Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

8 reviews

siglerbooknook's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

When I tell you I obsessed over this book in high school it is not in any way an exaggeration.
So of course, it was required reading now that I'm an adult to see if it was truly as good as I remembered.
My finding was rather complex. The over all plot was much more boring than I remembered, very slow, fully of miscommunication, and no real information until the very end. However, I caught many many details I didn't remember from earlier reads, including huge differences between the book and movies it inspired.
Over all I still enjoyed the story and this is one I'm glad to have in my collection to read again in future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Torture, Stalking, Self harm, and Murder

Minor: Grief, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Confinement, Classism, Death, and Body horror

hauntedantiqueshop's review

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

all could have been avoided if ableism wasn’t so prevalent 🙄 above all else, I am an Erik apologist. I love that problematic Angel of Music

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Ableism, Body shaming, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Death, Grief, and Stalking

seforana's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Grief, Confinement, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Suicide attempt, and Suicide

smithreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny informative reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Murder, Stalking, Violence, Death of parent, Body horror, Classism, Grief, Kidnapping, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Gun violence, and Racism

lostinafilmscene's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Watched the 2004 movie and the 25th anniversary version before reading the book. Needless to say, this book really intrigued me with its antique and mysterious vibes that were always there during Leroux's narratives. 
Positive things: 

• Christine was less shy and immature than the stage/movie version, which I liked by the way;
• Raoul was less irritating to read about, but  more possessive in the book;
• More focused on actions than the romance (my preference);

Negative things:

• Erik was seen more as a monster than a man who has many traumas from the past by Christine (even though her main charm was being a compassionate person);
• It's very slow paced, so you've got to take your time to read this book;
• The order of events
  (masquerade -> chandelier crashing -> disappearing)
  is also different, but i enjoyed the musical order even more (it makes more sense to me, i don't know)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Toxic relationship, Blood, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Grief, Kidnapping, and Stalking

sxrxh_lenx's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, and Murder

taelights's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-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

3.5

While I do prefer the stage version and the movie a lot more, I did really enjoy getting to read the original book which inspired Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical. I definitely have to give a lot of respect to this book for being the inspiration for my favorite musical ever.

The Phantom was truly creepy in this version and not sexy at all. While I do enjoy the more sexy twisted version in the book version was very interesting to learn about.

All the characters do pale a bit in comparison to the musical. But it was also interesting to get some extra context on inspirations for the musical. 

The writing, especially the dialogue was a bit bad at times but I'm not sure if that's just how it is or how the translation is seeing as the original novel was in French. Or perhaps a bit of both. 

I wouldn't recommend this book unless you are a fan of the musical or movie because honestly if I had read this without being a big fan of the musical I'd probably have dnf it but I only enjoyed it a bit due to the musical. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Murder, Stalking, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, and Torture

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Death, Suicide attempt, Violence, Murder, and Suicide

Minor: Alcohol, Classism, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury