A review by monicalaurette
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

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

4.0

“It is a matter of life and death. And now, silence and follow me!”

So, The Phantom of the Opera is my favorite musical. I watched it for the first time in middle school choir and fell in love with the music and the story. I forced my family to watch it with me and I got a copy of the 2004 movie for Christmas the next year.

Now, I knew going into this book that it was going to be vastly different from the musical. I knew that, I really did. However, for some strange reason I was still so shocked at all the differences between this book and the musical. But I did love seeing scenes from the book that inspired specific scenes in the musical and playing the music in the background helped as well. I would HIGHLY recommend listening to the music scores of The Phantom of the Opera while reading this book because it made the experience so much better for me.

“He asked only to be “someone”, like everyone else.”

The way that this book was written had me constantly having to remind myself that it was a work of fiction, because the small pieces of ‘historical’ items really made it seem like this happened and I almost googled some of the events and people. *hides face in hands* I feel that the author really did a good job at making a book that didn’t feel like fiction while also being such an elaborate and crazy story.

I give The Phantom of the Opera 4 stars. I’m not taking away points for it not being like what I’m used to. I’m taking away some points because I just...didn’t like Raoul in the beginning, and still wasn’t his biggest fan at the end. Sometimes the things that he said or the things he did took away from me enjoying it. But other than that, a really fun read. I’m going to go and watch my movie again now!

“He had a heart that could have held the world; and, in the end, had to content himself with a cellar.”

I forgot that the phantom’s name is Erik lmao
I was sad that Meg and Mme. Giry didn’t have as big of a role in this version of the story, having the ‘Hand at the level of your eye’ scene be with the Persian and not Mme. Giry, and not having Meg and Christine be friends.
That being said, I did like the Persian. I thought he was a fun character to incorporate.
Yeah Erik, you had a tough childhood...still not a great excuse to kill and kidnap people my guy!
Gets a kiss from a woman and then dies, ME AS WELL ERIK, ME AS WELL!
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