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The Marble Collector by Cecelia Ahern (/Paperback) | LoveReading

 

He has suffered a stroke and is now in a long term care facility. When Sabrina discovers that two of the most expensive collections are missing from the inventory of marbles, it sets off a chain of events that will lead her to question everything about her life.

It may sound like a simple enough plot, but there is nothing simple about this novel at all. The structure is well thought out and clever. Each chapter told by Fergus is titled with the name of a game of marbles, which also covers the theme of the chapter, and each chapter told by Sabrina is titled with a rule of the swimming pool. The rule is taken from the list of pool rules at the nursing home, where she works as a lifeguard. The book begins with Fergus Boggs as a five year old child at school.

Following a vicious beating from Father Murphy for not understanding his Irish properly, he is locked in a dark room. A younger kind priest comes to see him in the dark room and gives him some marbles. The marbles represent goodness, but to Fergus they are initially objects to play with, which bring fun and competition into his young life. The marbles also bring him closer to his favourite older brother Hamish and his mother who totally out of character plays a game of marbles with him one day, and so the marbles become infinitely precious to him.

As he grows older, he uses them to compete, to gain respect and to distract him from the difficulties of living with a large and rather dysfunctional family. However they also lead him to live a double life, as he keeps secret his love of marbles and competing in marble tournaments.

This may be due to his initial feelings of pain and humiliation as a child, or because his wife rejected a marble he bought her on their honeymoon. Either way his love of marbles has remained a secret — until now. Sabrina Boggs works as a lifeguard at a nursing home, where her daily routine is suffocating her and when not at work, all her time is taken up with her three young children.

She is angst ridden to say the least. Throughout the story both characters discover secrets, both about themselves as Fergus does as his memory slowly returns and their complex relationships. The marbles are the catalyst and represent memory, love and forgiveness. The characters in this novel are complex individuals trying to find their place in this world. They are searching amongst memories and the past to reconcile themselves to the present.

The author plays brilliantly with imagery, metaphor and symbolism which give this novel its richness and depth. There are some exquisitely sad moments in the novel. After reading a very touching scene between Hamish and Fergus, I realize my cheeks are wet with tears. Fergus tells Hamish about Father Murphy beating him and Hamish comforts his young brother, while they talk about marbles and their own father who died when Fergus was very young.

I also loved the quirky humour in the novel. When Sabrina is discussing how she met her husband Aidan, we learn it was in Ibiza. The secrecy and indeed compulsion that Fergus adopts in relation to his marbles is understandable when you know his childhood but slightly more baffling as time goes on.

One or two of us found Sabrina's angst a bit over the top, but it didn't really impair our enjoyment overall. The book was easy to read and two of our group said they'd definitely want to read more of Ms Ahern's work.

I really enjoyed this book and the different perspectives that it is told from. The build up of the story and how the missing pieces of memory are pieced together are maintained well throughout. I liked the use of playing marbles as a 'dirty secret' and double life that had to be kept from his family as a theme throughout the story.

Something so simple and seemingly innocent has created so much secrecy and lies within a family; usually in books this would be an affair or double life, so for it to be something less sinister was really refreshing. Cecelia's writing is as captivating and page-turning as ever and creates a really good read. This was a read that i found couldn't put down! The way in which the author, Cecelia Ahern, switched from character to character throughout was very clever.

It just goes to show that secrets can bring you closer to a person who you previously thought you knew all about, no matter how upsetting or moving they are. Really enjoyed reading this. I really enjoyed the book. It was easy to read in a lighthearted way yet covered a deep and interesting storyline. The Marble Collector.

Book As seen:. By Cecelia Ahern avg rating 6 reviews A forgotten childhood. A discovered life. Rate and review Add to reading list. WIN 10 free cop WIN 10 copies o Win copies of W Win, read and r The perfect sum