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Title: The Collector by John Fowles ISBN: 0-316-29023-8 Publisher: Back Bay Books Pub. Date: August, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.25 (57 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: The Collector: A Thrilling Novel
Comment: A gripping masterpiece novel by talented storyteller, John Fowles, The Collector proves to be a worthwhile read. A tantalizing tale about a psychotic butterfly collector who kidnaps a young beautiful girl and traps her in the basement of his house, this novel's plot is both interesting and gripping as a somewhat spellbinding psychoanalytical thriller.
Set in London, The Collector unravels as an insightful novel because it divides the book up into two main sections with different narrators. The first is told from the point of view of the kidnapper, Clegg, who is a mild-mannered, dangerously wealthy psychopath, who is intensely fascinated with women, in particular, a bold art student, Miranda. The latter half of the novel is told through the diary entries of Miranda during her imprisonment in Clegg's basement cell, where she desperately tries to escape from throughout the course of novel.
This particular arrangement of telling the story is attributed to the brilliance and sheer talent of Fowles, a widely celebrated author who allows the reader to observe the thoughts and actions of an estranged kidnapper and also sift through the pages of Miranda's diary, where she pours her soul and energy into her morals, thoughts, emotions, and plans for escape onto paper-- making her come alive, both as a good-hearted human being in an impossible situation, and also as the ill-fated victim and "beautiful butterfly" that Clegg has collected and stored as his own.
In fact, Clegg's character is so unique and puzzling that at times you don't know who to feel sorry for-the helpless victim, Miranda, who is subjected to unthinkable treatment for no fault of her own, or for Clegg, a thoughtful and lonely man, whose desires and vulnerabilities lead him to a path of mortal destruction.
From Clegg's intriguingly twisted thoughts and notions about society, life, wealth, and women, to Miranda's not-so-humble opinions of art, culture, social upbringing, and romance, the characters never fail to leave the reader with an assortment of thoughts to digest while progressing through the plot.
The main portion of the plot consists of the interaction between Miranda and Clegg, prisoner and kidnapper, and the various issues the two deal with and are exposed to due to the clear definitive difference in personalities, social classes and status, education, personal interests, and moral upbringing.
The book follows the plans of both parties, desperately clinging to their own very separate hopes and ambitions that inevitably lead them to no good. While matters of sex, trust, betrayal, love, art, and culture are debated between the two, the forced relationship wears thin on both ends, and Miranda's eventual condition is what finally ends her imprisonment in Clegg's dungeon-like cell.
The novel definitely hits on some core issues still prevalent in today's society while showing the distorted mind of Clegg and the tortured mind of Miranda's, making this novel all the more engaging.
Rating: 5
Summary: the power of free thought
Comment: when i finished reading 'THE COLLECTOR', i threw the book across the room in frustration and disgust. such is the power of john fowles, luring the reader deeper and deeper into a world of twisted fantasy which is portrayed in a terrifyingly realistic fashion. the book centres around two characters, fred clegg, a quietly insane and lonely man who loves to collect butterflies (hence the name of the book - a strong metaphor), and miranda, a girl that he imprisons in his house so that she can know and love him. clegg feels disadvantaged in many ways, and so takes out all his feelings of rejection and inadequacy on his unfortunate prisoner. i have read some reviews that suggest that the book should not have been divided into sections - miranda's and clegg's - and on this point i would have to entirely disagree. the juxtapositioning of the two points of view is the very essence of the story, showing the two sides of human life: on miranda's part, her passion for life and discovery, for learning and making a difference; and clegg's, showing his selfishness, rigidness and desire to own or kill everything that shows vibrance and emotion, everything he is not. this was fowles' intention, to show us that we all have both good and evil inside us,that mirnada was not entirely perfect and clegg was not entirely evil, but that the evil in clegg eventually overcame miranda's good. this book is a dire warning to human kind to embrace life and see that we have opportunities outside what we are given, that we always have the option of free thinking.in a way, clegg was more trapped than miranda: her in body, but him in spirit.
Rating: 2
Summary: The Frustration
Comment: This book is definitely intriguing, so if that is your goal when buying a new book, then you'll love this book. Its completely unique and original in plot and in character. I love the way that it gets into the minds of the main characters.
I, personally, had a really hard time reading/liking this book. Miranda reminded me too much of myself, and my frustration about being "trapped" in this book only grew as I read it. I became so utterly frustrated that it was difficult to read this book at all for me. I suppose in that sense, the writer, Fowles, is ingenious in that I experienced his written emotion so palpably.
And for any plot readers, this is not a book for you. While the beginning offers promise in the plot department, you will be disappointed with the end.
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Title: The Magus by John Fowles ISBN: 0440351626 Publisher: Dell Publishing Pub. Date: May, 1985 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: French Lieutenant's Woman,the by John Fowles ISBN: 0316291161 Publisher: Back Bay Books Pub. Date: September, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Ebony Tower, The by John Fowles ISBN: 0316287458 Publisher: Back Bay Books Pub. Date: June, 1999 List Price(USD): $17.99 |
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Title: The Columbia Anthology of British Poetry by Carl Woodring, James S. Shapiro ISBN: 0231101805 Publisher: Columbia University Press Pub. Date: 15 April, 1995 List Price(USD): $41.00 |
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Title: Mantissa by John Fowles ISBN: 0316290270 Publisher: Little Brown & Company Pub. Date: August, 1997 List Price(USD): $15.99 |
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