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English Choose a language for shopping. I could not ask for more in a book, its brevity is bittersweet you wish there were more details, more certainties This book was so captivating and dark. His agony over his unrequited love made me almost pity him. His constant doubting over Christine's love for him did not go well with me and I could not like him. Meanwhile the frantic Raoul , meets the Persian, a person everyone knows but nobody can say who he is. It is also a story of extreme loneliness and madness.
Yes, he existed in flesh and blood, although he assumed the complete appearance of a real phantom: From the author's Prologue. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux ,. Alexander Teixeira de Mattos Translator. Her father, a famous musician, dies, and she is raised in the Paris Opera House with his dying promise of a protective angel of music to guide her. After a time at the opera house, she begins hearing a voice, who eventually teaches her how to sing beautifully.
All goes well until Christine's childhood friend Raoul comes to visit his parents, who are patrons of the opera, and he sees Christine when she begins successfully singing on the stage. The voice, who is the deformed, murderous 'ghost' of the opera house named Erik, however, grows violent in his terrible jealousy, until Christine suddenly disappears. The phantom is in love, but it can only spell disaster.
Leroux's work, with characters ranging from the spoiled prima donna Carlotta to the mysterious Persian from Erik's past, has been immortalized by memorable adaptations.
Despite this, it remains a remarkable piece of Gothic horror literature in and of itself, deeper and darker than any version that follows. Paperback , pages. Published December 30th by Harper Perennial first published January 8th Paris France Bretagne France. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about The Phantom of the Opera , please sign up.
Is this a fictional story, or was it based on a true event? Many sources online reveal it was inspired by the Paris Opera. Was the setting of Paris Opera used for inspiration or the events? Salgueiro This answer contains spoilers… view spoiler [ There is the Palais Garnier, which inspired the setting of the book the Opera House really has an underground lake , and different events that …more There is the Palais Garnier, which inspired the setting of the book the Opera House really has an underground lake , and different events that happened there, such as the falling of the chandelier, really occurred this killed a woman.
Even some characters are thought to be inspired from events, such as Erik, who was a man that worked on the construction of the Opera and fell in love with a singer, the singer rejected him and he kidnapped her for a few weeks. After letting her go, it is said that he went underground and remained there until he died of starvation below the Opera, were the real lake and were he lived. Anyone else less than impressed by learning The Phantom's real name? Lauren Well, not really. I happen to really like the name Erik. But that's just my opinion. See all 33 questions about The Phantom of the Opera….
Lists with This Book. Aug 22, Emily May rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: Persons who are visited by the Angel quiver with a thrill unknown to the rest of mankind. And they cannot touch an instrument or open their mouths to sing, without producing sounds that put all other human sounds to shame. This book is a darkly romantic tale of a man's descent into violence and madness, and the woman who forms the obsession at the centre of his life. I should probably confess: I am a shameless lover of The Ph Persons who are visited by the Angel quiver with a thrill unknown to the rest of mankind.
I am a shameless lover of The Phantom of the Opera musical, which I have seen so many and not enough times, as well as the movie version starring Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum. I continue to think the story, the setting and the music is one of the most beautiful displays of love, sadness and insanity that I have ever had the pleasure of viewing. It can also be incredibly sexy, but that might have a little something to do with Mr Butler. The musical version is truly wonderful and that is coming from someone who is not a fan of musicals.
If you're curious, watch this wonderful scene from the movie: There's just so much love, sadness and craziness all wrapped up in just a two and a half minute reprise. Honestly, this story is one of the few things that thaws my cold, unromantic heart. In the night there was music in my mind And through music my soul began to soar And I heard like I've never heard before Raoul: What you heard was a dream and nothing more.
I felt myself drawing so many parallels between the two stories, even though one is a rough and wild story set on the Yorkshire moors and the other is set amid all the finest luxury of nineteenth-century Parisian high society. Both stories create complex villains that earn our pity as well as our disgust. Neither Erik nor Heathcliff is meant to be excused, or even forgiven, for their violent and cruel behaviour, they are not romantic heroes despite the love and passion that fuels both stories. As with Wuthering Heights , this book is about a man who has lived his whole life with nothing but cruelty and hatred from others in this case, due to his facial disfigurement.
