‘The Collector’ by John Fowles (Review)

‘The Collector’ by John Fowles

“I love making, I love doing. I love being to the full, I love everything which is not sitting and watching and copying and dead at heart”.

“I hate the uneducated and the ignorant. I hate the pompous and the phoney. I hate the jealous and the resentful. I hate the crabbed and mean and the petty. I hate all ordinary dull little people who aren’t ashamed of being dull and little”.

General plot: Frederick becomes obsessed with a girl (Miranda) who lives close to him in a town called Lewes. He follows her, watches her and he falls in love. Frederick kidnaps  Miranda so he can be with her forever.

This was a book chosen by my other half one day while we were out for searching for a good ol' book haul. He read it and raved so much about it that I had to see what all the fuss was about, I was a little bit sceptical as we don't usually enjoy the same books. Here is what I thought.

It’s not like I couldn’t put this book down which is what I always hope for in a new book but

I found that throughout the book, I began to feel so much sympathy for Miranda’s character, that this book almost brought me to tears a few times; however, this book goes against all the feelings you think you should feel towards Frederick, it's really surprising and made me question myself a number of times!

I would describe this book as 'disturbing’ because no one can ever imagine what it must feel like to be kidnapped but this book gives some insight into that and how one might feel in that situation. Boy, is it horrific and I found, sometimes hard to read.

I would also describe this book as 'thrilling’ because you can be on the second to last chapter and you still don’t know how this book will end and it just grips you.

I had my thoughts before I started this book, and let’s just say, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I would definitely recommend if you enjoy a twisted, eerie thriller. This has to be one of the best.

Rating - 8.2/10

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