The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

RATING: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕

Published: September 23, 1909

Publisher: Harper Perennial

Format: audiobook & e-Book

Pages: 360

 

 

---

“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.”

SYNOPSIS:

First published in French as a serial in 1909, The Phantom of the Opera is a riveting story that revolves around the young, Swedish Christine Daaé. 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.

 

 

THOUGHTS:

A tale of mystery, music, love, and horror. Gaston Leroux’s novel is captivating from beginning to end. I can envision the scenes and at one moment it feels like you are there or you wish you are there. I can now see why a lot of adaptations – whether movie or musical – was made for this book. You can see the scenes unfold in your mind like you are watching a movie.

The best thing about this book is the plot. It was well written and all the important loose ends of the story were satisfyingly wrapped up towards the end. Even the pacing would give you the right amount of romance, mystery, suspense, and intrigued while you are reading the book. Plus, I love how the story was written. Often times, the switching of point of views were very confusing or could lessen your interest in the story. But in this book the change in point of view added a more dramatic and mysterious effect in the flow of the story.

Moreover, the more you see the life inside the opera house – not only the performers but also those who do the clerical work and even the managers of the opera – the more that you get invested in the story. And as you get to know the people who work in the opera house, you also get to see the beliefs and fear of the legendary opera ghost and how it was affecting the actions of the people involved in the opera. It probably is the only book where I like every character no matter how big or small they partake in the story.

This book was just perfect. It would play with your emotions and the ending would probably leave you sighing at that sad beautiful tragic ending. (Yup I just made a Taylor Swift song reference there.)

If you have not read this book and you think that the movie or musical is great, then you are missing out on a lot. This book is phenomenal. And it is probably on my favorite books of all-time list. Highly recommend. If you have not read this book please check it out. It will be worth it.

That is all for this review.

Until next time!

Maria❤