The Collector (Vintage Classics) by Fowles, John (February 5, 2004) Paperback

I really enjoyed this classic novel, easy to get drawn into, lovely twist at the end.

I was inspired to read The Collector after having seen the brilliant film adaptation of this novel starring iconic actor Terence Stamp.This book is excellent and superb like the l965 film John Fowles vividly depicts the story of Freddy Clegg a shy working class clerk who on winning the pools buys a Sussex mansion and kidnaps the beautiful Miranda, the middle class girl of his dreams and holds her captive in his mansion.This is a fascinating novel showing the conflict between kidnapper and captive, the battle between the working classes and the privileged classes and the relationship between men and women as a whole.I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and I highly recommend it because it is a good interesting read.

It's not very well written.The chapter by kidnapped Miranda could not possibly have been told, but I don't want to spoil it.

as an a level English literature student I thoroughly did enjoy this book and think its an interesting approach to 1950s psycho-thrillers. however from a structural point of view the lack of change in the setting and the repetitive nature of miranda's epistolary form can get a bit tedious by the middle/end but despite this it is a page-turner and did keep me very invested throughout.

This book was needed for my daughter's A level course so very pleased it arrived very promptly.

Good quality

This is a review of the audio version of this book purchased on Audible but now no longer available. It is astonishing to think that this book was written in 1963 and still has the power to be shocking and disturbing today. It tells the story of a psychopathic loner who abducts a woman and holds her hostage. It ahs been the inspiration for many similar works including the 2003 film The Room and was. itself dramatized in a 1965 film starring Terence Stamp and Samantha Eggar.This is dark stuff indeed and, despite being very much of its age with 1960s style dialogue it still has the power to haunt and unsettle the reader. Hearing this in audio form makes this an even more intense experience and, once experienced, it is hard to erase from your mind.

Remarkably boring, poorly written and structured book. Apparently this is a favourite book of some infamous kidnap murderers. I'm sure they are as mundane as this book.The second part is especially yawn worthy and the very final sections linger and linger on.If you want a well written first person account of a fictional serial killer I'd recommend the true classic that is The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson.Final thing avoid The Collector it's bobbins.