Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - The Collector

I’ve had The Collector by John Fowles on my reading list for about six years now, and stumbled across a copy in a second-hand/antique emporium for £3. Not wanting to pass up the opportunity to add to my collection of Vintage Classics, I bought it with the intention to pick it up whenever the mood struck me. This happened to be my second read of 2022, and Oh. My. God. I was not expecting it to be so gripping, so page-turning and harrowing, I am left shaken and deeply disturbed.

The Collector is equal parts disturbing, emotional, and shocking in places. We are granted an insight into the mind of Frederick Clegg in the first half of the book, a man who becomes obsessed with a young woman from his area: Miranda Grey, an art student at the Slade. Infatuated with her, he buys a remote house in the countryside with the money won from football pools and constructs a secure cellar before kidnapping her near her home in Hampstead. This first half follows his experience taking care of her and trying to connect with her from his point of view, and in the second half we get an insight into Miranda’s experience through her nearly daily diary entries.

Frederick, who uses the alias Ferdinand with Miranda, is incredibly detestable and overall a horrible man. She refers to him as Caliban, and hates him not only for kidnapping her and keeping her a prisoner but for being a certain type of person who is oblivious in some ways to many aspects of the world that are important to her. Their relationship is strange and complicated, at some points it seems as if they could even be on more neutral or even friendly terms under different circumstances. The Collector is an interesting look into the dynamic of the relationship between captor and captive, and explores pure selfishness and a persons will to survive.

Despite the unsettling content, I knew I had to rate this book 5⭐️ because it gripped me so strongly and had me enraptured throughout. Very glad I decided to finally read this, and I think it might become a re-read in the future. One of my top reads.

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helenahao's review

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challenging dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? N/A

4.0

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billiesgotbooks's review

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dark emotional 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

4.75

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funkypenguin3000's review

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challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Edit: bumping her up to 4 stars bc i licherally can't stop thinking about it after a week and having read 2 other books in the meantime! we LOVE an unreliable narrator

OK i was so bored at the beginning (esp the beginning of part 2 like ugh get on with it babe) but got into a reading frenzy in the last 80 or so pages and the end freaked me out sooooo much, like, it was so absurd (but also not?? like i could see that happening) but so freaky and ahh

like when miranda's part started i found it a fucking drag. hearing her talk about her life outside the room. but about halfway through i really began to see myself in her, i think the author had a really good way of describing like. quarter life crisis and wanting to be a good person but being conflicted. also, the stockholm syndrome esque development was fun to explore. i especially liked how ferd thought she was truly warming up to him but she wanted to escape the whole time. but still felt bad for him? and i get that like honestly i kinda related to ferd at points as well

There were so many quotes in mirandas part that i thought were really touching? i cant find them now and of course i didnt write them down when i saw them lol. but i loved how her diary entries seemed so real. how they were at times sooo pretentious but i could see the woman behind them. or how she could see the irony. theres so much irony in this book you could talk for ages about it. like all of ferds offhand comments are honestly kind of funny. like when he was like "im normally not prone to do anything absurd" or something and like??? buddy. you literally just kidnapped someone!

My final note, is I should have known that there was no chance (for him or miranda) when he decided to put a bright orange carpet in the cellar. and he thought it looked lovely

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keen's review

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dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

3.0

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