The Collector

The Collector

Rating

8.5

The Pequod Review:

The Collector, John Fowles's first novel, is a disturbing and claustrophobic book about obsession and ownership. Frederick Clegg is an unremarkable and isolated young man, independently wealthy after winning $200,000 in a sports betting contest, and a collector of butterflies. But when he spots a beautiful art student (Miranda), his obsession shifts from butterflies to women, and he kidnaps her in the imagined hope that she will eventually grow to love him. While Fowles’s structure was unique and innovative for its time — the first half is told from Frederick’s perspective, while the second is from Miranda’s — it isn't quite sustained for the full novel. Frederick’s half is excellent, recounting the abduction in mad and meticulous detail, but Miranda’s is an unnecessary and anticlimactic letdown.