The Collector (1963)

NA

A book about man's constant attempts to capture beauty, shackle it in a poor copy of its natural habitat. Very touching to the the end. ( )

Meet Frederick Clegg. Oh no, you don't want to meet Frederick. If you did most of would sense very quickly something was wrong here. Frederick is a man in love with a woman he does not know, and then he comes into some money so that he can pursue his dream woman, Miranda Grey. Miranda is beautiful physically and yet she embodies the arrogance of youth. Frederick is a sick and scary individual, and so his approach to pursuing his love with Miranda is unique.

I first heard of John Fowles many years ago and had intended to read some of his works then, but I failed to and have been meaning to follow up on those intentions through the years. I had always had an impression of him as a very intellectual novelist and so expected that his use of language might not be very accessible. Boy, was I wrong. I found that I easily consumed his writing, pulled forward by the plot but also by a style that just flowed.

Early in reading The Collector memories of Nabokov's Lolita came to mind. While the natures of Frederick Clegg and Humbert Humbert are certainly one reason my thoughts went there, the other was the simple recognition of the achievements of Fowles and Nabokov in creating these characters and putting us as readers in their heads. ( )

4.5/5 ( )

A mentally deranged man tortures a young woman. Reads like a purient tabloid story. Unable find much meaning to the story. Attributing any kind of meaning to the actions of a mentally ill individual is just non-sensical. I did not expect something this mediocre from the author of The Ebony Tower and The French Lieutenant's Woman. ( )