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Summary: "Everything that is underground belongs to him!"
Review: Wow--is this novel for real? It reads like a 20's silent movie, yet it hooks you in and captures your imagination right from the start. You may think you know the story from the 90's musical and movie versions, but you don't really Know it until you read the original. This is the French contribution to the Gothic Novels of the late 19th century: Bram Stoker's Dracula, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and R.L. Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde--the British triumvirate of Horror...(Poe and De Maupassant wrote short stories.) PHANTOM represents the epitome of Theatre of the Macabre, for this story is actually set in a theatre--the Paris Opera in fact. A Dark Read which will keep you guessing; are you bold enough to meet him in his own territory, to challenge his will, or clever enough to outwit the Phantom of the Opera? END
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Summary: What a Masterpiece!
Review: This book is my favorite in the whole world. Gaston really did a wonderfull job. I have seen the play but I must say I liked the book much better. He discribes the sceens very well and once you start to read you just can't put the book down. I really hope that one day somebody will make a movie based completly on the book. I hope other poeple read this book and enjoy it just as much as I did. I loved it!!
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Summary: touched by an angel
Review: Powerful... full impact, if it weren't for Susan Kay's PHANTOM, I would have thought this book to be one of the best. Leroux isn't much of a romantic man to say the least-- he wrote this book like some cop report, but damn, he wrote it well. The torture chambers were a bit difficult to understand, but the last few pages brings most to tears ((sadly, i didn't weep, my insensitivity, i guess)). Those who've see the music Phantom of the Opera would most definitely want to read this. Read Susan Kay's PHANTOM, first . It's an Erik you've never know.
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Summary: I have read this book to many times to keep count
Review: What can I say? This book captivated me from the first page. I love this book for many different reasons one is I can relate to the characters and their problems. It is very entertaining and filled with lots of excitement. My only wish is more people would read it so they wont miss this classic that with long out live all of use!!!
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Summary: Suspense not to be missed
Review: One of the best books I have ever read. I could not put the book down once I started it. Leroux is a master at setting the mood for the entire novel from the very first chapter and the story just flows with someof the best memorable characters of all time. The Phantom is truly one of the great characters in all of literature with something that we all can relate too. Just an excellent story that anyone can pick up and read with a depth behind it that you will never forget.
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Summary: The Most Interesting Horror Novel I've Ever Read
Review: "The Phantom of the Opera" is set in the Paris Opera House in the 1800's. The manager has just retired and two other gentlemen have taken his place. Little do they know that they are up against a musical genius most commonly known as the Opera Ghost. Two lovers (Vicomte Raoul de Chagny and Christine Daae) are split apart when strange events begin taking place at the Opera House. The French author Gaston Leroux has done a fantastic job of putting elements of romance, mystery, horror, drama, and adventure into his story, producing a brilliant novel that has lasted many years and will be read over and over by book-lovers. The characters are well-written, especially those of the mysterious Persian and the Phantom himself. There is also the original silent film with Lon Chaney as the Phantom, many other films, some plays, and the Tony-award winning Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. The original film and the musical are the ones that keep the same basic story, but for the ultimate "Phantom" experience, turn to the Gaston Leroux classic that started it all: "The Phantom of the Opera."
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Summary: A Horror Classic and a Phantom Fan Must Read!
Review: It is said that author Gaston Leroux received many of his story ideas in dreams and would awake in the dead of night to capture his ideas on paper before they were lost. If the Phantom came to him in such a fashion then it must have been a dreadful nightmare! Leroux did study every inch of the Paris opera house himself, and even came upon the secret lake which really exists and is strewn with bones from victims of the Paris seige.
Leroux's painstaking research and fantastic imagination produced a horror classic that will never be equaled. It is a tale of timeless themes - true love vs. possessive love, passion, revenge and intrigue.
If you are fan of the movie or the stage play do not look for the more tragic, tortured Phantom of those productions. Leroux's "Eric" is a deliberately cruel and twisted genius who hides out in the labyrinth below the opera house and tortures or kills those who get too close to his secrets. Before he ever set up shop in the bowels of the opera he used to kill for sport and was feared for his gruesome torture methods.
Nor is Leroux's phantom merely a disfigured man who can hide his facial flaws with half a mask. The "monster" in the novel is so grotesque that stage and cinema recreations seem tame in comparison. One wonders how Christine dared approach a man who "smelled like death," had cold and bony hands and whose skin was falling off his face. Leroux's Phantom is a putrid, walking corpse who sleeps every night in a coffin lest he forget his own mortality.
In short, the novel and the productions it spawned must be treated as separate masterpieces and judged in their own right.
Some have faulted Leroux for getting bogged down in details while telling the story, but this fits the genre he chose for the novel. He did not intend for it to be a mere retelling of a ghost story. Rather, he wanted to include as many "firsthand accounts" and factual details as possible to lend that much more credibility to the story. If anything, the pauses and interludes only add to the suspense, and one must allow for the fact that such a narrative was popular in Leroux's time. His audience was not used to the quick, flashing images of television or film. They appreciated the painstaking details and had the necessary patience to come upon each new discovery with renewed thrills.
