The Collector (Back Bay Books)
by John Fowles

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Book Summary Information

• ISBN13: 9780316290234
• Condition: New
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Book Reviews of The Collector (Back Bay Books)

Book Review: The Collector
Summary: 5 Stars

Miranda is a young art student brimming with ideas and thoughts, creativity and wit. She is graceful and beautiful, with many friends, and has a close relationship with an almost caricature pretentious art-snob of a man, GP. Her world is full of color and vibrancy, she wishes to experience everything, to learn everything, and most of all, she wishes to escape the small minded 'New People' way of life that so encompasses the existence of everyone she grew up with. Through her paintings - youthful and young, she will admit, but alive! - she strives to learn about the world she has been thrust into, not to reject it but to embrace. Having open eyes is, to her, the greatest of all gifts.

She goes to a college near where Ferdinand lives in London. He first noticed her at work, her house was right opposite the Annexe, but after he wins some money, he begins to follow her about, learning the patterns of her daily life, where she works, where she studies, who her friends are. On a whim, Ferdinand purchases a house with an intricate cellar far out in the country-side, miles away from anywhere. Telling himself he would never use it, he sets about making the cellar all but impenetrable with locks and bolts and sound-proofing. He buys furniture and women's clothing, and tries his hardest to break out of the cellar he has created to see if it is possible. Satisfied it isn't, he takes the next step and captures Miranda, locking her in the cellar until she can learn to love him as he loves her.

Forty pages into the novel we have a kidnapped woman, a love-obsessed man, and two cellar rooms. First, we are thrust through the experience of Miranda's capture through Ferdinand's hopeless eyes, with his yearning love and his down-trodden way of thinking about himself. It is plain, to him, that he is the only man - no, the only person - ever capable of loving Miranda the way she deserves, and all he wishes is to show her this truth. He is chilling in his politeness: making her breakfast every morning - whatever she wants! - buying her nice things, having coffee with her, chatting, talking, letting her paint for him. He is also incredibly thorough, thwarting the few escape attempts she makes at the start with ease. All he wants is love, to be able to love her, and to know she loves him.

The second part of the novel is Miranda's diary. She is a wonderful woman: Alive, energetic, intelligent, exploratory - a true modern woman. Through her diary we learn of her friends, her passions, her interesting relationship with GP, and more. She begins to consider her captivity to be a positive experience in how it is changing her way of thinking, and she desperately pities Ferdinand - her 'Caliban', she calls him, echoing the hopeless love of Caliban for Miranda in the Shakespearean play 'The Tempest'.

The novel ends as it should, heart breaking and sad. Throughout, we learn a great deal about the two characters, developing a sad, hopeless pity-love for Ferdinand much like Miranda does, and we love Mirand for who she is. It ends on a chilling note, a tone of unbelievable inhumanity, but no less satisfying for that.

One of the best books I have read this year.

Summary of The Collector (Back Bay Books)

Literary Books

• Books > Subjects > Literature & Fiction