ina_pages's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Moderate: Torture, Death, Stalking, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Toxic relationship, and Body horror
Minor: Suicide attempt
seapotatohowisitalrtaken's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Murder, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Kidnapping, Violence, and Torture
Moderate: Blood, Stalking, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, and Sexism
seforana's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Kidnapping, Grief, Confinement, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Suicide attempt, and Suicide
zsabella's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
“poor, unfortunate erik!”
this was not the dry, slow-paced classic that I was expecting! in fact, it works even better when approached as additional reading before viewing any of the theatrical adaptations. what I’m really saying is I’ve got the royal albert hall concert dvd on my shelf and I for one *cannot wait* to cry and watch all 2.5 hours of it for the first time
Graphic: Murder and Toxic relationship
Minor: Death of parent
giulianalb99's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
La verdad es que la trama me ha parecido muy buena pero muchas veces se me ha hecho un poco pesado y lento. Aunque eso no quiere decir que la pluma del escritor es una pasada, para mi gusto le sobran páginas.
La verdad es que hay muy pocos personajes de la historia que me hayan gustado y no he llegado a simpatizar con casi ninguno: Raoul me ha parecido bastante pesado y siento un amor/odio hacia Christine que no sabría ni cómo explicar. También me hubiera gustado que hubieran pasado más cosas en la ópera ya que me ha parecido que ahí no están casi nunca (sólo al principio y al final).
Por los temas que trata, me parece que es un libro que todo el mundo debería leer (aunque no esperéis una historia de romance bonita, porque este libro es básicamente horror y tragedia).
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death, Kidnapping, Torture, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Stalking, Body horror, and Body shaming
Minor: Death of parent and Fire/Fire injury
alicearaujoms's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Death, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Kidnapping, and Murder
mengzhenreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Torture, Death, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Death of parent, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
charity_ix's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Violence and Kidnapping
smithreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Body shaming, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Murder, Stalking, Violence, Death of parent, Body horror, Classism, Grief, Kidnapping, Torture, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Gun violence, and Racism
maeverose's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
My rating is mostly for the unintentional comedy of how ridiculous the book is. I know some parts are supposed to be funny but I think I was laughing at the wrong parts. I also just love the idea of some guy secretly living in an opera house and messing with people. Sadly though I was bored most of the time while reading this. I liked Raoul and Christine well enough (though they were both extremely naive), Erik was very different than I thought he would be (I didn’t know anything about his backstory and I had no idea he’d be so talkative and weird. I thought he’d be more brooding lol). I found it hard to imagine the descriptions of the opera house, especially when they went underground, though that’s likely a fault of the translation.
Speaking of the translation, I don’t know if my edition (paper mill press) is just a bad edition but there were quite a few typos and a lot of things were worded awkwardly, and I don’t think it was just the writing style, it seemed like a bad translation. Maybe I’ll have to do some research and see if there’s a better one.
I really wanted to like this but I think I might just not get along with classics that well. Every time I read a classic I feel like I would like it better if it had been written today. Same time period, story and characters, just a more modern writing style (and less misogyny, racism and ableism… although this story relies so heavily on the ableism I’m not sure how you’d write it without it…). I don’t mind the old language so much but I don’t like the overly dramatic repetitive dialogue that classics often have (this one had a lot of that). I don’t like how repetitive in general classics tend to be. Which is sad because I want to like classics. The stories themselves are sometimes interesting but then the writing and dialogue ruin it for me :/
Spoiler
That ending though… Erik really went to all that trouble… just to break down over a forehead kiss and decide to let Christine marry Raoul after all. THEN DIE. OVER SAID KISS. Dude..Also, I can’t imagine a room of mirrors being that convincing that you’d have to have prior knowledge of what it is to know it’s not actually a forest. YOU’D SEE YOUR OWN REFLECTION. COME ON.
I think this is probably much better experienced via the actual musical rather than the book. I’ve never seen the musical but now I want to.
Graphic: Body shaming, Confinement, Ableism, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Animal death, Misogyny, Death, Torture, Murder, Racial slurs, and Racism
Minor: Xenophobia and Fatphobia
incel behavior, controlling behavior, manipulation