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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Ugly, unemployed man holding a beautifully talented woman hostage.
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Likes:
- I like the pictures
- It’s intriguing enough and I do wanna see how it ends
- The chapters are on the shorterish side
- I like the switch in narration in chapters 21 through 25
Dislikes:
- I want more of Christine’s POV cuz so far we haven’t gotten that like at all and she’s at the center of all of this
- Ableist?
- The complete 180 at the end that makes no sense
Random thoughts:
- I feel like the introduction belongs in the back of the book not at the front, I feel like maybe I would like it more if I hadn’t of read the introduction beforehand
- Only five chapters in and wow is Raoul toxic
- I definitely wanna see the movies and see what they changed
- It’s a more slow to medium paced story
- It’s not as good as I thought it would be
- 3 stars and an unhaul 😔😔
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
The Persian was the only one worthy of love. I said what I said. Also, you can't tell me the Persian wasn't 💅
"'Are you very tired?'
'Oh tonight, I gave you my soul and I am dead!'
'Your soul is a beautiful thing, child,' replied the man's grave voice, 'and I thank you. No emperor ever received so fair a gift. The angels wept tonight.'"
Some points I was so intrigued, others I was confused as I forgot who certain characters were, and yet I just wanted more. There is just something so darkly satisfying about Erik's genius and the ways in which various characters view his actions of past and present.
'Oh tonight, I gave you my soul and I am dead!'
'Your soul is a beautiful thing, child,' replied the man's grave voice, 'and I thank you. No emperor ever received so fair a gift. The angels wept tonight.'"
Some points I was so intrigued, others I was confused as I forgot who certain characters were, and yet I just wanted more. There is just something so darkly satisfying about Erik's genius and the ways in which various characters view his actions of past and present.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My feelings for this story are underpinned by a childhood spent listening to Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman's rendition of Andrew Lloyd Weber's musical at the height of its fame and long, long appearance on stage. For me, Leroux' version of the tale provided a firmer foundation for a story which, in the musical adaptation, ignored almost completely--it was the core upon which the world was built and in the adaptation only the surface was visible. And it made the story richer and more musical.
It seemed natural that I should listen to an audio version of the story, seeing as I'd listened to the soundtrack over and over (I did get to see a performance in Toronto in the 1990s). The disadvantage to listening, however, is I tend to miss quite a bit. My mind wanders when I read as I consider passages and explore the pathways that diverge from them, and pick up where I left off when I finish those travels. A narrator, however, continues blithely and obliviously onward, leaving me far behind. Fortunately, because I'm familiar with the story I was able to catch up fairly easily, though I've no idea what exactly I've missed.
The story itself reads more like a Sherlock Holmes recounted by Watson than a more contemporary story told from the first person viewpoint. This gives the whole tale the feel of a laborious and meticulous police report. It's possible this is due not just to the writing style, but the narration as well. And yet the filling in of details is not unlike reading a book for the second or third time and discovering something new, or reading a story about a story, and from it wringing splendid new details.
Having read the book the musical now seems, necessarily, thinner, though not Thoroughly abridged. We have a less detailed account of Christine and Raoul's childhood together and his early infatuation with her, but this is effectively summarized in Raoul's interjections during Think of Me. We have a less detailed version of the transition from the old and new opera owners, and their initial dismissal of the Opera Ghost as a prank by the prior owners, the rumors from the staff and players, but these are effectively covered by musical numbers.
If you enjoyed The Phantom of the Opera musical, and you're the sort of person who delights in back stories that flesh out your favorite tales (Star Wars universe, Tolkien's Lost Tales and the Silmarrillion, Rowlings ever-expanding Harry Potter World), then you will appreciate this work. If you're not familiar with either, they are both worth your while to discover.
Side note:
It wasn't until many years later that I thought of Michael Crawford as anything but the Opera Ghost. Imagine my shock when I discovered his primary roles (in the 1960s, at what seemed to me the height of stage-musicals-turned-films) consisted of young Crawford as the lanky, high-pitched, lovable goofball Hero in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Cornelius in Hello Dolly! Quite the transformation.
Honestly, folks, this is your murderous, disfigured, lovesick Phantom. To be honest, this made me like Michael Crawford even more, because as I went backward in his career he gradually transformed into me.
I found myself somehow less shocked when I discovered the eponymous Christine Daae, Sarah Brightman, transformed herself into a Rock Opera singer (See: Fleurs de Mal) and appeared as Mag in Repo!: The Genetic Opera. Granted, her career spans a wide variety of genres, but it was this that stood in such stark--and enjoyable--contrast.
It seemed natural that I should listen to an audio version of the story, seeing as I'd listened to the soundtrack over and over (I did get to see a performance in Toronto in the 1990s). The disadvantage to listening, however, is I tend to miss quite a bit. My mind wanders when I read as I consider passages and explore the pathways that diverge from them, and pick up where I left off when I finish those travels. A narrator, however, continues blithely and obliviously onward, leaving me far behind. Fortunately, because I'm familiar with the story I was able to catch up fairly easily, though I've no idea what exactly I've missed.
The story itself reads more like a Sherlock Holmes recounted by Watson than a more contemporary story told from the first person viewpoint. This gives the whole tale the feel of a laborious and meticulous police report. It's possible this is due not just to the writing style, but the narration as well. And yet the filling in of details is not unlike reading a book for the second or third time and discovering something new, or reading a story about a story, and from it wringing splendid new details.
Having read the book the musical now seems, necessarily, thinner, though not Thoroughly abridged. We have a less detailed account of Christine and Raoul's childhood together and his early infatuation with her, but this is effectively summarized in Raoul's interjections during Think of Me. We have a less detailed version of the transition from the old and new opera owners, and their initial dismissal of the Opera Ghost as a prank by the prior owners, the rumors from the staff and players, but these are effectively covered by musical numbers.
If you enjoyed The Phantom of the Opera musical, and you're the sort of person who delights in back stories that flesh out your favorite tales (Star Wars universe, Tolkien's Lost Tales and the Silmarrillion, Rowlings ever-expanding Harry Potter World), then you will appreciate this work. If you're not familiar with either, they are both worth your while to discover.
Side note:
It wasn't until many years later that I thought of Michael Crawford as anything but the Opera Ghost. Imagine my shock when I discovered his primary roles (in the 1960s, at what seemed to me the height of stage-musicals-turned-films) consisted of young Crawford as the lanky, high-pitched, lovable goofball Hero in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Cornelius in Hello Dolly! Quite the transformation.
Honestly, folks, this is your murderous, disfigured, lovesick Phantom. To be honest, this made me like Michael Crawford even more, because as I went backward in his career he gradually transformed into me.
I found myself somehow less shocked when I discovered the eponymous Christine Daae, Sarah Brightman, transformed herself into a Rock Opera singer (See: Fleurs de Mal) and appeared as Mag in Repo!: The Genetic Opera. Granted, her career spans a wide variety of genres, but it was this that stood in such stark--and enjoyable--contrast.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
decent book, does grasp your interest quite well