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wuthrinheights's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I've watched the musical years back, so I thought I would know how the story would go but the more I read, the more I realised how different they were. The book is much, much better than the play (although the music score was also brilliant).
I was pleasantly surprised to learn how fast paced the book was, and it was captivating from the start. It only took me more or less 6 hours to read it, and by the last 100 pages or so, I had the musical soundtracks to accompany me.
It was spooky, intoxicating, yet somehow humorous at times. Occasionally I would find myself to snicker or giggle at what the character said or did. I did not have a favourite character exactly, but I enjoyed reading the storyline; it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time.
Love was a huge theme of the book. In the end, people just want to be loved.
I was pleasantly surprised to learn how fast paced the book was, and it was captivating from the start. It only took me more or less 6 hours to read it, and by the last 100 pages or so, I had the musical soundtracks to accompany me.
It was spooky, intoxicating, yet somehow humorous at times. Occasionally I would find myself to snicker or giggle at what the character said or did. I did not have a favourite character exactly, but I enjoyed reading the storyline; it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time.
Love was a huge theme of the book. In the end, people just want to be loved.
Content Warnings
Minor: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment
uparrowhead's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
A classic which, in my opinion, deserves to be considered timeless; the Phantom of the Opera raises the question on how we should treat the truly low members of society.
The novel introduces the story of the Opera Ghost, which stalks the shadows of the Paris Opera House and hunts for mischief and mystery. Strange events emerge and connect as the singer Christine Daaé slowly begins her rise in fame with her heavenly vocals, supposedly learning to sing from the Angel of Music. The reader navigates through this episodic novel and slowly gathers the truths to the unfolding story.
The Phantom of the Opera places a great emphasis on concepts of love, obsession, desire, and pity. How can we learn to, not love, but accept someone who is supposedly heartless? How can we take pity on people who are seemingly monstrous? How does unrecieved love mould into an overpowering obsession built upon desires we are unable to satisfy? The novel feels like it is truly a love letter to these themes as both pain and pleasure are combined into the flowing story.
I have loved this ever since watching the musical, and the original story that brought it to life is absolutely incredible.
I can't get over how beautifully tragic the ending for this novel is. It ends in Erik's death for his own overflowing love of Christine, one which he had never experienced with another woman in his life. It just serves to show how much Erik wished for nothing but a normal life but was cursed from the endeavour ever since he was first born just for his horrific features, leading him down a path of using his wits and intellect for his own disturbing gains as a way to not acknowledge his pain.
The novel introduces the story of the Opera Ghost, which stalks the shadows of the Paris Opera House and hunts for mischief and mystery. Strange events emerge and connect as the singer Christine Daaé slowly begins her rise in fame with her heavenly vocals, supposedly learning to sing from the Angel of Music. The reader navigates through this episodic novel and slowly gathers the truths to the unfolding story.
The Phantom of the Opera places a great emphasis on concepts of love, obsession, desire, and pity. How can we learn to, not love, but accept someone who is supposedly heartless? How can we take pity on people who are seemingly monstrous? How does unrecieved love mould into an overpowering obsession built upon desires we are unable to satisfy? The novel feels like it is truly a love letter to these themes as both pain and pleasure are combined into the flowing story.
I have loved this ever since watching the musical, and the original story that brought it to life is absolutely incredible.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Death, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Stalking, Murder, and Classism
Minor: Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
mcdonom's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse and Torture
Moderate: Murder
ina_pages's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
To say I expected a lot from this book would be an understatement, and sadly they weren’t full met (although I think that might be a fault on my end). I grew up watching the movie-musical adaptation, and the touring theater cast was all I could talk about for months when they finally made a stop in my home country. I love this story with my whole heart, but the source material is leaps different from the musical by Webber.
This isn’t to say this book was bad though! I did enjoy myself while reading it. The language, although not the easiest to read, isn’t totally archaic and I’d even recommend it for people whose first language isn’t English. If anything the language, to me, was one of the best parts of this book. Gaston Leroux often droned on about music and gothic architecture; and while that may not be everyone’s cup of tea, I thoroughly enjoyed his analogies.
< Leroux also makes use of a lot of metaphors relating to the sea or bodies of water. One of my favorites lines in the book reads like this: “In the orchestra stalls, the drugget covering them looked like an angry sea, whose glaucous waves had been suddenly rendered stationary by a secret order from the storm phantom, who, as everybody knows, is called Adamastor. MM. Moncharmin and Richard were the shipwrecked mariners amid this motionless turmoil of a calico sea.” Beautiful.>
What I found I couldn’t stand with this book were the characters. The simplest way I could describe Raoul in this book is a whiny, wimpy, cowardly white boy who did nothing but cry at every little inconvenience. I hated Raoul so much from start to finish, it actually amazing.
Christine was just a hair better but barely. In all versions of this story, Christine is depicted as a foolish and naive girl of pure innocence—she is literally likened as an angel throughout the book. However, I didn’t get naive or innocent… I just got stupid. Maybe I’m just pessimistic and have little patience but Christine throughout the book really just read to me as an idiot. She somewhat redeems herself in the end but as the book as written in the perspective of an investigator from the future, you can’t really tell what she’s thinking and so her character fell a little flat to me.
