The Collector by John Fowles

 This week I have been tackling some of the books on my Classics Club list.   The first one I finished was John Fowles book The Collector.  

Next up I hope to read both To Sir, With Love and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie as they are both on my list and are about school teachers.  That will be fun to compare the two.

The Collector is about a young man named Fred Clegg who lives in small town in England with his old aunt. He works in an office, is socially awkward and I believe he's a psychopath. He is a collector of butterflies, scouting the more rare and beautiful ones and then adding them to his collection for display. He doesn't have mates to go to the pub with or socialize and is often ridiculed for his solitary lifestyle.

Then Fred enters the pools (like a lottery) and wins big. Substantial amount of money at his disposable so he resigns from work.

Now we introduce Miranda Grey. She is a beautiful young woman from an upper class family, attending an impressive school, studying art. Her friends are upper class as well and we learn of all this through Fred as he spies on her from afar.

Fred is obsessed with Miranda and thinks she is his ideal mate. He can not speak to her directly  as he is socially awkward. Once you get to know Miranda you will realize she is snobby and wouldn't have given Fred the time of day.

But now Fred has money, a lot of money, and buys a remote farmhouse in Sussex and has the basement fitted up with locks rendering it a jail house. Then Fred buys furniture, clothes that he thinks will fit Miranda and a gramophone. You can see where this may be going in a very creepy way.

After careful planning Fred awaits Miranda walking home one evening and asks her if she knows anything about dogs. He tells her he has just hit one with his van and it's injured. She leans in to see, he places a cloth with chloroform over her mouth and abducts her.

The first 120 or so pages are all Fred's thoughts. He wants Miranda as his wife, but never tries for sex as that isn't even proper unless you are married. He wants to keep her as he kept butterflies as she is, to him, rare and beautiful and something he can possess. He tells her she will grow to love him and they will be together always. She can have her own bedroom, she just has to love him and be his wife.

The next part of the book are Miranda's thoughts and her day dreams about a man she thinks she loves in her real life. She is snobby but shrewd, talking down to Fred and then trying to trick him so she can escape. Well, wouldn't you try and escape? She isn't likeable but I have empathy about her untenable situation.

There is a resolution to this kidnapping situation and then a very chilling ending. I won't give a spoiler but it's probably not the end you may imagine.

Themes about mental health issues, class distinctions.

Linking with 

The Classics Club

Joy's book Blog for British Isles Friday

Nope on Ford Madox Ford but yes on Plath

Catching up on book reviews and making plans.

Epic fail on my Classic Club Spin.  I just couldn't get on with A Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford so it's a DNF.  Having planned to knock out one of my titles on the list I chose The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.  Now I need to edit my Classic Club list on the tab.

I'm sure Sylvia Plath used much of her own thoughts in writing the character of Esther Greenwood.

This novel was before the pill, medical knowledge of mental illness, women's studies and a bit like that TV series Mad Men in regard how women were viewed. The character  Esther recognized this despite her mental illness, or perhaps because of it.

She wanted more from life than the traditional path expected and having depression and suicidal thoughts didn't help with her mental state and decision making.

Noting how it would turn out if she married - "And I knew that in spite of all the roses and kisses and restaurant dinners a man showered on a woman before he married her, what he secetly wanted when the wedding ended was for her to flatten out underneath his feet like Mrs. Willard's kitchen mat."

She just wanted more out of life.

 The character mentions she should be grateful for the friend of her mother, Mrs. Guinea, for affording Esther to stay at a nicer sanatorium during her treatment.  But she was no more grateful than being gifted a ticket to Europe, or a world cruise or trip to Paris to sit and enjoy a sidewalk cafe...she'd still be under that vacuum, that Bell Jar, feeling nothing but misery. It wasn' that she was an ingrate, she was mentally paralyzed.

Medical knowledge and treatment were woefully lacking in those days regarding depression. Esther's mother was always asking her why was she like this, as if it were her fault. Knowing Plath's true life story made this a sad read. 4 stars

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Frankie by Graham Norton

I've read a few of Graham Norton's fiction and this one, true to form, gives us a setting in Ireland and lots to think about.  The plot centers around Frances Howe and how her very sad childhood changed her path in life.  The different time periods are well described, in my opinion. We start with Damien who is a care giver living in London.

Frances, dubbed Frankie once she arrived in New York, is now in her eighties and has broken ankle.  Damien is sent to her for the temporay care she needs.  As they are both Irish and Damien knows the area Frankie grew up in this opens a window for them to reminisce.  He's great at getting his clients to chat and this opens up a flood of memories from Frankie as she slowly tells him her life story.  From county Cork in Ireland to London, Frankie finds happiness for a while and it's an interesting journey.  

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This week I posted and tried to join in on Nonfiction November Here. Upcoming I have a stack of books and need to decide which to tackle first, some depend on library due dates.

Hope your reading week is a good one!

 Linking up with:

Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon

Joy for British Isles Friday