Read for: RIP V Challenge
Far ahead of his time, John Fowles wrote this dark classic in 1963, when I can only imagine it shocked readers as much as it can today. This is the disturbing tale of Frederick, a butterfly collector, who decides to 'collect' the object of his fantasies, a beautiful art student, Miranda.
After winning a large sum of money, Frederick meticulously plans the kidnapping, buying a house deep in the country with an outside basement, building a place to keep the captive Miranda. The plan goes flawlessly, and Frederick spends his days in the hope that Miranda will fall in love with him.
The Frederick we see is not a monster, but a lonely man, hopelessly in love with an otherwise unobtainable woman. Miranda sees this in him, and part of her understands this and even begins to sympathise with him. However, Miranda soon learns that she has underestimated Frederick and what he is capable of, as the story takes an even darker turn.
With the first half of this tale revolving around Frederick and the unfolding of his plan, I found myself enjoying the second half more, as we journey Miranda's experiences in the basement through reading her diary. There is also a thread of Shakespeare's The Tempest running through the novel, with Frederick identifying with Ferdinand and his love for Miranda, however she refers to him as Caliban throughout her diary.
Though perhaps a little overly long, I thoroughly enjoyed (and was creeped out by) this trip into the minds of an obsessive collector, and the object of his desire.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
The Collector - John Fowles
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Oh! I read this back when I was a baby book blogger, and I really enjoyed it too. Especially the second part! What a great RIP choice. :)
I've wanted to read this book ever since they based a Criminal Minds episode on it. LOL, I admit, I can be a big dork.
Eva - I've had this for ages but only just got to it - very glad I did! Off to hunt your review down ;)
Christina - I saw that episode! Brilliant! You should definitely read it :)
this took me down memory lane - i read this book in the 70s & then went on a bit of a John Fowles reading jag (all i can remember now is The French Lieutenant's Woman - also made into a movie). perhaps i should look up his stuff & read a selection or two. i see he died 5 years ago.
Deborah - Think I was a bit late in discovering Fowles! Would you recommend The French Lieutenant's Woman?
Post a Comment