Erik is my favorite character in the movie and in the musical, but in this book we don’t get much insight from him either which is a total shame. <The first couple chapters literally fly by without him actually being there. We live through it with just the knowledge of his presence which, I think, might be the point if the author wanted to establish him as something incorporeal only to shock the readers somewhere down the line to say he’s mortal. If it is, brilliant! If not well…> To me he’s a tad bit better than Raoul and Christine but he’s equally as whiny as Raoul.
Surprisingly the most interesting character in this book is the Persian who doesn’t exist in the other adaptations (I could be wrong, don’t quote me on that). His story in the movie/musical was given to Madame Giry. I think this was a good call for the adaptation as it deepened her character in comparison to the book. <(Madame Giry in the book didn’t read very well to me. She was boring and seemed almost as stupid as Christine. I really liked that they made her character more formidable in the adaptations as it gave a better representation of women in comparison to the book.)>
Overall, the book wasn’t horrible. It felt a little lackluster in comparison to its adaptations but if you’re into gothic horror or simply want to read the source material for Phantom of the Opera the Musical then I say go for it! Just don’t expect it to be anything like the movie.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, and Gaslighting
Minor: Suicide attempt
seapotatohowisitalrtaken's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, and Murder
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Blood, Stalking, and Classism
enchantingreads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I absolutely loved this book. I decided to finally read it, because I was named after Christine Daae. This book was so much better than the movie. This book is full of so much detail that it really ties the book together and makes it enjoyable.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Violence, Kidnapping, and Murder
They do mention the deaths, kidnapping, and violence, however, they do not go into to much detail. Near the end of the book, they go into a bit more detail revolving around thedispleased_ghoooost's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse and Murder
Moderate: Torture
zsabella's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
“poor, unfortunate erik!”
this was not the dry, slow-paced classic that I was expecting! in fact, it works even better when approached as additional reading before viewing any of the theatrical adaptations. what I’m really saying is I’ve got the royal albert hall concert dvd on my shelf and I for one *cannot wait* to cry and watch all 2.5 hours of it for the first time
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship and Murder
Minor: Death of parent
bociti's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
It was an awesome read. Heart-warming story about a "Phantom" who just want to live as normal people.
I loved every word of this book.
Such a fantastic classic:)
I loved every word of this book.
Such a fantastic classic:)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide and Suicide attempt
Minor: Murder
andyandnormski's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Maybe I was influenced a bit by my love of the musical. Maybe I went into this with certain expectations, but I did not enjoy this as much as I really wanted to. The writing is overly flowery and needlessly dramatic. This makes it a slog to read through. If you go into this expecting it to be a sort of precursor story to the musical, be prepared to be disappointed.
The plot. Where to begin with this? The plot wanders from scene to scene. It feels like it's trying to be told as a mystery but it doesn't quite accomplish this. Random events happen one after another, and we're told through Raoul's perspective that this is all caused by some nefarious plan the phantom (Erik) is orchestrating. And since Erik is hidden in the shadows and Raoul has yet to see him, we're told outright by Raoul that this is evil. It's hard to read it that way considering many scenes don't feel interconnected and most characters have little influence on the story. You could cut many characters out and it wouldn't alter the trajectory of the plot. Raoul's brother barely has a presence and he is killed off in the last chapter almost as an after thought, as if the author forgot about him and realized he was a loose end. This happens more than once. Characters are quickly introduced, then whisked away before their appearance even has a moment to breathe. Even Erik suffers from this. The near entirety of his backstory is introduced in the epilogue, again feeling very much like an after thought.
And Raoul? It's rare that I see a main character that I wholly root against. He is incredibly unlikable. He's brash, deeply paranoid, and borderline hostile towards everyone around him right from the start. His behavior towards Christine can almost be described as a stalker. While much of Erik's behavior is questionable, Raoul doesn't fair any better. If this was a different story, both characters could be painted in an antagonistic light. Why this story is told from Raoul's perspective and not Christine's is a mystery to me.
All in all, I didn't enjoy this. I don't think I'll be reading it again. I'm not sure if I want to keep my copy either.
The plot. Where to begin with this? The plot wanders from scene to scene. It feels like it's trying to be told as a mystery but it doesn't quite accomplish this. Random events happen one after another, and we're told through Raoul's perspective that this is all caused by some nefarious plan the phantom (Erik) is orchestrating. And since Erik is hidden in the shadows and Raoul has yet to see him, we're told outright by Raoul that this is evil. It's hard to read it that way considering many scenes don't feel interconnected and most characters have little influence on the story. You could cut many characters out and it wouldn't alter the trajectory of the plot. Raoul's brother barely has a presence and he is killed off in the last chapter almost as an after thought, as if the author forgot about him and realized he was a loose end. This happens more than once. Characters are quickly introduced, then whisked away before their appearance even has a moment to breathe. Even Erik suffers from this. The near entirety of his backstory is introduced in the epilogue, again feeling very much like an after thought.
And Raoul? It's rare that I see a main character that I wholly root against. He is incredibly unlikable. He's brash, deeply paranoid, and borderline hostile towards everyone around him right from the start. His behavior towards Christine can almost be described as a stalker. While much of Erik's behavior is questionable, Raoul doesn't fair any better. If this was a different story, both characters could be painted in an antagonistic light. Why this story is told from Raoul's perspective and not Christine's is a mystery to me.
All in all, I didn't enjoy this. I don't think I'll be reading it again. I'm not sure if I want to keep my copy either.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Torture, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Death of parent