in his own way. Because it is her duty to take good and close care to her patients, each one of them has been attached to her in one way or the other. That is why when the last patient, Sergeant Michael Wilson, was admitted to the ward, about the same time the war was closing in on its end, the atmosphere in Ward X changed ad things twisted in tragic ends.

To be honest, when I first started reading the book, I was not that interested with going on further than the first five chapters. From the moment the reader is introduced to Sister Langtry, Ward X and the troppo patients –Luce, Neil, Nugget, Matt and Ben- to the point the reader is introduced to Michael, things aren’t very eventful. We do, however, get an insight into each character’s psyche and history.

Although the main character is, in fact, Sister Langtry, we still see things from the other patients’ points of view. Not only the major characters get to display their perspectives, but also the minor characters that have minor roles all through out the novel get their share of opinions.

What was really engaging was the author’s way of presenting pieces of the puzzle at the right time. McCullough didn’t drop each character’s life story and feelings at once. Everything was unraveled at different intervals of the plot. That’s why it makes the reader want to read on to find out why Ben was the most critical patient of all the men, or why Matt was worried about going home, why Luce acted the way he did, how strongly Neil felt about Sister Langtry, or why Nugget was always, and the biggest mystery of all, why Michael was sent to Ward X.

Far from the novel’s dull start, it turned out to be very eventful and full of a variety of insights. Just when you think things are settled and resolved, something suddenly happens.

While I was reading this fantastic novel, when a wild plot twist appears, I had to reread sentences to make sure that I have read them correctly. Or I would be shocked and would have to take a moment to fathom what I had just read. The plot twists hits you so hard, you cant believe yourself. That’s another aspect of McCulloughs style I was fascinated by, you’re constantly surprised by the information you find out bit by bit about the characters and the events, and by the constant plot twisting that catches you off guard. There’s also a constant thirst of wanting to know what’s the next surprise, and wondering when you’re going to find it.

I thought that McCullough’s novel would be another book about the war heroes and what not, but I was relieved to find out that it wasn’t at all. An Indecent Obsession is more about the inner battle within each character. But, it is mainly about the inner battle within Sister Langtry, torn between duty and love. It was also a relieve that the novel didn’t end up being another hopeless romance, or romance driven for that matter, the amount of love percentage within the plot was reasonable and wasn’t too much. It was mostly suspense, which was what made it interesting to read.

Too Many Murders by Colleen McCullough

Yet another McCullough novel feeds my appetite. After three years of reading the first book in the series (On, Off), I have finally proceeded with the rest.

Twelve murders in one day! Espionage, spies, USSR and communism! Its 1967 and the good stuff is happening. Its all up to Captain Carmin Delmonico and Holloman PD to unravel these mysteries, while making the sudden mingling of the FBI their advantage.

I really liked Too Many Murders, although I admit On, Off was better, in my opinion. But, still, McCullough's focus on detail and the unraveling of events wins over every time.

What was really done well and what made me thirsty to read on was the unraveling of events and secrets. McCullough does it professionally in all her writing. The amount of suspense and surprises is unbelievable!

I am always at shock and surprised all through out the book. The reader is given the chance to think about what is about to happen next and given the chance to make his/her own speculations. But, we are almost always at awe of what actually happens and what we find out in the end.

The plot was well structured and organized, not giving way to any confusions. The ending, though, came as a shock to me. I had thought that Stravinsky was going to runaway and come back, maybe, in another book, but when Captain Delmonico confronts her and gives her a chance to leave without a fuss my doubt were put at rest. But, of course, BAM... That closing sentence caught me off guard.

I am definitely eager to read the next book in the series.

Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho

If I had the option of giving it less than one star, I most definitely would.

Eleven Minutes was recommended it to me by a dear friend of mine, 7 years ago. Ever since, I have been looking for it everywhere, but I have only found it at a local book fair about a month back.

The only reason I continued reading this pathetic excuse for a "novel" is because it took me years to find it.

I'm pretty sure most of the readers loved Eleven Minutes because its by Paulo Coelho, whom they absolutely adore.

Again, over rated.

I wasn't surprised that I didn't like it, I was surprised; though, that I found out that his style of writing was so, you could say, unintelligent, although that's quiet undermining how bad it was.

I get that he was going for the character that becomes wise over time and philosophizes every aspect of her life, trying to understand why things are what they are, or how things work the way they work. But, Coelho only made Maria appear to be stupider and even more empty headed. Maybe even silly. He failed drastically in conveying any type of wisdom, or intellect, or even philosophy, in his narration or Maria's.

On top of that, he manages to go on too much, offering unnecessary details or explanations. Dear Mr. Coehlo, are you familiar with the phrase "less is more"? Apparently not. Whether it's the text between the brackets or the excessive justification in one sentence, Coelho fails to keep the reader engaged without interrupting, which is really annoying and a big turn off.

Although he tried to convey Maria as a strong woman who takes matter of her life in her own hands and creates her own fate, she actually is interpreted to be a submissive person. Giving herself to men for every night, claiming that she hates being a prostitute but has to for the sake of money. She could have found other ways to earn money, clean money, and keep her dignity she talks about, get the first ticket to go home to Brazil and deal with her life there. Maybe marry her boss who was planning to propose to her. I mean, that's all she wanted, right? A rich husband, children and money.

That's all she seemed to care about: money. Such a gold digger. Wanting to stay in Switzerland and hesitating to go back home because she was earning a lot of money; her first thought about Hart was if he was rich or not; talking about her boss in Brazil saying how she doesn't love him but thinking he is rich; even the Swiss guy who picked her up from Rio to take her as an exotic dancer in his night club in Switzerland, she thought of hooking him in and marrying him because he is rich. Its all money to her, not love, as she keeps going on and on about.

All this nonsense about love, losing the chance at it when she was a CHILD, not finding it ever again -until she met Ralf Hart. As a reader, I did not believe all the meaningless thoughts and realizations she had about love, wanting it, losing it, finding it, not even knowing what it is. All her past relationships seemed as though all she wanted out of them all was experience in sex, even that she failed to understand.

It was really sick how the idea of love was so undermined.

I don't think Coelho really knew or understood about what he was writing.

This experience makes me wonder, what should I do with the other 2 novels I bought, next to this one?

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I swore I wouldn't read it because I believe that its over rated, as anything else these days, and because its just another romance novel.

In any case, to be fair,the book was engaging, I didn't want to put it down. It was well organized and well written. There is something about the first person narration that really hooks me. Anyway, I was right, it is just another romance novel, aiming at the hopeless romantics (such as myself).

What really pissed me off was that it is not realistic (yeah, it is fiction, but still we look for the reality behind the words we read). No guy would be as sweet to his girl as Augustus was to Hazel, it just doesn't happen.

Apart from that, Hazel and Gus sounded smart, too smart for their age. They even appeared smarter than their parents (and at the same level as Van Houten). Which I found pretty strange.

To be honest, I was touched, and I sneaked in a few tears here and there. Also, I loved the idea of death and it being present the whole time. But, in the end, I couldn't make up my mind if I actually liked it or not...