The Phantom of the Opera Review

I was trying to figure out what I wanted to read; it seemed like there was something in all of the books I've recently had that just made me...zone...out. After a time, I downloaded The Phantom of the Opera, and from the first page I knew that I was going to have a good time with it.

The book takes place in the Paris Opera house. I expected a traditional novel, but the story is instead written as if the author is reporting on a case from thirty years in the past, a mystery that involves death, and a supposed "Opera Ghost". Most people are probably familiar with the long standing play that's been on Broadway for ten thousand years, or the movie that was based on the play. I've seen most of the movie, and I've yet to see the play, but from what I know, there are a lot of differences and things that just could not have translated on stage easily.

When I started reading it, I was expecting something with incredibly difficult language or really crazy paragraphs (ex: Hunchback), but it's a very approachable story. It's a bit archaic, but not so much that you have to do a ton of work looking up definitions. Because the book is written as an article of sorts, there are footnotes, but they're not functioning in the digital copy. Maybe in a hard copy the footnotes are actually at the foot of the page.

From the moment I read the description of Christine Daae, I was worried I was running in to another stupid female character, I was pleasantly surprised to find that she had a brain in her head. She's a bit naive, but she didn't have the best education, something that is repeated a few times. The character that I had the biggest issue with was her love interest Raoul. I can't quite remember how he was in the play, but in the book, he thinks that she is cheating, and is most worried over whether she is a victim or a two timing floozy. He bounces back and forth between loving and pitying her to thinking she's spreading her pussy around to the Angel of Music. He even directly asks her guardian at one point "if she is still a good girl" translation: "has she given that cherry to anyone but me". That pissed me off; he really wouldn't have had anything to do with her if she had somehow fucked someone, then again, the characters were young and not the most worldly.

Unlike in the play, where the Opera Ghost is known as the Phantom, and see wearing that weird Africa shaped mask over half his face, the book has someone that has to wear a full face mask. Once when I was in elementary school, I read a child's adaptation of the book; it spoke a bit about the origin of the Opera Ghost, and they gave him a less tragic life. He is an incredibly tragic character. When Christine Daae describes meeting him, and how he was, I cried. I felt such a pain in my heart for what he went through. He wasn't just a creep who could sing that lived in the walls of the opera, he was a brilliant mind that was cursed to have a hideous face. Actually, I'm not sure that hideous is the right word for how he looked; I don't know if this counts as a spoiler (sorry if it is), but the Opera Ghost apparently looked like a living corpse. The only thing attractive about him (besides his talents and brilliants) was his voice. He had an amazing voice, and he treated others kindly, as long as they treated him kindly.

Although he is clearly the antagonist of the story, he's one of the most sympathetic antagonists that I've ever come across. He's batshit, yes, but one can't help but feel for him and his plight. He only wanted love, and that makes me want to cry even whilst typing. I felt a connection to him, as I do many tortured outcast artist characters.

The copy of the book that I have is a free download for Kindle users. Apparently it's the digital version of the original copy. There are little inserts that say a drawing should be there, but the drawing isn't there, a bit of a disappointment, but I lived. There weren't too many words I didn't know, and the ones that didn't have a definition in my dictionary had a definition given to it by the author.

From a little bit of research I just did, the book isn't that popular, and has been out of print before. There are quite a few movie and stage adaptations, but one of the most faithful stars Lon Cheny Sr as the Phantom, and from what I can tell, he has a face rather similar to how the phantom is supposed to have look. The 1925 version is also considered the one that is most true to the book. It's probably available to watch on YouTube or somewhere else online.

All in all, I think this is a wonderful book. It's one that if you're a teacher, I think you could get students in to. One of the most fascinating points of the book, is that the descriptions of the Paris Opera House are accurate, and just seeing some pictures I'm flabbergasted and want to visit. I think someone with a middle school or higher reading level could have fun with this, especially if it's a digital copy where you can look up the definitions of words that you don't know. I really think a lot of people, especially those that like romance novels, tragedies, and somewhat gothic literature will have fun with it. I took me three days of easy reading to get through it, then again, I was distracted by all the stuff on my kindle. I can't give this book anything but an amazing review, it was an amazing novel.