The Phantom of the Opera (French: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) is a novel by French author Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serial in Le Gaulois from 23 September 1909 to 8 January 1910, and was released in volume form in late March 1910 by Pierre Lafitte. The novel is partly inspired by historical events at the Paris Opera during the nineteenth century, and by an apocryphal tale concerning the use of a former ballet pupil's skeleton in Carl Maria von Weber's 1841 production of Der Freischütz. It has been successfully adapted into various stage and film adaptations, most notable of which are the 1925 film depiction featuring Lon Chaney, and Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical.
Review of 'The Phantom of the Opera' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
I have to admit that I expected way more from this book. As I love the musical by Lord Lloyd-Webber a lot, I thought I had to read the original as well because I expected it to be even better than the adaption. Unfortunately I was disappointed by far. The idea of writing it as a journalists report of the story of the Opera ghost is really nice but I really didn’t like the formulations. It seemed to be too short sentences somehow and I expected more thrill in general. I will also blame myself for not practicing French more and reading the English translation instead.
Review of 'The Phantom of the Opera' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Having never seen a movie or stage version of this story, the plot was new to me. It's an interesting story, and the older writing style is intriguing. I wasn't expecting the opera ghost to be, for the most part, so evil.
Review of 'The Phantom of the Opera' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
It's been a long time since I last read this, and figured for the Halloween season, why not revisit it now (2019), though this time I listened to an audio version. I got the book once upon a time because I discovered Andrew Lloyd Webber's version, which I love, but of course wanted to read the original book. I think I liked it more back then (and I'm fairly certain I might have read it before I was able to see the movie/stage version).
First of all, I'm guessing there might be many audio versions of this, so no one narrator, but I wasn't totally thrilled with him. I certainly do not expect someone to do many different voices for many characters or something, but just not so monotone like.
The story itself - even back then, I kept thinking how so many of these characters felt childish. Yeah, they …
It's been a long time since I last read this, and figured for the Halloween season, why not revisit it now (2019), though this time I listened to an audio version. I got the book once upon a time because I discovered Andrew Lloyd Webber's version, which I love, but of course wanted to read the original book. I think I liked it more back then (and I'm fairly certain I might have read it before I was able to see the movie/stage version).
First of all, I'm guessing there might be many audio versions of this, so no one narrator, but I wasn't totally thrilled with him. I certainly do not expect someone to do many different voices for many characters or something, but just not so monotone like.
The story itself - even back then, I kept thinking how so many of these characters felt childish. Yeah, they still are - and hearing it can make them more so, particularly Raoul. I did like once again all the familiar-ness of the story, such as hearing the phrases "angel of music" and "keep your hand at the level of your eyes", and the characters we know of. But of course, there are other things in the book that are not on stage - such as Raoul has a brother, the Persian/Daroga, Carlotta is mentioned but not a huge presence in the story. For me, this is one of those cases where the movie (or musical here) is better than the book. To me ALW basically fixes the story, makes more of the characters ones you can take seriously, particularly Raoul. Perhaps the stage makes the Phantom too human, less ghostly than the book does since the book pushes the "O.G., Opera Ghost" far more, but then in the end, he is just that in name only.
Review of 'The Phantom of the Opera' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I could not consider myself a 'Phantom Fan' until I read the original novel. Unfortunately I would have to say that my experience in reading the novel was a bit 'disappointing'. I suppose that after seeing numerous movie adaptations and the broadway musical version, I am spoiled by the theatrics and already have a vivid picture of the story's events. It was a good book and I'm sure it would have had a greater impact on me had I not seen the movies and stage versions before reading this.
