THE FIVE MYTHS/OF TEE PASSIONATE POSEIDON

In spite of some of the opulence (the overdressed even when undressed touches, such as a mink-trimmed nightgown) aboard this floating grand hotel, this is strictly second class. Its premise is that an ocean crossing in a liberating experience and morality as collapsible as the inevitable Baked Alaska. However it's also quite confining from the point of view of a book which has five days and nights to kill. After Angela Satherwaite (a doctor's wife and daughter) and Joel Maltbie (a g.p.) take one walk around the deck, they lurch into the stateroom. Certainly a good third of the time is spent there; in between there are insets: the five myths; dreams; and fillers from the past-- Angela's with a husband who is uninterested in her and two boys who have outgrown her; Joel's with a wife who is well endowed but contained. Others on the passenger list play no more than walk on parts; there are chapter headings such as ""Second Awakening;"" and there's lots of passion-perfervid it is too. For today's readers of yesterday's Vicki Baum.