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Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for The Collector at Read honest and Book reviews & recommendations: IMDb Movies, TV & Celebrities: IMDbPro Get Info Entertainment Professionals Need: Kindle Direct Publishing Indie Digital & Print Publishing Made Easy Amazon Photos Unlimited Photo Storage Free With Prime: Prime. Apr 19, · The Collector. Lila Emerson prides herself on her no-ties lifestyle as a house sitter and writer of teen werewolf fiction. Moving from place to place as she accepts each new assignment to watch the homes of others while they’re away, she travels light and doesn’t look back. One night, while at her latest abode in a fancy Chelsea apartment in. Jul 05, · The Collector book blurb. They say human life is the most precious thing. The Collector doesn’t agree. I was given an advance copy of this book for review purposes. The opinions expressed in this post are completely my own based on my own experience. please feel free to contact me at.
The collector review book free
It reaches so far for comic effect that it stumbles badly and ends by seeming little more than a bland tale of frustration and confusion in matters of the heart. The gimmick is simple: Fischer tells his contemporary story in the voice of a pot—a ceramic bowl from Mesopotamia that’s over 6, years old.
The idea is that the object of collectors through the centuries now gets to turn the tables and comment on its owners, which makes this a sort of postmodern comedic comment on Bruce Chatwin’s high modernist novel Utz. And that’s the best one can say about the resulting strained narrative romp.
Meanwhile, a nympho-kleptomaniac connives her way into Rosa’s life, performing acts of thievery and sex that are increasingly outrageous. But Rosa’s mind is elsewhere: She falls under the sway of a columnist to the lovelorn whose advice lost Rosa her last boyfriend.
There’s also a running joke about frozen iguanas. For all of its manic inventiveness—the wordplay, the rhymes, the new vocabulary—Fischer’s goofy novel is a victim of its own cleverness.
Author tour. More about grief and tragedy than romance. Five friends meet on their first day of kindergarten at the exclusive Atwood School and remain lifelong friends through tragedy and triumph. Despite their different personalities and interests, the five grow up together and become even closer as they come into their own talents and life paths.
But tragedy will strike and strike again. Family troubles, abusive parents, drugs, alcohol, stress, grief and even random bad luck will put pressure on each of them individually and as a group. Known for her emotional romances, Steel makes a bit of a departure with this effort that follows a group of friends through young adulthood. But even as one tragedy after another befalls the friends, the impact of the events is blunted by a distant narrative style that lacks emotional intensity.
Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives. All Reviews:. Popular user-defined tags for this product:. Is this game relevant to you? Sign In or Open in Steam. Profile Features Limited. Languages :. English and 1 more. Publisher: Sylen Studio. Share Embed.
Add to Cart. View Community Hub. An Apocalypse which is bloody real, bloody Biblical and bleeding mad. Nations are in free-fall and at each other’s throats, brother fighting brother, children raising armed hands against their elders. Though it was clear the world was about to be annihilated, a glitch occurred and instead of a thermonuclear megaton bomb all we got was a damp party popper.
No one wanted to go and die, you see — even if they were promised Life Eternal in brightly colored advertising campaigns, people decided not to play along with the End of Times. This is why the Heavens sent down a newly appointed team of Sin Collectors — chosen by Them At The Top only God knows why and how, these mortals surrendered their lives to go hunting and executing Debtors for sins committed. Taught the noble art of gladius fighting, these warriors — watched over by their Supervising Angels — wander the post-Apocalyptic world, doing their best to finish a job so dirty not even the mighty Heavenly Host could pull it off.
CREATE your own playing style, deciding what characteristics, skills and equipment your hero will have at his disposal. See all. View all. Click here to see them. Customer reviews. 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 Impotent sociopath kidnaps beautiful art student. But I’ll be goddamned if I’d expect anyone to enjoy reading the daily chronicles of what a helpless twit I’d been.
The ending really made me smile, though. The creepy ending made it all worthwhile. Crazy fucker. View all 25 comments. So much for starting the year with a literary bang.