His own mother presented him with a mask so she didn't have to look upon his face. Erik becomes obsessed with Christine Daae - the object of his love and desire - and makes her the centre of his universe. But no man or phantom or angel of music can suffer through a loveless childhood and years of being a freakshow attraction without developing some serious issues. And the phantom, quite frankly, is as mad as he is a musical genius.
Erik manipulates, terrorizes and even kills to fulfill his mission of furthering Christine Daae's career in the Opera House. He really is the best kind of character - twisted, complex, angry and evil, but I don't think we ever really hate him. I like how this book doesn't turn into something akin to a modern day YA romance where the heroine falls for the bad dude anyway because it's TRU WUV; that isn't the story being told here.
Erik is not a hero, but a monster. And this is the monster's story. It is the monster's deep, crazed, unrequited love that makes him human to the reader. I don't want Christine to be with him, that would weaken the true power of the story Love me and you shall see! All I wanted was to be loved for myself. If you loved me, I should be as gentle as a lamb; and you could do anything with me that you pleased. The movie's sad reprise of the song Masquerade sung by the phantom just hits me in the heart every time: Paper faces on parade Masquerade Hide your face so the world will never find you.
View all 54 comments. Jun 22, Fabian rated it it was amazing Shelves: This is a true House of Horrors, perhaps the best one ever orchestrated maybe discounting Poe. The prose is so simple, so readable, that the barest of essentials are there, in all their power and glory: Yes, the only way to be frightened is to have the monster in the backdrop, a perpetual threat that's under the velvet curtain. I could not ask for more in a book, its brevity is bittersweet you wish there were more details, more certainties This is a masterpiece to be savored!
No musical is as technically rich as this one which is SO like the Phantom himself. It IS the decade of the 80s-its very opulent quint essence! And this is the decade of my birth View all 18 comments. Society, humanity, perceives his appearance as evil and twisted; thus, he takes on these traits in a cruel mockery of what is expected of him: And it becomes his most powerful weapon and it also becomes his downfall.
He is beyond bitter.
He is beyond twisted. His heart oozes with venom for a world that has always shunned him and left him an outcast in the darkness. The Phantom of the Opera is a tragedy in every sense of the word. All the Phantom ever wanted was love and when he finally finds it, it practically destroys him. It pushes him out of the shadows and makes him bold; it makes him yearn for what he thought impossible. He sees his chance, the very essence of what has brought his voice and his soul back to life is before him, and he seizes it albeit too forcefully.
He becomes vicious, demanding and overwhelming. The loneliness of his soul dominates his faculties. He loses the cold, practical, cunning that has kept him alive for so long and follows the unthinking possessive whims of his heart. Erik comes forth into the light. In this moment he casts aside the guise of The Phantom and reveals his vulnerability and his ability to rejuvenate to Christine.
He puts his heart out there, but like everything is his life love is illusory. In his misguided state he drastically misunderstands the situation and his erratic behaviour destroys any chance he ever could have had. His love has power, but he fails to understand that not everybody is as painfully desperate as he.
Leroux clearly loved opera houses and his phantom is beautifully dark concept. His descriptions of the theatre are vivid and verging on the enchanting. His prose is smooth and faultless, though his pacing is poor and the plot is weighed down with many non-essential characters that over complicate the situation.
I love the story here, though the execution falls short of the faultlessness you would expect when you consider the sheer strength that surrounds the central plot and characters. For me, the Phantom will always be better on the stage. The final scenes, the reality of the ending, place the story on the fringes of the modernist movement and show that romance is not always storybook despite how our hearts may yearn otherwise.
View all 12 comments. Oct 22, Ana rated it really liked it Shelves: If I am to be saved it is because your love redeems me. The Phantom of the Opera is a novel I've been meaning to read for a long time. If I was forced to choose a favorite musical, I would probably choose The Phantom. First time I saw it was with my mom, almost 10 years ago. I instantly fell in love with the songs. They are incredibly beautiful and have a deeply sad, but hopeful meaning. The Phantom of the Opera is a wonderful tale about tragic love, loneliness, betrayal, forgiveness and redemption. At times heartbreaking, at other times inspiring.
Oh, dear, infuriating girl. You chose the wrong man. Despite her beauty and talent, Christine is an underdeveloped and shallow character. I don't hate her, but I don't love her either. Can you say whiny? I found him annoying and childish. I don't care Raoul. You are an immature scoundrel.
