Rating: 
Summary: Jailor or the jailed?
Review: The Collector has got to be one of the finest psychological studies I have read to date. Based around the relationship between Frederick Clegg and his prisoner, Miranda Grey, a middle-class college art student with whom Clegg has become obsessed. Far better than any detective or crime thriller, Fowles revels in highlighting the fine line between the captive and the jailer. Having kidnapped Miranda as she walks home from school, Clegg then proceeds to worship and idolise her, placing her on a
pedestal and lavishing her with gifts and whatever material objects she desires. The only desire he refuses is that of freedom. Like the butterflies he collects and studies, Miranda cannot be released back into her natural habitat. The most powerful aspect of their relationship is that despite her many escape attempts, brutal attacks and efforts at seduction, Frederick never gives up in his persuading her that she loves him. The novel is set in two parts, firstly is Clegg's recollection then is the personal, first-person narrative from Miranda, both of which are incisive in their observation and painstaking in the manipulation of the audience's emotion. Probably the most hard-hitting aspect of this novel is that whilst it can be treated as fiction, contemporary society does contain people who engage in such acts and self-delusion. Fowles has created a work of genius that could easily apply to many of the documentaries of today, simply wonderful.
Rating: 
Summary: A different kidnapping
Review: The story of abduction of Miranda by Caliban. He normally collects butterflies and so he collects her and keeps her in the same sort of way. It starts with him telling the tale, which was good, but then it switches to her telling of the tale, which she adds some of her private life into. This part is ho hum and drags; it seems you wait for more action. Not a sexual theme, more of a mind game. A good story. I will keep my opinion of the end to myself.
Rating: 
Summary: A disappointing work from a master storyteller
Review: John Fowles's debut novel "The Collector" is the story of the world's most boring psychopath and his even more boring victim. These are the kind of people where if you were their neighbor, even if you knew what was going on, you couldn't be bothered to call the police and would just turn up the TV volume to drown out the sound of the screaming. The title character is Fred Clegg, a quiet, unsociable clerk who has recently come into a lot of money by winning a betting pool. He collects butterflies as a hobby, but his obsession is a young art student named Miranda Grey. He kidnaps her, locks her in the cellar of his house, and keeps her like a pet. He does not have a romantic, sexual, or animalistic attraction to her; he just wants to possess her like a specimen. Fred allows Miranda all the comforts of home except communication with the outside, and she gradually adapts to her new environment, although she never abandons plans for escape. They are usually civil to each other, but occasionally violence does erupt. She keeps a diary in which we get to see her side of things, but since she doesn't offer much more insight into her state of captivity than Fred does, it's almost like reading the same account of the events twice. By the end of the novel, I couldn't sympathize with her; it's a bad sign when you hope a character dies just so she'll shut up. Fowles narrates in the first person, alternating between the voices of both Fred and Miranda. Fred's insipid, inarticulate narration -- revealing his simplicity and lack of education -- got on my nerves after so much of it, and even Miranda's more intelligent narration wore thin with her increasing despair, self-absorption, and shallow thoughts about her unsteady relationship with a much older man, an artist she calls G.P. I realize that Fowles's intention was to keep them in character, but first-person narration is effective only with interesting personalities, which Fred and Miranda lack (and which Nicholas Urfe in "The Magus" has in spades). It might have been better written in third person, allowing a more intelligent and descriptive perspective. I greatly admired Fowles's "The Magus." It was exciting, intriguing, mysterious, beautifully written, epic in scope, everything a novel should be. "The Collector," on the other hand, gives the impression of having been written in a hurry and with not much care as to its outcome or impact. I'm disappointed because it had the potential to be so much more. It could have been a 20th Century update of the Hades and Persephone story, or Fred could have been an English Raskolnikov. As it is, it might be an allegory on the state of marriage or a satire on the new philistine English middle class (the "New People," as Miranda calls them), but it goes nowhere with these ideas, preferring to remain an empty, stale fable.
Rating:
Summary: Read it and weep. I did.
Review: The Collector is a novel that really does work on more than one level. On the surface, it's a harrowing thriller about a demented butterfly collector who kidnaps and imprisons a young art student in the basement of his country home. It also works as an allegory about good and evil, a study of class resentment in Britain, and a meditation on the nature of obsession, love, and identity. It's also a gripping dual character study. The book begins with the collector's chillingly matter-of-fact account of how he came to add the lovely and brilliant Miranda Grey to his quarry. Frederic Clegg is not initially a bad man, just a lonely one. His ultimate evil comes from his indifference to the lives of others. Once you finish this section and start reading Miranda's journal, the central part of the book, you instantly realize the horror and absurdity of the situation. The collector is in love with an image, not a human being. His attempts to make his prisoner fall in love with him are as futile as her attempts to escape. This section could almost be another novel in itself. Despite her plight, Miranda comes to the realization that her jailer is even more horribly trapped than she. The peculiar sympathy she comes to feel for Clegg is one of the strangest and saddest elements of the story. If anything, it makes you loathe him all the more. The darkness of Fowles' vision of man's true nature is reminiscent of Golding's in Lord of the Flies. It may be the most depressing novel I've ever read; I really did feel devastated by the conclusion. Despite this, I have to recommend it. On finishing the book, I thought of a line from a Bob Dylan song: "Sometimes I think this world is one big prison yard/Some of us are prisoners, some of us are guards."