This novel made me feel like a dud firework. I didn’t find it chilling or claustrophobic. Not once was I creeped out. It did however leave me feeling rather sad, after the glum ending.
What I could really do without right now. As soon as the narrative went from the perspective of the possessive kidnapper to the diary entries of the young woman held captive, I was starting to lose interest.
Alright, to start off with anyway, I liked reading of h So much for starting the year with a literary bang. Alright, to start off with anyway, I liked reading of her attempts to outwit him and get away, but it just wore off eventually. It may be a case of a decent book that I just happened to read at the wrong time, I don’t know.
I could think of only a few scenes between Sarah Woodruff and Charles Smithson in The French Lieutenant’s Woman that did more for me than the whole of this novel did. I was going for three stars, but considering I really struggled to finish it, it’s more likely somewhere around two I’m afraid.
As a first novel the writing was pretty good, and that is about all the positives I can give it. I felt nothing for Frederick. Didn’t feel pity for him. Of course I felt sorrow for Miranda. Poor girl. So, not a great reading experience at all for me. I can’t say that I’m that interested in butterflies, but I would rather this had actually been about some nice lovely butterflies, and not feeling locked up. I’ve had enough of that already!
View all 22 comments. Jan 25, Fabian rated it really liked it. This novel is over fifty years old! Though its semi predictable, the end is nonetheless terribly terrific. That there are two strands of narrative is sometimes a revelation, sometimes an encumbrance like living through a terrible ordeal not once but twice! Both psych This novel is over fifty years old! View 2 comments. Thought by some to be the first psychological thriller, this book left me slightly wanting.
The Collector is broken into three parts. The first part is from Clegg’s point of view. Clegg is a man obsessed with a young woman and decides to “collect” her, much as he collects butterflies.
The second part is from the woman’s point of view, once she’s been “collected”. This was the part that I found unsatisfying. There were some observations in this section about class, money and society wh 3. There were some observations in this section about class, money and society which probably were more pertinent in the 60’s, which is when this book was written , than they are now. I found this portion slowed down the pacing considerably.
The third part goes back to Clegg’s point of view. Clegg is where this book lives. The peeks inside his mind, while presented as normal thoughts on his part, are truly chilling to us readers who are sane.
I shivered to read some of the things he was thinking. These psychological tics and the detached way in which they were presented were what made this book great. You can see how I’m torn here between being unsatisfied, while at the same time finding some portions of The Collector to be outstanding. To today’s jaded horror readers? This might not be the book for you. But to fans of stories like Silence of the Lambs, or even Red Dragon, I think this book will appeal, even though some of the themes are a bit outdated.
It’s to them that I recommend The Collector. View all 23 comments. Oct 19, Bonnie rated it it was amazing Shelves: full-of-wonderful , owned-ebook , eek-the-creepies. He wants me living-but-dead. He makes preparations by buying a house out in the country, purchasing assorted objects and things he knows she will need, convinced that if he can only capture her and keep her that she will slowly grow to love him.
The first part of the novel was told from Frederick’s point of view and it was rather alarming at his thought process. In his mind, there is nothing morally wrong with what he intends to do and what he actually ends up doing. She writes about G. To Miranda, G.
At first I had a hard time determining the relevancy of these recollections, but it essentially just became another disturbing piece of the story to see how influential G. Always sneering at him, jabbing him, hating him and showing it. But linked destiny. Like being shipwrecked on an island—a raft—together. In every way not wanting to be together. But together. Suffice it to say, it gave me goosebumps. It was not the ending I had anticipated, but I still felt that the author was successful in creating the everlasting effect I believe he intended.
View all 48 comments. Jun 25, Lisa rated it it was amazing Shelves: books-to-read-before-you-die. And I answered: “It is not about that at all, and it is one of the most suspenseful and scary novels I ever read!
One just rarely thinks of the fact that you kill them and pierce them with a needle to be able to look at “Oh”, said a friend, taking this novel off my shelf.
One just rarely thinks of the fact that you kill them and pierce them with a needle to be able to look at their beautiful wings at your leisure instead of chasing after them flying free. So the cover and title say it all, just not straightforward.
