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The Collector (Back bay books)
 
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The Collector (Back bay books) (Paperback)

by John Fowles (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1st Back Bay Pbk. Ed edition (31 Dec 1997)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0316290238
  • ISBN-13: 978-0316290234
  • Product Dimensions: 20.1 x 14 x 2.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,564,950 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #65 in  Books > Fiction > 20th Century Classics > Fowles, John

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Product Description

Product Description
Withdrawn, uneducated and unloved, Frederick collects butterflies and takes photographs. He is obsessed with a beautiful stranger, the art student Miranda. When he wins the pools he buys a remote Sussex house and calmly abducts Miranda, believing she will grow to love him in time. Alone and desperate, Miranda must struggle to overcome her own prejudices and contempt if she is to understand her captor, and so gain her freedom. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From the Publisher
'Brilliant…an artist of great imaginative power' Sunday Times --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Collector (Back bay books)
92% buy the item featured on this page:
The Collector (Back bay books) 4.3 out of 5 stars (29)
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The Magus (Vintage Classics) 4.1 out of 5 stars (64)
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The Collector [DVD] [1965] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]
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The Collector [DVD] [1965] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] 3.0 out of 5 stars (2)
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Customer Reviews

29 Reviews
5 star:
 (20)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
 (3)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (29 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully melancholic , 5 Jul 2006
This review is from: The Collector (Vintage Classics) (Paperback)
I read this book in two days, which is pretty impressive for an idle student such as myself. Whilst reading 'The Collector' I realised I had to be on my own, I was that overwhelmed by its beauty and sadness that I often cried. When I wasn't reading I was thinking about it constantly, and now I've finished I want to start reading all over again. This is the power of this stimulating, disturbing and very haunting tale of sexual obsession. There are various themes that Fowles weaves throughout the story with incredible skill, such as the boundaries of both class and gender between the main characters.

This novel is so beautifully written, I cannot imagine anyone not enjoying it. It is darkly melancholic, and although you probably won't really *like* either of the main characters, you will never forget them. It is quite similar to Nabokov's novel 'Lolita'. Just as sad. Just as beautiful.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic portrayal of a young woman's emotional awakening, 28 Jan 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: The Collector (Contemporary classics) (Paperback)
Having been utterly captivated by The Magus, I had to read some more of Fowles' work. He vivdly captures the feelings of an individual and transports you into their world and mind. The book is a haunting account of a woman imprisoned and leaves you questioning your innate feeling of trust in mankind. The story is gripping, yet simple. Fowles' writing is fluent, persuasive, absorbing and perceptive. He writes from a woman's perspective in a remarkable way - it becomes a fantastic account of a young woman's emotional awakening and of her growing feelings of the importance of life, experience, art, literature, music, and love, and of her frustration at being "collected". This is just a superb book for anyone who appreciates and values these things.
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23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars This is the book by which all others are judged!, 23 Dec 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: The Collector (Contemporary classics) (Paperback)
"The Collector" and I crossed paths by accident but isn't that the best way to discover new books!?

John Fowles' classic remains, 8 years after my first reading of it, my favourite book. I hadn't heard any of the hype or reviews before reading it so had no idea of what I was letting myself in for...and came away from it stunned. The book is broken up, not into conventional chapters, but sections which alternate between the voices of anti-hero Frederick, and his "love" - Miranda. This was a simple but incredibly effective twist in the narrative as you find yourself torn with sympathy or at the very least understanding, for both characters.

I came away from this book with tears in my eyes and wandered around for some time afterwards in a complete daze. This is the book by which all others are judged...if a book moves me anywhere near as much as "The Collector", it gets my vote.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Why does anyone like this book?
If self regarding artists are your cup of tea, this book is for you - the entire point behind this exercise seems to be dreary old subject of the 'unique artist' and how they are... Read more
Published 1 month ago by diderot

5.0 out of 5 stars Butterfly on a wheel
Relentlessly disturbing tale of a disturbed loner who captures the woman he has been idolising from afar in the vain hope that she will eventually fall in love with him. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Binro The Heretic

2.0 out of 5 stars First effort is effortful
My experience of this book was coloured by having seen the truly awful movie first The Collector [1965] (REGION 1) (NTSC). Read more
Published 5 months ago by Peter Scott-presland

3.0 out of 5 stars A good book but...
We got this book to read in our english lesson (we are top set) and the first bit was ok, it was well written, sad but beuatiful but maybe a bit too long in places. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Matt

5.0 out of 5 stars My all time best read
It is my own stupidity that i didnt read this book for so long simply b/c is was written decades ago. Judged it by its cover so-to-speak.
Awesome. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Jack

2.0 out of 5 stars Don't collect this
Not as appalling as the low rating suggests. This is a competent enough book despite its flaws. That it is considered to be so good probably tells us more about the times in which... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Pablo K

5.0 out of 5 stars The Collector
What a stunning book! I'd heard about 15 minutes of it on the radio so I bought it.....devoured it in a couple of days and then my daughter (aged 14) wanted to read it... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Lansdale fan

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost Perfect
This book is so well-written, especially given that the author writes the thoughts of both a male and a female; very tricky to do, and few can pull it off this well. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Catherine Halliday

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most captivating books of modern literature
there are so many levels to this story, from the warped sexual nature of Caliban to Miranda's denial of God, every page is a masterpiece. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Chris Stewart

3.0 out of 5 stars Aaaarggghhh!!!
95% of this book is astonishing; the tension nail-biting, the characterisation superb. I was so excited to learn how it all concluded, I delayed reading the final two chapters... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Tim Thornton

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