The Collector by John Fowles

Some lines from this book...

I looked in the mirror today and I could see it in my eyes. They look much older and younger. It sounds impossible in words. But that's exactly it. I am older and younger. I am older because I have learnt, I am younger because a lot of me consisted of things older people had taught me. All the mud of their stale ideas on the shoe of me.

The new shoe of me.

I got this book from a thrifthouse. All pages are browned and are crispier than anything that's crispy. Crispier than your Chickenjoy Value Meal even. It's hard enough to turn from a page to another as the pages deteriorates on their own - dedications and ISBN page destroyed!

My first exposure to John Fowles was The Magus and it was moving as hell. More moving than the movie Se7en. And this book, The Collector, is moving as well.

John Fowles is a master in storytelling and in his own style. Such evil in such a thin book. The story is a two-way play - you hear from both sides and decide which is which. He makes you WANT and then makes you despise it later. You choose your own devil. I pick Amanda...read it and tell me who's yours.