Reading the Classics discussion

This novel is my favorite classic. Has anyone else read it and what did you like about it?

My favorite classic also. It definitely gives more depth to Erik. I know a lot of people that really like the Persian as a character, but I'm not a huge fan. I mean, he's a good character, but I'd rather prefer getting the point of view from Erik. Oh well, that's just how Leroux wanted the book written, and I guess it definitely leaves the Phantom more mysterious.

I agree about Erik. I love the book because of the questions it makes me ask. Should I pity Erik? Does he really love Christine or is it just lust?

Also, the symbolism is very strong, I did an entire Senior Project about Appearance Vs. Reality using this book.

Also, the subtle humor makes me giggle.

I enjoyed the book, with its engaging, investigative narrative style, more as entertainment than as a classic.

In the novel, Christine is not as apparently mindless as she seems to be in the play (which I like for the music, and the irony and double entendre contained therein). Her backstory lends itself to a belief in an Angel of Music which doesn't come out in the play.

On the other hand, I think Raoul is far more juvenile in the novel than he is in the play - go figure.

Outside of the book, the history of the opera house the story is based on is quite fascinating - there really was a lake down in the lower basement. I had always made the erroneous assumption that it was merely a plot device.

I agree with you about Christine and Raoul.

I love the movie, even though it is different from the book. Mainly because Andrew Lloyd Weber did such an amazing job with the music. I think the music goes very well with the feeling of the book. I can almost hear it while I'm reading it.

I would love to visit the opera house that it is based off! My boyfriend is going to France next week and I will be very jealous if he gets to see it! I told him to bring me back a french copy of the novel. :)

I actually only know one other person who has read it, which is quite sad, because it is a fantastic piece of literature! Leroux has written a piece that has depth, intrigue, and even manages to leave the reader with a little bit of mystery.

I love Erik in the novel. The way that he lashed out that those he felt wronged him was genius, innovative, even if it was wrong of him to do.

The novel also gave me a reason to believe that Christine does, in fact, have some sort of a backbone, contrary to what the play insinuates.

The Phantom of the Opera is one of my favorite classics. It's engaging and so much more detailed than the play makes the story out to be. Certain things in the play don't make any sense whatsoever, but in the book they're explained a whole lot more.

I also felt more empathy toward Erik in the book than in the play. His characteristics make so much more sense in the book because his past is actually explained in great detail. Christine does seem a bit more intelligent as well... but I found I disliked Raoul more.

[copied from my review]

I had a real problem with how impotent the protagonists were. Everyone was so useless until he introduces a new hero in the third act. I liked that the potential for the supernatural always lingered and seemed reasonable while still staying grounded in reality. I also liked the characterization of the phantom but I would rather have not had to wait so long to get there. The writing was generally nice and could be very captivating but the resolution felt weak and unearned.

I didn't realize it was actually a book. I thought it was written as a play originally. I will have to add it to my TBR. I love the play and film. The music is incredible!

I am obsessed with this book! I love ERIK! The story was so sad and I still can't understand Christine!!!

I love this. It always make me laugh that Madam Giry is the bumbling old biddy in the books and the persian is the mysterious one, in the ALW version there is no Persian and Giry is the mysterious one.

I agree, Raoul is wet but I suppose he is the idle, spoilt rich kid. I think he and Christine are roughly the same age and that is early 2os at the most.

Thhe Phantom is a lot older, at least in his 40s. There are all the connotations that he is her "father" or at least sent from heaven by him. Madam Valerius doesn't help.

Rick wrote: "I enjoyed the book, with its engaging, investigative narrative style, more as entertainment than as a classic.

In the novel, Christine is not as apparently mindless as she seems to be in the play ..."


Oh yes they pumped it out to build the Opera house and then put it back in:)

I finished it just this afternoon and enjoyed it.

my review

I'm glad you liked it!

Elizabeth, if you want screen adaptations I would go for the movie of the stage show or the Charles Dance version. The others are not nearly so good. Lon Chaney is good, of course but it is black and white and silent so can be a bit hard going.

There are several screen versions but most of them are a bit dodgy.
http://www.amazon.com/Phantom-Opera-D...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Phantom-Opera... ot http://www.amazon.co.uk/Phantom-Opera...

Alexandra wrote: "Elizabeth, if you want screen adaptations I would go for the movie of the stage show or the Charles Dance version. The others are not nearly so good. Lon Chaney is good, of course but it is black a..."

Actually, I don't watch movies. Why? Because I can read and the movie in my mind is always so much better than the one on the screen. I did not picture Lon Chaney while reading, and I surely wouldn't want to watch a talkie with all that opera singing! My comment about film in the review is because I know it has been done numerous times and others don't share my shunning the silver screen.

Fair enough. The only adaptations which come close are the stage show and the Charles Dance version anyway. Most of the others are...dubious.

Frankly, I don't think it's possible to do a film version of this book, but especially not a stage version. Setting is too important, and there are too many of them. How would you do a lake on the stage? How would you show 5 cellars on the stage? How would you show multiple hidden staircases on the stage? And how would you show the grandness of an opera house on the stage? Something tells me so much of this book would be lost on a stage production.

Oh believe me it isn't! The lake is dry ice and candles and a boat, the cellers are levels of staircases and such, staircases which folder out. The stage show is incredible. I think they have changed it now for smaller venues for the tour but the London show and the old tour used to drop the chandelier as well. Trust me when I say if you have the seats just below that it is pretty scary!

I worked on the show for a while and it still looks great:) I do know what you mean though.

Water and dry ice are entirely different. Anyway, I won't be going to any stage production. I did give this 4 stars, but I toyed with 3 stars, because it doesn't rise to the level of literature to which I would normally award a higher rating. Fascinating plot, but I can't say I liked any of the characters, though they were quite well presented.

I think imagination is called for in both reading and stage performances. If you use your imagination to read the book, I don't see why you can't imagine dry ice as water.

You probably can. I don't want to. I don't appreciate going to visual performances that are someone else's interpretation of the written word.

Yeah, that makes sense. I guess I just keep an open mind about it. I don't combine my interpretation and their interpretation. I keep them as two different things I can enjoy separately, of course I do believe mine is better!

One thing you might find interesting - Phantom. It is a good prequel.

I really like this book. I watched the black and white silent version last week and I found it very entertaining despite the obvious drawbacks - however, I was disappointed in how it blanks out Erik's past and the different ending.

Most of the films do to be honest.

This is the first classic that I read because of the movie version of this book. I like this better because it seemed to give the phantom flesh and blood. He is so much alive in the book you can almost feel him.

I only sympathize with Erik to the point of wishing there was more help in that day and age (and still in our own) for those who are certifiably mad, as he clearly is. He is completely mentally unstable, a sadistic, narcissistic madman. You only feel sorry for him because the world has treated him poorly due to his physical appearance, but his choices and the ways he uses people are all his own. Completely unforgivable. I found him utterly creepy and only felt sorry for him that he brought himself to that point.

As for the overall book, I absolutely enjoyed it! The descriptions of the labyrinth below the Opera and the lake and even the torture chamber were fascinating, making the Opera feel like a living, breathing thing. Makes me want to watch the movie again!

I read this book last year, and was surprised at how many variations from the musical and the movie there are. The book was good, but I would take the Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum adaptation any day!

I'm durring waiting to read this book, its on delivery process. But Im enjoy so much the stage age, and the movie playing. and I can sing almost all the song of Phantom of the opera as played in stage or movie, couse I learn opera singing.