Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
Loading... The Collector (Back Bay Books) (original 1963; edition 1997)by John Fowles
Work InformationThe Collector by John Fowles (1963)
» 24 more Top Five Books of 2013 (766) Books Read in 2019 (486) Top Five Books of 2015 (522) Books Read in 2015 (558) Unreliable Narrators (81) Page Turners (51) Books Read in 2021 (4,644) Read These Too (93) 20th Century Literature (1,087) Best Horror Mega-List (151) 2005-2010 (21) Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.
This was certainly worse than French Lieutenant's Woman, and I am through with John Fowles. The chaarcters were not likable or very interesting, and the protagonist was certainly in need of psychiatric help. He has many similarities to the incels of today, and unfortunately, was just as dangerous. After plodding through all of the tedious details, the story got less interesting rather than more interesting. Ever since reading and really enjoying [b:The French Lieutenant's Woman|56034|The French Lieutenant's Woman|John Fowles|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1466630905s/56034.jpg|1816464] by the same author, I've been interested in trying another one of his books. This one did not disappoint. The description sounds more like a sordid thriller, but it's actually neither of those things. Frederick collects butterflies, but when he sees Miranda, he becomes obsessed with her. The book relates the story of a kidnapping from both the perspective of the kidnapper and the kidnapped. And in the telling, it manages to address life, love, art, class and more from a more philosophical perspective. For some readers, this may detract from the storytelling itself, but I really thought that this approach made the book unique and more than just a suspenseful plot. Both characters, Frederick and Miranda, are very well drawn, and Fowles helps you empathize with Frederick on some level. Miranda has incredible will to live and uses her wit to attempt to manipulate Frederick. Interestingly, in order to survive, in some ways she needs his company even though he is her captor. Another aspect that I found fascinating is that Miranda alludes to a relationship with a mentor that has sexual overtones, and in which she allows herself to be "trapped" in a different way by a man who objectified women and manipulates her. The book just has a lot of layers under the veneer of a thriller style plotline. There are literary allusions as well and having not read The Tempest, I was not well prepared to appreciate all of them, but it's just another layer of literary deliciousness that Fowles serves up. no reviews | add a review
Is contained inHas the adaptationAwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
Withdrawn, uneducated and unloved, Frederick collects butterflies and takes photographs. He is obsessed with a beautiful stranger, the art student Miranda. When he wins a betting pool, he buys a remote Sussex house and calmly abducts Miranda, believing she will grow to love him in time. Alone and desperate, Miranda must struggle to overcome her own prejudices and contempt if she is understand her captor, and so gain her freedom. No library descriptions found. |
Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.914Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |
Besides being nowhere near as morbid as it could have been, this book also in a way addresses the experience of too many women trapped into marriages where they are expected to 'learn to love' their spouse eventually. The scenario in this book is obviously criminal, but if this book was set in a different place or century, the idea of a man capturing and keeping his chosen woman would seem less unusual, even though the cruelty and unfairness of the story would be the same. ( )