Rating: 
Summary: Much more than a thriller.
Review: The Collector is the first novel I've read by Fowles and I liked it so much that now I'm reading "The Magus". This author, although very popular, has been a real discovery for me. The Collector is at the same time a sort of thriller, a novel about ideas and a very cruel story. And the story is told from the perspective of only two characters: Clegg and Miranda. It is written in a form that not only those two characters are credible but also other ones that we know about only through Miranda or Clegg's words. I think I will remeber this novel for a long time.
Rating:
Summary: Scary story!
Review: This is one of the best books I've read this year. I really could not stop reading, it was that good. It is about a man, Clegg, who collects butterflies. He is obsessed, it seems, by everything that is beautiful.. like this young girl, Miranda, in his hometown. Miranda is an art student who seems to be in love with a man who's about 20 years older than her. She is popular, even though she hasn't had an easy childhood either. That is something that Clegg and Miranda has in common.
Anyway.. Clegg feels that everything that is beautiful should be his. It is really easy to just catch butterflies and then keep them in small boxes and look at them whenever he wants to, for example. He is not stupid.. he's very intelligent in the way he plans for what he is going to do. It is scary.
I really like the way the story is divided. First by Clegg telling his story, then Miranda's diary, and then Clegg again at the end. It does, at times, feel a bit boring when the same story is told again (in Miranda's diary).. but you don't think too much about it.
The end is the very best part! It was the most scary part of the whole book, the final page. I won't say what it is, as whoever reads this might not have read the book yet. But you have something to look forward to!
I highly recommend this book. (I would say that the worst thing about this book, is the thought that things like this actually happens in real life!!)
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book, but not as good as The Magus
Review: I agree with my fellow reviewers that this book is definitely worth reading, even if it is at times 'unbearable' to read.
Nevertheless, I found the book to have weak, or should I say, slower moments. Where Fowles keeps the tension and movement high in The Magus, The Collector is told from different perspectives/narrators. Since the narrators tell their perspective on the same event sequentially and not in parallel, some sections are strangely repetitive and did not lead me to compare the perspectives of the kidnapped girl and the kidnapper. All together though I can only add my recommendation for this great book.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful, disturbing and compelling
Review: This is a really unusual book which is so well written that you can identify with both the kidnapper - the frighteningly normal Clegg, and the object of his "collection" Miranda. The book starts with Clegg's obsession with collecting beautiful things, and moves through his day to day interaction with the woman he has abducted. The second half deals with Miranda coming to terms with what has happened to her, and her plans and desires to escape. It is very well written, and you could amost imagine that there are two authors putting together the novel - one for each viewpoint. It is utterly compelling writing, and it is truly chilling. Clegg could be anyone you know for all of his well hidden psycopathic tendencies. What is worse is the thought that any of us could be Miranda. The story draws you further and further in and presents us with a vision of reality that is utterly terrifying, even though no-one would think to classify this as a horror novel. The ending will leave you breathless and shocked. This book is definitely one of the classics of 20th Century fiction, and one which everyone should read.
Rating:
Summary: Definitely add to my collection.
Review: A teacher at my college suggested this book and at first i wasn't
too keen. Within a few pages I found myself utterly enthralled. This story is both emotive and grotesque yet I felt angry with myself for at first feeling sympathy towards Clegg. This seems perhaps Fowles' intention, to twist into his readers mind and play with their emotions also. A truelly disturbing read yet well worth it. The Collector is a grim, yet potent reflection of the insanity harboured within society.
Rating:
Summary: Insects and Girls, wonderful keeps
Review: In this world, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In a John Fowles world, Fred is the beholder and the beauty has the misfortune of being stolen out of her world, and placed in his. Fred Clegg wants a kind word, a dinner with the girl he adores (Miranda), her sincerest devotion. He believes that by kidnapping her and forcing her to live in his secluded house, she will fall in love with him. The book is a combined viewpoint, the first half being Fred's and the second half being Miranda's. "The Collector" is an amazing look at obsession and adoration. Each page draws the reader further into Fred's mind, as he sinks into a love that is destined to fail. Miranda becomes a butterfly, trapped inside the glass jar. And Fred keeps the lid closed tightly. An incredible page turner. A must read.
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