''The Toy Collector'' is a novel written by
James Gunn
James Francis Gunn Jr. (born August 5, 1966) is an American filmmaker and executive. He began his career as a screenwriter in the mid-1990s, starting at Troma Entertainment with ''Tromeo and Juliet'' (1997). He then began working as a directo ...
, published by
Bloomsbury Publishing in 2000. It is the story of a hospital orderly who steals drugs from the hospital which he sells to help keep his toy collection habit alive. Although the work is fictional, the name of the protagonist is James Gunn.
Content
The novel flashes back and forth between the character Gunn's drug-addled, sexually abusive adult life, and his life among his childhood friends. Furthermore, we see the lives of Gunn's childhood toys—from
Rom, Spaceknight to the
Fisher-Price Little People, who seem to have lives and thoughts of their own outside Gunn's world.
Reception
A positive review in ''
The Austin Chronicle
''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogr ...
'' states that ''The Toy Collector'' "satirizes both Seventies melodrama and Nineties cynicism as Gunn barrels through life looking for beauty and love. But every page in this novel has something to laugh at and something sad to remember, and it's better than anything you'll see on TV."
Background
Although Gunn started as a novelist after he began working in the film industry,
he became much more successful as a screenwriter with films such as ''
Dawn of the Dead'' (2004), and as writer-director, in particular with ''
Slither'' and the ''
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Guardians of the Galaxy is a fictional superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
It may more specifically refer to:
Comic book teams
* Guardians of the Galaxy (1969 team), the original 31st-century team fr ...
''.
References
Editions
* (hardcover, 2000)
* (paperback, 2001)
* (German edition, 2004)
External links
JamesGunn.com- James Gunn's Official Site
2000 American novels
Bloomsbury Publishing books
Works by James Gunn
2000 debut novels
Nonlinear narrative novels
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