I guess this book made me a strong supporter of butterflies’ right to fly View all 9 comments. May 30, Michael rated it it was amazing Shelves: unreliable-narrator. One of the first dark psychological thrillers–at least in modern times though depending on how you categorize them, James or Poe or even some of the ancient Greeks might usefully be described this way, too.
A tale of obsession and art and butterflies–need I say more? Wonderful for those who take their fiction black. What’s especially interesting here is the sheer banality of Frederick’s evil.
He kidnaps Miranda, then doesn’t really know what to do or how to relate to her as an actual person One of the first dark psychological thrillers–at least in modern times though depending on how you categorize them, James or Poe or even some of the ancient Greeks might usefully be described this way, too.
He kidnaps Miranda, then doesn’t really know what to do or how to relate to her as an actual person instead of as an object.
View all 7 comments. Dec 19, Peter rated it really liked it. That was quite an interesting piece of fiction. A collector of butterflies is obsessed with a girl and finally kidnaps her when he comes to a fortune.
She desperately tries to escape her remote prison and the relationsship between those completely different characters is shown in an impressive way.
There is a kind of narration by the male character and one of the female character, the victim, in form of a diary. I won’t spoil the ending but this read was quite captivating. They characters in his That was quite an interesting piece of fiction.
They characters in his novel come from different walks of life and the sub-plot is exactly about society and Caliban like characters. Many allusions to art and literature delight the well read reader. I’ve never read any novel like this before. Clearly recommended!
View all 4 comments. Jul 04, J. 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. I wanted Frederick to earn my disdain, just as I wanted Miranda to garner my sympathy and support.
Little did I know just how masterfully John Fowles would pen the book. Written in four sections, you are given Frederick’s POV, then Miranda’s via her diary , and finally two final portions of which the last seems like an epilogue. The format doesn’t seem to be all that special, but in truth, it is what makes The Collector so powerful — your emotions, quite literally, are used against you.
Frederick is a gentle — yet, due to his fears and compulsions, dangerous — man. In the beginning, you want to understand his desire to earn Miranda’s “love. Even more tragic is that as much as you dislike Miranda I’m ashamed to confess this, but almost the entire portion written from Frederik’s POV I didn’t care for her when it’s her turn to speak, you are presented an entirely different picture — of a girl with hopes, dreams, and the realization that the choices that were of such importance in her life — namely her inability to choose to reveal her love for another man, as well as her faith in God — are made all the more heartbreaking in light of the predicament in which she finds herself.
Of course, when you delve into the third and fourth parts, it’s just devastating. It’s disturbing in a multitude of ways, but it’s the ending that drives the final nail in the coffin no pun intended. Suffice it to say, those last few words gave me chills and even now I can’t stop thinking about them. Feb 22, F rated it it was amazing Shelves: uk , Loved – so creepy!
View all 3 comments. 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 A great pal of mine, who shall remain nameless, is a collector. Reading this, I wondered too if he might have a lady squirreled away in the basement, but dismissed this notion.
There is simply no room down there to do any such thing, every inch is piled with stuff. He compares himself to the Collyer brothers see Wikipedia , whose obsession with collecting proved fatal. And so it is in Fowles’ “The Collector,” but how that is so constitutes a spoiler. There were no spoilers in it for me, as I’d seen the William Wyler film for the first time in the early ’70s on TV, and I think what caught my eye and kept my interest then was lovely Samantha Eggar, as Miranda, a role in which she was well cast.
I think she captured the character of the book. I’ve since seen the movie again and it holds up, though reading the book I think that Terence Stamp may have been too glamorous looking to play the role of “The Collector. Hers approach to the telling of it, which is not the strategy of the film, that simply incorporates both these into a straightforward narrative.
So yeah, I’m reading it and the story seems to end halfway through and I begin Miranda’s diary and I begin to think, goddamn, I have to read this story all over again?! Son of a bitch. But it’s a very clever trope and in many ways Miranda doesn’t make a very good case for herself in her diary account.
She’s young and arrogant just the kind of snob that the collector ascertains. None of this justifies what he does to her, of course, and that’s one of the strengths of the book, toying at the readers’ sympathies for both characters. They’re both unlikeable, and yet one feels for both of them.
The collector has a complex repressive psychology – he knows what he wants, but doesn’t. And she is highly impressionable, as her accounts of longing for her insufferable mentor, the Picasso-like womanizing artist, G. The battle of wits here is good, and is well handled in the movie as well.
I had hoped that Fowles would not have stated so obviously through Miranda’s voice that the collector was someone who treated her the same way as the butterflies in his collection, in such an aloof way, under glass, suffocating and snuffing out what he supposedly loved. This is easy enough to glean without the author’s help. And this is the way I feel about my friend, the record collector – he has tens of thousands of LPs, but cannot play them, won’t listen to them.
How can one ever choose from such a collection? Merely the having of them sates him, for the moment, for he is never sated. What does he want out of it? He doesn’t know. He has the object, but can’t ever fully appreciate the true essence of what’s inside it – the music.
And so it is with the collector, whose idealized view of Miranda trumps the reality of who she is. So, yes, this is a great story, well and cleverly told in plain language, often with thoughtful insights.
And yet, somehow, I never felt like I was in the presence of great literature – even though I felt I was in the presence of a writer capable of it. Perhaps the dispassionate tone of the collector’s account made me feel this and yet Graham Greene is largely dispassionate and I feel great passion in his work. Fowles’ partisans suggest that “The Magus” is his great contribution to literature, so someday hopefully I can check that out.
Anyway I’m still absorbing what I’ve read, so all the aspects of the book I’d like to comment on will likely be unstated. I tend to move on.. View all 5 comments. When a book is being lauded as some kind of bible for a number of murderers and serial killers, then of course it will attract my attention.
The Collector follows a butterfly collector who diverts his obsession with collecting onto a beautiful stranger, an art student named Miranda. I was so sure The Collector would become a new favourite, the premise is deliciously dark and disturbing, a man obsessed with a woman, intent on kidnapping her and making her fall in love with him. I felt like I just wanted it to go further The first half is fantastic, as we are inside the mind of the collector, Frederick.
But the ending is pretty strong, so you do finish on a high note! All in all, really glad I read it. Incredibly well-written and crazy addictive for the most part. Oh boy what did I just read?! This was most definitely a strange sinister and creepy story. Beyond the obvious depraved strangeness of the whole scenario he had no backbone! Nothing going for him. Strange strange. Obsession, power and a beautiful captured butterfly in the form of Miranda and you get a wicked little story with plenty of arty metaphors to chew on.
I almost loved this book but not every second of it. The story flagged for me once the perspective shifted to Miranda. View all 16 comments.
This was a little weird and slightly uncomfortable but throughly entertaining and memorable. It’s hard to believe that after so many novels and films about sociopathic kidnappers, I would still be shocked by a book written in the early 60s. The Collector is a traumatizing novel about a guy who kidnaps a young woman, although Clegg is not your typical kidnapper and Miranda is by no means your typical kidnapee.
What really makes it exceptional is the uniqueness of the two characters and how this shows through the alternating narratives.
It soon becomes clear that neither of them is totall It’s hard to believe that after so many novels and films about sociopathic kidnappers, I would still be shocked by a book written in the early 60s. It soon becomes clear that neither of them is totally reliable and what truly matters is what each decides not to tell as well as how they do or don’t tell it.
Once more, Fowles builds his characters in perfection. The way they both struggle to gain power over each other is thrilling and the reader is in a constant effort to understand the motives behind their deeds. There is also a powerful symbolism here, as Frederick and Miranda represent two opposite forces that were both blooming in England at the time.
Old vs new, modern vs archaic, art vs lack of it, imprisonment vs freedom, and ultimately, as Miranda puts it, The New People vs The Few. Miranda is the power of life and art is the ever-blooming means through which it is expressed. Nothing is served in a plate in The Collector , which makes it truly rewarding in the end.
Although, by then, you will probably be too numb to actually feel anything except a growing sort of uneasiness.