The Collector

Rating:
Summary: this book was great
Review: i never imagined a book like this before. in my opinion, i think that this books shows life as it was back then and also of the society as a whole. it was a book that my english teacher recommended and it was really hard to start. after a few chaptes, i really started to get into the book and i would not be able to put it down. i think that the way to really understand the book is to try to get past the disturbing images and to see the overall picture. the way that the artist could not even express herself was awful considering that the lifestyle that she chose was to be independent. he found the only way to kill her and they was to trap her and never let her have freedom. the ending was really sad but expected. i am very glad that read this book. i recommend it to anyone that wants to challenge themselves with good literature and likes to read 'deep' into a novel.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating perspectives on life and death
Review: I almost put this book down around half way, found it very disturbing, but reading on was fascinated by the comments and thoughts on art. The juxtoposition of images of life and death both literal and figurative was fascinating and very thought provoking.

Rating:
Summary: I found the book to be mediocre, as opposed to...
Review: everyone else's comments of it being fabulous. And I'd like to say to the "reader from Ontario"...plagiarism is against the law. It's nice that you'd like to sound intelligent...but copying off a website is just low. But back on the subject of the book...I found it to be one of his lesser novels. Nothing in comparison to his other works. So I'm only giving it 3 stars.

Rating:
Summary: There must be something I don't understand...
Review: I just finished reading this book as part of my school summer reading. It's not that I don't read, on the contrary, I read between 2 and 3 books a week, usually fantasy or sci-fi. I didn't like this book. To me, it was monotonous and dull. Upon looking at the other comments, I don't understand what people see in this book. Obviously it is character-based, which I'm not used to, but I think there's something more than that. I think that I may have missed the essence of this book. I thought that this book was dull and repetitive, and the only good part was the last 2 pages, where he considers doing it again. Well, that's my opinion, anyway.

Rating:
Summary: One of the most fantastic books I have read
Review: The Collector is one of the most brilliantly written pieces of literatue I have ever read. It is entertaining, intense, at times humorous, but most of all beautifully haunting. Fowles truly develops the characters to a point of complete understanding, without boring the reader with unnecessary description. The story is gripping, and ultimately frightening at times, and I found myself in tears by the conclusion of this novel. I'm only 17, but I have full confidence that this will be one of the best if not the best books I'll ever read, it's truly a magnificent book.

Rating:
Summary: A remarkably well written book, by a remarkable writer.
Review: As an A-Level English Literature student, reading this book was far better than reading the likes of "The Great Gatsby" and "The wife of Bath", as i found this incredibly gripping and intreging from page to page. The use of two narrators was one of the best things about this book, as you get to read the story from two accounts or viewpoints. A truly incredible book, and i now intend to write some coursework with the title of: "In The Collector, Fowles shows us that there is essentially no difference between being a prisoner and being a jailer". Discuss and illustrate.

Rating:
Summary: A well crafted book
Review: Fowles captures your attention on so many levels. He gives you intricate plot twists and an intensely emotional and chilling plot. The story definitely stays with you long after you read it.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely wonderful
Review: I'm not an avid book reader, simply because I rarely find a book that really intrigues me and keeps my attention. This story is one of the few that I love and could read over and over again. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has a difficult time staying focused. It's an eerie story with a beautiful twist.

Rating:
Summary: The Rape of Women and of Art
Review: The chilling images from this book have stayed with me since my initial reading of it in the early 1980s. And, of course, the moral questions that Fowles always raises are present. Here we have a social outcast whose only resource to claim love is to capture it. In this case the "collector" of the title kidnaps a beautiful young art student. While he attempts to win her love, she questions the role of the "Calibans" of this world (her name is Miranda, and she is referring to Shakespeare's Tempest), the monsters who rape and violate not only women, but art. In some ways, I think this book may be Fowles's response to early critics and readers of his metafictionist stories who just didn't get what he was about.

Rating:
Summary: A decade of admiration
Review: I was handed The Collector when I was thirteen years old. My mother said, I think you'll like this book. Today, I have adapted it into a stage version, which will be produced in Chicago early 1998. The Collector is a perfect look into the mind of a mild mannered psychotic and a strong but understandably frightened victim. The book forces us to have sympathy for both characters, to see their side of this amazing story. Ferdinand is the scariest of all sexual predators because of his quiet obsession that has the potential to burst into violence and insanity at any moment, yet there are more than a few times in the book when the reader finds his or herself pulling for him. I think Miranda's response to him sums up the book perfectly, "What have I done to frighten you?" "Nothing, that's what I'm afraid of."