Product Description

Withdrawn, uneducated and unloved, Frederick collects butterflies and takes photographs. A chance pools win enables him to capture the art student, Miranda and keep her in the cellar of the Sussex house he has bought with the windfall. The situation is seen first from the collector's point of view: he thinks the chloroform pad no more vicious than his butterfly net, and patiently waits for the barriers of class and taste that inhibit their love to break down in the limbo of their isolation. She, the creator, desperate for her freedom, tries to be understanding but cannot banish her contempt for everything anti-life that the collector stands for.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3306 in Books
• Published on: 2004-02-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 282 pages

From the Publisher
'Brilliant…an artist of great imaginative power' Sunday Times

About the Author
John Fowles was born in England in 1926 and educated at Bedford School and Oxford University. John Fowles won international recognition with his first published title. THE COLLECTOR (1963). He was immediately acclaimed as an outstandingly innovative writer of exceptional imaginative power and this reputation was confirmed with the appearance of his subsequent works. He now lives and writes in Lyme Regis, Dorset

Customer Reviews

A good book but...
We got this book to read in our english lesson (we are top set) and the first bit was ok, it was well written, sad but beuatiful but maybe a bit too long in places. The second bit is from her point of view and in diary form, and although i have not finished it I am finding it really boring, it was a good idea but she is writing way too much, i am finding it hard to keep going with it. So, personally it is not my sort of book, i prefer a good fantasy/action/adventure but for other people it may be a book of their dreams, certinally some my friends really liked it. (the ones who finished it)

My all time best read
It is my own stupidity that i didnt read this book for so long simply b/c is was written decades ago. Judged it by its cover so-to-speak.
Awesome. Emotionally sucks you in, and doesnt let go until the end which not only is a twist and a shocker, it leaves you stunned. I thought about this book for days after i had read it. It contains no swearing, no sex (although there are sexual themes in it), no real violence, but is one of the creepiest books ive ever read. Magestic writing all the way through, and i was in a constant struggle much like Miranda (central character) whether to hate or pity the main character.
You must read this books, it is a classic and i loved it from start to finish.

Don't collect this
Not as appalling as the low rating suggests. This is a competent enough book despite its flaws. That it is considered to be so good probably tells us more about the times in which it was written than any long-distance power. Perhaps it seemed more radical then to include a protagonist who was both vaguely 'normal' and an exploitative bastard seriously low on empathy. But the symmetry between kidnapper and butterfly collector does not bear out its superficial promise. The dual narrative fails to convince and makes the whole work a little over-long. The style itself is pedestrian, which makes this quick to read but ultimately forgettable.