Who is my favourite character? He is a complex and fascinating tragic character. Erik is a brilliant composer forced to hide in the shadows due to his facial deformities. He leads a sinister, lonely existence in the sewers underneath the Paris Opera House. I couldn't help but pity him for his desperate longing. I find him a very sympathetic villain. I could not believe how he survived his childhood. You know what he is doing is wrong, but you can understand where he is coming from.
Let me put it this way- he begins as the villain and ends as the hero. In conclusion, the book is well worth reading. It is well-written and heartbreaking. Let it sweep you off to the bright lights of the Paris Opera. Shall we pity him? Shall we curse him? He asked only to be "some one," like everybody else. But he was too ugly! And he had to hide his genius or use it to play tricks with, when, with an ordinary face, he would have been one of the most distinguished of mankind!
He had a heart that could have held the empire of the world; and, in the end, he had to content himself with a cellar.
Ah, yes, we must needs pity the Opera ghost. View all 72 comments. Jun 18, Madeline rated it it was ok Shelves: This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Before we start off, let me clarify something: The Phantom of the Opera , the show, is a giant, absurd, bombastic display of every bad misconception of theater, and is the main reason Andrew Lloyd Weber is able to fall asleep on a bed made of money every night.
It's not my favorite show, is what I'm saying - in fact, I don't even really like the show, Before we start off, let me clarify something: It's not my favorite show, is what I'm saying - in fact, I don't even really like the show, come to think of it which begs the question of why I read this book in the first place, but whatever.
So, with all that in mind, Madeline Reviews Inc now presents: Like, even more than they are in the show. I got about halfway through the book when I realized, "Wait a minute, was I supposed to be surprised by the revelation that the Phantom and Christine's tutor are the same guy? Haven't we known that from, like, page twenty?
Were Gaston Leroux's readers really that stupid? Christine is still a useless twit, and in this version comes upgraded with zero observation skills and a seriously misguided sense of priorities. When she admits to Raoul after like two months of bullshit that the Phantom scares the hell out of her and she wants to escape him, Raoul makes the very sensible point that maybe she should stop wearing the ring the Phantom gave her. Raoul is even worse. In the show, he's simply a well-meaning schmuck who fails spectacularly at saving Christine every opportunity he gets. In the book, he's a selfish dick.
This is a paraphrased account of an interaction between him and Christine: This is important, because in the book she spends at least two months as the Phantom's prisoner, and all we get is her description, later, of what it was like. Instead of seeing the Phantom through Christine's eyes, where he might have been a more compelling character, we just get to watch Raoul follow her around like a creeper and then listen to Christine give lengthy expositional speeches after events happen.
He's always bursting into tears and begging Christine to love him, and the rest of the time he's so incredibly misguided about his relationship with Christine that it's almost funny. He comes off sounding like one of those perverts on cop shows who insists that he and the ten-year-old locked in his basement actually have a very special and loving relationship, while the cops are just looking at him like, that's nice, man, but your ass is still going to jail.
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Madame Giry, last seen as a cool, commanding ballet mistress, is merely a crazy old woman who works for the Phantom because he deceived her with the most idiotic lie ever. The book also features The Persian, a guy who literally hangs around the Opera and shows up whenever it's thematically necessary. He might as well have been named Deus Ex Machina. Any drama is instantly ruined by his digressions or abrupt scene-changing, and all momentum is lost. When the Phantom kidnaps Christine after her final performance, the story is going along well, everyone's freaking out and trying to find her, and then Leroux pops up.
I bet you guys are wondering how that's going, huh? Let's check in with them quick. Similarly, once Raoul and the Persian have gone after the Phantom and are almost at his lair a journey that takes way, way too long they get locked in his torture chamber which involves torture so stupid I won't even describe it and the plot comes to a damn standstill as Raoul and the Persian spends hours trapped there. It made me actually long for the show, where everything skips along at a fast clip and the worst digressions are five-minute love songs.
Christine gets the Phantom to release her and Raoul after a lengthy imprisonment that, again, we only get to hear about rather than see , not by having a sexy quick makeout session with him, but by crying with him. The Phantom kisses her on the forehead , bursts into tears, and Christine cries with him. This somehow convinces the Phantom that she loves Raoul and that he should let them go, and that's how the Phantom is defeated.
