Get reeled in.
I was recently invited to write a guest review for Pattinase’s blog feature ‘Friday’s Forgotten Books’. I selected John Fowles’s 1963 debut novel The Collector. If you’ve never read this novel, it really is a forgotten classic–maybe even a forerunner of the psycho-thriller genre– but often overshadowed by Fowles’s later novel ’The French Lieutenant’s Woman’.
Welcome aboard, I'm Natalie! I'm 37, married to a dream boat, and live in New Jersey. It's all about books here! I read, recommend, review, and revel in them. Have a book you'd like me to review? Visit my Review Policy for details. Want to drop me a line? February 9, 2012
The Girl with the Crooked Nose
by Ted Botha
courtesy of Penguin Publishers
February 25, 2012
The Book Club Cookbook
by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp
courtesy of Tarcher Publishers (Penguin USA)
I haven’t read any Fowles, but I do have the overshadowing “French Lt’s Woman” on the shelf… your review reminded me that I should probably read it one of these days!
I’ll go take a peek. But let me say that I read everything Fowles published (I think), waaaaay back in the dark ages of the middle to late 1970s. I really loved his writing. I should take a look and see if I missed anything. I haven’t thought of Fowles in long time.
Wait–the guy who wrote The French Lieutenant’s Woman wrote the forerunner of psycho-thrillers? How is that even possible?
The Collector was creepy but good!!!!!
Yeah, he was ahead of his time.
Dare I say it? Not really, but I will anyway
I hated The Collector! Unfortunately I would have to dig deeply into my memory to tell you why exactly… I just remember I didn’t find it believable at all and that annoyed me.
I did like The French Lieutenant’s Woman though — of course it helped a lot that I listened to an unabridged audio version, read by Jeremy Irons!
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