It is unfair to compare the novel to the movies or stage productions. The novel inspired everything that has come since and contains many elements that have been lost or changed in order to suit different audiences.
Why did this novel set our imaginations on fire? Quite simply, it's not just a fantastic horror story, it's also fantastically REAL. Gaston Leroux experienced the terrible darkness and haunted halls of the opera house for himself. And perhaps he even met the terrible Phantom in one of his famous dreams. It's a story he had to put to paper, and one the world will apparently never forget.
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Summary: Ah mon coeur!
Review: Well well well what can I say.
First off, among my favorite authors are Vladimir Nabokov and Fyodor Dotoeskovsky,and the poet Percy Shelley, just to give you an idea.
Is Leroux's "Fantôme" comparable in literary merit and solidity to the aforementioned author's books in any way? Hardly.
Yes, Christine (the heroine) is rather stereotypical, there are some major timing flaws (see if you can spot them!) and all that. There are no real deep poignant philosophical points made in the novel that really make you sit, take a deep breath, and reflect and think of life in an altered way (as with Dotoevsky or some of the great philosophical thinkers of our time...sigh). And I can see how this story might just get written off as some bouncy, cartoony, melodramatic failed-mystery-novel smut written by some mystery-writing gambling journalist.
So am I trying to defend the novel as a "classic" in any of that sense? No.
...but having said all of that, this fact remains true: I still say (after over 7 years) that this is my favorite book, and is the one that has had the greatest impact on me.
I've gone back to this book countless times, revisited it endlessly. My fascination and affinity for this story had never ceased to exist. The obvious main pull of the story is the title character, or Erik. I won't go into details as to why, many of the other reviews here do that already. There is just something about this character Leroux put together that has struck such a large chord with many, and certainly the largest of chords within me. I never tire of "going back" "to" Erik, or the book.
There are many things to look at in the novel, and many things that can be thought out and interpreted different ways. Many things that can be chewed over and returned to time and again. The basic story obviously is timeless, but Leroux's original character of Erik is truly most intriuging. The ultimate compassion evoked for the character is rather singular, in my opinion. Erik is not made to be easily likeable, and we are not even shown that much of him, yet there is some powerful effect the character leaves on readers, and an utterly fascinating (in my eye) pathetic side to this tortured and almost crazed creation that has not been met by any other character I've encountered.
So...do not go in to read it expecting a literary masterpiece. But I - though I acknowledge the novel's many shortcomings in comparison with other great novels - would recommend reading it...there is something uniquely and endlessly special about this French novel, and that character of Erik. Unexplainable in a way, but it is worth a read! And since it is a fairly easy read, I would recommend reading it at least twice to have some of the more hinted at character development really sink in that might have been missed on a first quick reading.
And yes, try to find a more complete translation, like Lowell Bair's. There are some key paragraphs and insights
that the more common English translation leaves out. Of course...there is no way to truly experience the novel as intended unless read in its original language.
(ps...no need to go read Susan Kay's "Phantom" as some reviewers have suggested. It is fairly creative but is mostly just overrated fanficiton.)
After all, it's true...he is not an angel, nor a spirit, nor a ghost...he is Erik!
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Summary: It could been SO much better
Review: The original novel "The Phantom Of The Opera" by Gaston Leroux is a must-read for any "Phantom Of The Opera" fan (it inspired the classic 1925 silent film version starring Lon Chaney (aka "The Man Of A Thousand Faces" for his ability to transform himself through make-up, employing extremely painful devices for added effectiveness) [see my review below], the immensely popular musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and the big-screen version that's in theaters now [see my review on it] starring Gerard Butler, Emmy Rossum, Patrick Wilson, Miranda Richardson and Minnie Driver). This book is so good I finished it in five days. Yes, the narrative can be a little slow and confusing at times, but it's never boring. I relate this novel more to the 1925 silent version, but that doesn't make the 2004 movie version any less better than I've said so. In fact, it's the best movie version of the tale. I prefer it to the book, though.
THE 1925 SILENT FILM VERSION "THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA"
This first silver screen rendering of the classic novel by Gaston Leroux is faithful to the book and Lon Chaney is excellent as The Phantom, oozing pure menace as he tries to force Christine Daae, a young opera singer, to fall in love with him. He doesn't appear until 33 minutes into the film, however, which makes it very suspenseful. He was one of the greatest actors that ever graced the silver screen (second only to Sir Laurence Olivier, THE greatest Shakesperean actor the world has ever known, with Kenneth Branagh [see my reviews of their versions of "Hamlet" and Branagh's "Much Ado About Nothing" for more information]). The book is rated PG for brief language and the movie is Not Rated.
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Summary: Translation please?
Review: Just so no one throws anything at me, first I would like to say that Leroux's "Phantom" is absolutely fabulous. That said this translation is terrible compared to a couple of others out there. The original translation took place many decades ago, back when it was ok to change the original author's meaning to suit the translator. Much of the wonderful characterization and beautiful language were lost due to this problem. If you liked this novel or even if you didn't, I would like to recommend reading the translation by Lowell Bair instead. He seems to retain much more of the original author's meaning.
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