Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Collector by John Fowles

37 reviews

scarletkeiller's review against another edition

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dark sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is a really great read. Fowles not only writes a twisted male lead with a warped sense of love and relationships, but a complex and interesting female character who was shockingly realistic as well. Her actions, emotions and thoughts felt really honest and believable and I was so taken aback that a man wrote this character in the 60s! I loved this book!
I loved the perspective shift halfway through, the hope it gave me that she find a way to escape, how it tricked me into feeling much the same as Miranda - blind hope that he might see the error of his ways and let her go. And then when the book reaches its natural end, despite knowing it was coming I was so full of sadness for her.
What an amazingly written story. 
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sophia_joy17's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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itsanaxiom's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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annie_brewer's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

While I do enjoy the premise of the novel, and given the time it was written it was still probably considered original, I didn't find much compelling in this novel and believe it could have been more punchy as a short story.

I found the writing quite basic but this interestingly made the novel very timeless.

Cleverly, Fowles intended for both characters to be insufferable, facilitating a lapse in the reader of their horror. While obviously no person should be held captive, the conditions in this scenario do not implore the reader to wholeheartedly hope for Miranda's escape nor her demise.

I appreciate the exploration into an unlikable victim, but this novel was as mediocre as her.
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shmayjoy's review

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dark sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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ellacostello's review

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dark sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

If I had read this book 20 odd years ago I may have found it more suspenseful and shocking despite this it was still an “enjoyable” read (as far as kidnap can be classed as enjoyable). I found the switching of POV was good in knowing how each were thinking and feeling and I enjoyed finding out more about the attempted escapes however overall I did find it a bit repetitive and was bored going through the second section. I found both characters unlikeable but I felt for Miranda and wished she had survived. Going through the book I get I understood more about the kidnappers psyche and how truly unstable and crazy he was which I enjoyed seeing into that side. Overall I did enjoy the book but it wouldn’t be one I would be interested in rereading 
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silver_lining_in_a_book's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

 
I am one in a row of specimens. It's when I try to flutter out of line that he hates me. I'm meant to be dead, pinned, always the same, always beautiful. He knows that part of my beauty is being alive, but it's the dead me he wants. He wants me living-but-dead.

This book took me by total surprise. If not for a friends recommendation and insistence on me giving this book a try, I don't think I ever would have. I am so glad I did; not because I enjoyed the reading experience or found the plot particularly entertaining, it was quite the opposite. It was the character building, exploration of class-structures in society and the portrayal of our obsession with all things superficial and beautiful that really stood out to me and made this book worth reading.

There is a lot of emphasis on a person's ability to create and to progress, our complex thoughts and actions being what makes us human and how the desire to hoard, capture and collect kills the beauty in whatever it is that you seek to preserve. I am certain that there is a lot in this book that I missed, but I certainly felt for the characters - Frederick disturbed me immensely and I absolutely loved Miranda and wanted her to be alright. Reading from her perspective made me feel more claustrophobic and near-panic than I have ever felt while reading a book. It is incredible to me that John Fowles was able to transfer her feelings and thoughts so vividly through pages, and as letter / diary entries no less.

It is very difficult to rate a book like this. As I have said before, it is not fun to read, but it is not meant to be; it is disturbing, triggering and ultimately very unsatisfying, but it is unique and incredibly successful in achieving what Fowles set out for it to accomplish. He deserves high praise, I doubt many writers would be able to create what he managed to here. 
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vouija's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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abookishgoth's review

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challenging dark tense
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m11cc444's review against another edition

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dark sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Very melancholy. Not sure I would ever reread but it was a dumpster fire I couldn’t look away from. You knew the ending from the beginning and every sickening second before that. 
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