I am in no way joking. In the interest of fairness, the book has two good things going for it: One, Leroux's portrayal of the opera house as a sprawling, complex maze that's a contained city is pretty incredible, and he's at his best when he's describing all the intricacies and hidden secrets of the opera house.
And two, at least in the book, we are never subjected to a performance of Don Juan Triumphant. View all 28 comments. It was first published as a serialization in Le Gaulois from 23 September , to 8 January It was published in volume form in late March by Pierre Lafitte. In Paris in the s, the Palais Garnier opera house is believed to be haunted by an entity known as the Phantom of the Opera, or simply the Opera Ghost.
A stagehand named Joseph Buquet is found hanged and the rope around his neck goes missing. The Vicomte Raoul de Chagny, who was present at the performance, recognizes her as his childhood playmate and recalls his love for her. He attempts to visit her backstage, where he hears a man complimenting her from inside her dressing room.
He investigates the room once Christine leaves, only to find it empty. At Perros-Guirec, Christine meets with Raoul, who confronts her about the voice he heard in her room. Christine tells him she has been tutored by the Angel of Music, whom her father used to tell them about.
When Raoul suggests that she might be the victim of a prank, she storms off. Christine visits her father's grave one night, where a mysterious figure appears and plays the violin for her. Raoul attempts to confront it but is attacked and knocked out in the process. Back at the Palais Garnier, the new managers receive a letter from the Phantom demanding that they allow Christine to perform the lead role of Marguerite in Faust, and that box 5 be left empty for his use, lest they perform in a house with a curse on it.
The managers ignore his demands as a prank, resulting in disastrous consequences: Carlotta ends up croaking like a toad, and the chandelier suddenly drops into the audience, killing a spectator. The Phantom, having abducted Christine from her dressing room, reveals himself as a deformed man called Erik. Erik intends to keep her in his lair with him for a few days, but she causes him to change his plans when she unmasks him and, to the horror of both, beholds his noseless, lipless, sunken-eyed face, which resembles a skull dried up by the centuries, covered in yellowed dead flesh.
Fearing that she will leave him, he decides to keep her with him forever, but when Christine requests release after two weeks, he agrees on the condition that she wear his ring and be faithful to him. On the roof of the opera house, Christine tells Raoul about her abduction and makes Raoul promise to take her away to a place where Erik can never find her, even if she resists. Raoul tells Christine he will act on his promise the next day, to which she agrees. However, Christine sympathizes with Erik and decides to sing for him one last time as a means of saying goodbye.
Unbeknownst to Christine and Raoul, Erik has been watching them and overheard their whole conversation. The following night, the enraged and jealous Erik abducts Christine during a production of Faust and tries to force her to marry him. Raoul is led by a mysterious opera regular known as "The Persian" into Erik's secret lair deep in the bowels of the opera house, but they end up trapped in a mirrored room by Erik, who threatens that unless Christine agrees to marry him, he will kill them and everyone in the Opera House by using explosives.
Christine agrees to marry Erik. Erik initially tries to drown Raoul and the Persian, using the water which would have been used to douse the explosives, but Christine begs and offers to be his "living bride", promising him not to kill herself after becoming his bride, as she had both contemplated and attempted earlier in the book. Erik eventually releases Raoul and the Persian from his torture chamber. When Erik is alone with Christine, he lifts his mask to kiss her on her forehead and is given a kiss back.
Erik reveals that he has never received a kiss, not even from his own mother, nor has been allowed to give one and is overcome with emotion. He and Christine then cry together and their tears "mingle". Erik later says that he has never felt so close to another human being. He allows the Persian and Raoul to escape, though not before making Christine promise that she will visit him on his death day, and return the gold ring he gave her. He also makes the Persian promise that afterward he will go to the newspaper and report his death, as he will die soon and will die "of love".
Indeed, sometime later Christine returns to Erik's lair, buries him somewhere he will never be found by Erik's request and returns the gold ring. Afterward, a local newspaper runs the simple note: Christine and Raoul who finds out that Erik has killed his older brother elope together, never to return. Passages narrated directly by the Persian and the final chapter piece together Erik's life: