The Collector

The Collector

3.96 of 5 stars 3.96  ·  rating details  ·  14,361 ratings  ·  931 reviews
Withdrawn, uneducated and unloved, Frederick collects butterflies and takes photographs.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...more
Paperback, 288 pages
Published October 21st 1998 by Random House (Vintage) (first published January 1st 1963)
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Bonnie
Interested in more of my reviews? Visit my blog!

’I am one in a row of specimens. It’s when I try to flutter out of line that he hates me. I’m meant to be dead, pinned, always the same, always beautiful. He knows that part of my beauty is being alive, but it’s the dead me he wants. He wants me living-but-dead.’

The Collector is the story of Frederick Clegg, an extremely odd and lonely man who also collects butterflies. He’s obsessed with a middle-class art student named Miranda Grey and as he cont...more
Evan
A great pal of mine, who shall remain nameless, is a collector. Truly and obsessively one. His house is filled from floor to ceiling with records and CDs and other bric a brac. It's a very large, sprawling ranch with a half floor up as well as a basement. It should be a spacious and roomy abode, but when you walk in there it's like squeezing through the Fat Man's misery section of Mammoth Cave - you have to turn sideways to get through. He shares this space with a half dozen cats. It's filthy. R...more
Petra X
I read this when I was very young. Young enough that anything with a sexual connotation was interesting to me. Even really perverse deviations like this.

A collector of butterflies 'collects' a girl and holds her prisoner. His deviation is far deeper than merely sex. But of course, sex is implied all the time.

There are two sorts of kept women, those gold-diggers who actively sought it, and those trophy wives who had never planned for it and had been actively courted. This is a trophy wife by for...more
smetchie
Impotent sociopath kidnaps beautiful art student. Told (partly) from the sociopath's perspective. That's my jam! I should have loved this book!
But something left me cold. I suppose it may have been all the bitching and complaining the beautiful art student did in her stupid diary. What a helpless twit!
Not to imply that I'd be brave and cunning or anything...if someone kidnapped me. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'd be a helpless twit as well. But I'll be goddamned if I'd expect anyone to enjoy readi...more
Bethan
Easy to read, from the perspective of an uneducated butterfly collector who is rich from winning the football pools and the diary entries of the beautiful 20-year-old Slade art school student that he kidnaps, and quite riveting, at first this story managed to creep me out and scare me. Like Miranda, his victim, I loathed the 'collector' of the title, alternating with some pity. He was so unattractive, empty, and neurotic about sex. He was probably a psychopath since he had feelings of his own bu...more
L.S.
Feb 16, 2009 L.S. rated it 4 of 5 stars
Shelves: 2009
I found this book very hard to put down. If I did not have to go to work I would have read it in 1 day, 2 at the most. It is a thriller. It is pathological. It is human. I am listening to synesthesia by porcupine tree. At first sight I did not like the ending, I was expecting something more. But I realized that this is not a romance or a love story, this is life. It is a perfect ending, it is like the end of a Hollywood movie in which the psychopath is out there and ready to find another victim....more
J.A. Saare
Other reviewers have said what I would say about The Collector. It's haunting, disturbing, and impossible to forget once you've finished. While not a typical "horror" story, it is one that probably occurs more often in the real world than not, and the person(s) involved could be a distant relative, a sibling, a son or a daughter.

Allow me to state right now that it's not an easy read. As someone who derives enjoyment from books of this nature, I was determined to remain objective from the onset....more
MacK
Other things were supposed to be read first. But I'm finding I'm powerless in the grip of John Fowles.

I don't like scary stories, yet I keep reading.

I don't much like novels wherein almost all the characters are reprehensible, yet I keep reading.

I don't much like admiting that my boss is right about most things, yet I agree with him more and more each book.

What's most remarkable about The Collector is that for half the book I was totally unimpressed. The plot was engaging but the narrative sty...more
Chris
A tough book to rate: it's an easy four-star except for the (very long) section two, in which a daring POV switch from collector to prisoner becomes demoralizing once you flip ahead and realize that section re-narrates the entirety of the book up to that point. This is a rather big mistake (see quote below), yet it begins so well that I was actually willing to read 150+ pages thinking "this is a mistake, this is all a mistake" to get to the last ten pages back with the original narrator. And the...more
Krisz
description

An unforgetting read :)
It's kind of impossible to explain the sensations you experience while reading this novel, because it's that kind of story that feels so wrong, and yet you can't stop reading it, be obsessed about it, love it, hate it, hunt every word with frenzy so you can find out what happens next..
description
I had one of the most complicated relations with Frederick.. a hate-love-hate kind of situation. I know, you will say "What can one possibly like at this character?". He is a psiho, a crazy...more
Nenia Campbell
tl;dr review: Psycho killer, qu'est-ce que c'est?

The song "Psycho Killer" by the Talking Heads is probably the best way to describe this novel without spoiling anything. It's about a man who's dissociated from the world and himself, who has the ability to lie and hurt without taking blame, who has the capacity for evil but hasn't fulfilled his potential yet. But he is also human, which makes him much more frightening than one of the stereotypical laughing villains. Ferdinand Clegg is très Norman...more
Hannah
Oh sheesh, I don't normally *do* disturbing. I prefer comfort books (preferably with twee old English cottages, so.....HEY, will you look at that, this book HAS an old English cottage - kewl...). Maybe that was the appeal. (Then again, probably not, as this is one old cottage I'd never want to go near).

Anyway, this book was seriously disturbing and creepy and kept me reading for 4 straight hours. I would have rated it 4 stars alone for parts 1 and 3, which were told from the perspective of Fred...more
Texbritreader
I suppose it would be possible to read this powerful and uncompromising novel as a straight thriller, but to do so would be to miss much. Fowles' first published novel is masterfully written, with an uncanny insight into its monstrous protagonist.

The tale of the socially inept, emotionally retarded and morally bankrupt, Frederick Clegg, and his obsession with the young art student, Miranda Grey, is profoundly disturbing. Clegg is an amateur lepidopterist and an unimportant cog in the wheel at h...more
Ryan Lawson
John Fowles' The Collector
Wk.36; Bk.36

I'm not one for genre fiction, and I'm also not one for British literature. My reasons for disliking both should be obvious, they're usually crap! However, Mr. Fowles definitely pulled a number on me. The Collector was a solid page turner. This book really drew me in hook, line, and sinker. I say it's genre fiction because it's a psychological thriller, which I consider to fall into the horror category. If you don't like that assessment then we can agree to...more
Matthew
One of the most chilling books I’ve ever read, the story of an obsessive loner who kidnaps and keeps captive a young girl in the hope that one day she will love him as he loves her. It’s a bit schlocky in places, particularly the passages where Miranda is reminiscing about her past life, but the characters and claustrophobic tension of the situation are brilliantly realised. Although it lacks the gore and gruesome details of later serial killer books, for my money it’s far more disturbing for it...more
Tara
Jan 15, 2008 Tara rated it 5 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: Everyone with a brain!
This book first came to my attention randomly when I worked in a used book store, and it became one of those rare books I'll never let go of. It's the story of a rather dull, self-righteous, tedious British clerk whose only joys in life are collecting butterflies and keeping a close eye on a lovely art student he follows, yet has never met. When he wins the British equivalent of the lottery, he decides that he will add the girl (Miranda) to his collection.

The book is divided into three parts, b...more
s.helmke
Sep 09, 2007 s.helmke rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: psychological thriller fans
This was Fowle's first novel and is considered the first modern psychological thriller. A butterfly collector, "collects" his prize speciman, a beautiful art student. It's in two parts--the first is from the abductor's perspective; the second part is her journal kept secretly during her captivity. The book is truly chilling, in a Hitchcockian way. I read it as part of a seminar on the price of freedon and was surprised to discover that both parties lose and gain freedom during their time togethe...more
Patrick
Feb 04, 2009 Patrick rated it 5 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: weirdoes
One of my favorite books. Words cannot describe the endless ugliness I felt after finishing the last page in a dining hall in college. At the time I felt very much like the titular Collector, and it sickened me. I find this to be a very complex book, more than it is probably credited to being. Having (more or less) recently read The Woman in the Dunes, I find them similar in many ways, and if I was wasting away my life now in college I would probably write a report comparing the two.

One thing th...more
Mike
Apr 16, 2009 Mike rated it 3 of 5 stars
Shelves: horror
If while reading this book you find yourself thinking something along the lines of, "I have been so lonely lately, and that girl behind the register who smiles at me lives just down the street, maybe I should walk by her house again, and maybe this weekend I will start renovating that cabin in the woods with some tougher locks"... please put the book down. For those of you without the itch to go down in infamy, I would recommend this as a chillingly compassionate look at the mind of a predator.
Megan
Jun 08, 2008 Megan rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who has read SIlence of the Lambs
Recommended to Megan by: a professor
An intriguing story, told by a 'collector'. A man who begins the story collecting insects, but quickly upgrades to abducting a young college student. Since he tells his story, he tries to convince the reader of his logic, of the reasons why he does what he does and often the reader can catch him as he decides to convince himself of a new lie. What starts as normal rapidly spirals into the abnormal and the reader is along for the ride.

Other parts of the story are told by the girl that is imprison...more
Liz
I'm reading this, so I'm currently thinking too. The collector is fascinating not only because the collector is disturbing, but so too is the collected. I'm actually finding this rare species of butterfly almost more disturbing than the collector himself. Why? Because she collects herself, catalogues herself, and kills herself by way of her fantasies still more frighteningly - through the figure of G.P. At least, this is how I have come to it thus far. The collector himself is frightening, but s...more
Kaye
This book was a welcome surprise. The kidnapping of a young woman is told from two perspectives; the stalker's, and then the victim's. Oddly (or perhaps naturally enough?) the stalker is the more interesting of the two. The girl is a product of being a fairly privileged art student, not full of any earth-shaking ideas (although she seems to think so), which makes her all the more realistic. She constantly strives to do the morally correct thing, while alternately scorning and protecting her capt...more
Diane
4.5

audio book

I just finished and I'm creeped out and my skin feels tingly. That was deliciously disturbing.

Written in 1st person, we get the kidnapper's/Collector's POV up to a critical point and then we find that Miranda has been keeping a diary and we get her POV of the same events.

Very well done. I felt The Collector's gentle madness since I was trapped in his head. I felt Miranda's resolve and zest to live, to escape, to understand.

The writer did a good job showing the inner workings of e...more
Marc Maitland
The subject matter of this book has always fascinated me, since I saw the film based on the book, many years ago. Firmly rooted in time and space, I found the film far more tantalising than the book. Without going into the detail of it, there is one aspect of the book which is completely absent from the film, and this makes the film far more pithy, and therefore better, in my view.



The book is divided into various parts, the major division being between the narrative as seen from the Collector's...more
Sara DeMent
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Elizabeth Newton
It was the movie I saw first, which was probably a mistake. Because I fell in love with Ferdinand, because… well because Terrance Stamp is gorgeous in this movie. And I agreed with mum when she said when she was younger and saw the film for the first time, she couldn’t understand why Miranda just wants to get out and away from him. But reading the book was very different. The young, attractive Terrance Stamp is not at all how Ferdinand is described in the book. So once I got over that, I got mor...more
Juniorelvis
A true page turner. With all your heart you will wish for a happy ending.

What is beauty? Is it in the wings of a butterfly, or in its free flight? Is it beautiful in what it is - a pair of wings - or in what it does with those wings? Is it possible to capture what it is if we kill what it does? A precis of this book would seem as clumsy as this metaphor - butterfly collector collects beautiful girl - but it only takes a few pages to feel you are inhabiting the mind and world of the collector. Yo...more
Aaron Schroeder
It does a novel of this level little justice to say that it is thrilling and horrifying, both in terms of its narrative, and especially in terms of how it is capable of subtly influencing its readers allegiances. Once you realize that you are, ahem, siding with a sociopathic kidnapper - hoping that he'll win over the 'girl of his dreams' - it's easy to see that you are in the novel's thrall.

Impressive though this capacity is, it is, I think, simply emblematic of what makes this a great novel and...more
Philip Blake Borbone
This is a difficult review to write. My main complaint is with the second part, mainly because it revolves around Miranda retelling everything that's already been described and droning on about her strange relationship with a man 21 years her senior. But, the part that makes reviewing difficult is that part 2, though not one I particularly liked, was written extremely well.

There is no fantasy with this book. Everything is as realistic as I can imagine having never been in a similar situation wi...more
Danielle
The synopsis of the novel sounds interesting; i expected this book to be haunting and captivating. Wrong on both accounts. The novel is broken into three main parts which switch point of views. It tells the story of an obsessive sociopath, Frederick Clegg, with a fixation on a young, beautiful art student named Miranda. When reading the first section you delve into Clegg's odd mind which proves to be somewhat fascinating. However, I found the second section to be nearly unbearable. The second pa...more
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The Collector  (Paperback)
The Collector (Paperback)
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The Collector
The Collector (Paperback)

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John Robert Fowles was born in Leigh-on-Sea, a small town located about 40 miles from London in the county of Essex, England. He recalls the English suburban culture of the 1930s as oppressively conformist and his family life as intensely conventional. Of his childhood, Fowles says "I have tried to escape ever since."

Fowles attended Bedford School, a large boarding school designed to prepare boys...more
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“I love making, I love doing. I love being to the full, I love everything which is not sitting and watching and copying and dead at heart.” 74 people liked it
“It's despair at the lack of feeling, of love, of reason in the world. It's despair that anyone can even contemplate the idea of dropping a bomb or ordering that it should be dropped. It's despair that so few of us care. It's despair that there's so much brutality and callousness in the world. It's despair that perfectly normal young men can be made vicious and evil because they've won a lot of money. And then do what you've done to me.” 48 people liked it
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