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boopsiedoopsie's review
challenging
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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Kidnapping
chaoticnostalgia's review against another edition
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
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, and Stalking
Moderate: Sexual content and Vomit
Minor: Body shaming and Fatphobia
yvo_about_books's review against another edition
2.0
Finished reading: June 5th 2023
"We all want things we can't have. Being a decent human being is accepting that."
WARNING: unpopular opinion ahead!!
I've had my eyes on The Collector for quite some time now as a possible title for the Reading Through The Centuries challenge. I'm trying to get in as many challenges as possible early this year, so I decided to finally pick up The Collector and see what I would make of this classic. My first impression was without doubt a positive one, and I absolutely loved my time with Frederick's POV. He is such a fascinating (and tragic) character, and his emotional state and reactions really take the story to the next level. I fully expected this book to be a new favorite... Up until the POV suddenly switches to Miranda's diary. Suddenly, things went downhill FAST. Miranda is such a despicable, self-centered and snobbish character, and I absolutely hated having the spend time inside her head. I couldn't bring myself to feel not even the tiniest bit sorry for her, and to make things worse her diary entries are mainly not even focused on her time trapped, but are instead ramblings about her 'superior' world views and life as well as her 'special' relationship with G.P. I started to despise her more and more with each page, and I kept wishing Frederick would just kill her already so that I could avoid more suffering. What a way to completely ruin the first fantastic 40% of the story... I confess that I only made it to the end because I started skimreading and skipping all the bits where Miranda talked about G.P. or her life outside. The ending was a major anticlimax as well, although by then I was already feeling hugely disappointed with this book in the first place.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Gaslighting
niamphoone's review
dark
mysterious
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
thesawyerbean's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
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
3.25
An interesting read.
The highlight of this novel for me was the dual perspectives - we begin with Fred’s point of view: his planning, experiences and emotions throughout the process of obsession, abduction and ‘possession’ of Miranda. It was an exciting spin on the Lolita-esque unreliable and morally-reprehensible narrator: the perception of events we had just read obliterated by the diary entries of the victim Miranda herself.
The stream of consciousness from Miranda, elucidating the thoughts and emotions behind her responses to her captivity interweaved with the context surrounding her life and romantic past, disintegrates the grotesquely endearing account by Fred in the previous part. It solidifies his evil firmly for the reader, emphasised further in the conclusion of the novel.
Despite this, it wasn’t all that enjoyable a read. Miranda’s diary entries were very convoluted, with constant switching between her memories and present day events, laced with political and class discourse. The discourse itself refers to the problematic aspects of gaining wealth, the apparent degradation of the ‘soul’ as a result, the class warfare between old and new money, the dilution of art, etc. etc.. Miranda is the classic rich artsy girl, Fred is the insidious ‘new money’. Fascinating, I suppose, but written in a way that wasn’t in fact fascinating. Especially when it was coming from the mouth of an absolutely heinous ‘love’ interest from her past.
The entire book was also riddled with weird grammar errors which interrupted the flow completely because I had to reread to confirm that I had no idea what was just said.
Overall this was an average read - it was not what I was expecting necessarily when I picked it up, but the architecture of the storytelling and the discourse I think warrant a read if you are so inclined.
The highlight of this novel for me was the dual perspectives - we begin with Fred’s point of view: his planning, experiences and emotions throughout the process of obsession, abduction and ‘possession’ of Miranda. It was an exciting spin on the Lolita-esque unreliable and morally-reprehensible narrator: the perception of events we had just read obliterated by the diary entries of the victim Miranda herself.
The stream of consciousness from Miranda, elucidating the thoughts and emotions behind her responses to her captivity interweaved with the context surrounding her life and romantic past, disintegrates the grotesquely endearing account by Fred in the previous part. It solidifies his evil firmly for the reader, emphasised further in the conclusion of the novel.
Despite this, it wasn’t all that enjoyable a read. Miranda’s diary entries were very convoluted, with constant switching between her memories and present day events, laced with political and class discourse. The discourse itself refers to the problematic aspects of gaining wealth, the apparent degradation of the ‘soul’ as a result, the class warfare between old and new money, the dilution of art, etc. etc.. Miranda is the classic rich artsy girl, Fred is the insidious ‘new money’. Fascinating, I suppose, but written in a way that wasn’t in fact fascinating. Especially when it was coming from the mouth of an absolutely heinous ‘love’ interest from her past.
The entire book was also riddled with weird grammar errors which interrupted the flow completely because I had to reread to confirm that I had no idea what was just said.
Overall this was an average read - it was not what I was expecting necessarily when I picked it up, but the architecture of the storytelling and the discourse I think warrant a read if you are so inclined.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Gaslighting
Minor: Rape
billiesgotbooks's review
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit
Minor: Racism and Injury/Injury detail
bentenuala's review
dark
sad
tense
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
0.25
I did not like reading this book, the writing was good, but the plot and characters weren’t, maybe they were at the time it was written, but not for the 21st century. World building was almost nonexistent too, overall, not something I’d recommend to read in either your free time, or for school.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Murder
funkypenguin3000's review
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
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, and Stalking
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, and Violence
Minor: Death, Drug use, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Death of parent, and Dysphoria
dear_alice's review
dark
emotional
reflective
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
2.0
I see why this book is critically acclaimed, but I just couldn't get over how much I disliked both main characters. I read this for work/school and I was glad it was finally over. Some really interesting themes to discuss with my students but personally absolutely not my cup of tea.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Death
christinecc's review
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Look, I'm not going to rate this, because I can't.
I found "The Collector" disturbing. I didn't like it, and it grossed me out. And I can't rate it: I know the writing was good, but I couldn't pay proper attention to it because the premise and development had me breaking out in metaphorical hives.
"The Collector" is a story with a mounting sense of horror, where the calm builds and builds and then hits a height where it falls apart. And then it's chaos, and you know how it's going to end--a horrific end that you hope, up until the last chapter, won't come to pass. But it does.
Not recommending this. I could handle and even recommend Fowles's other cult classic, "The Magus," but not this.
I found "The Collector" disturbing. I didn't like it, and it grossed me out. And I can't rate it: I know the writing was good, but I couldn't pay proper attention to it because the premise and development had me breaking out in metaphorical hives.
"The Collector" is a story with a mounting sense of horror, where the calm builds and builds and then hits a height where it falls apart. And then it's chaos, and you know how it's going to end--a horrific end that you hope, up until the last chapter, won't come to pass. But it does.
Not recommending this. I could handle and even recommend Fowles's other cult classic, "The Magus," but not this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Toxic relationship, and Kidnapping