Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux, Fiction, Classics by Gaston Leroux

12 reviews

freddikb's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

 

My only real knowledge of this story has been from the movie version with Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum (2004). I fell in love with the costumes and the tragic love story of the phantom, Erik. I was so excited to read this. My final thoughts, after the last page has been read, are not what I expected them to be….

Going into this story I had, I’ll admit, already my own thoughts based on the 2004 movie. I eventually learned that the movie and the book have differing takes on the story, on the way the relationships are portrayed. Or perhaps my eyes have become clearer to red flags?

My initial thought about the book was- this story portrays a toxic relationship between an emotionally abused man and a very naive/immature girl. Yes, that is what I said. I know there will be haters. “The Phantom of the Opera” is such a popular ‘love story’ for the ages and I am pulling out all the red flags. A man who was unloved by his family and emotionally traumatized by everyone, and never received the support and help he needed to work through that, the result- Erik became fixated on a girl, stalked her, became jealous of her friends, kidnapped her and held her in confinement. He threatens her friends, and all of these actions in the name of “love”. And Christine, she plays both guys, using their emotions and playing them. No. Just, no. So, so many red flags in this story. It was such a disappointment, but also helped me see that the movie is also not the best for me to watch.

Girls, if a guy says he loves you but then threatens, stalks, kidnaps, it is not love. I repeat- that is not love.

*What I have expressed are entirely my own thoughts. I was not compensated in any monetary way.* 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Gore, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Death, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Manipulation

bookwyrmknits's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• 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

2.75

I was more-or-less familiar with the plot before reading this book, since I've seen Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera. However, comparing the musical to the original book is like comparing the movie adaptations of Dracula to their source material. You can see the similarities, but the adaptations better suit a modern audience. I'm glad I read this original book, since it is a classic and I'd been curious how closely the musical stuck to the original text, but I don't think I'll need to read it again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming and Kidnapping

Moderate: Confinement and Toxic relationship

Minor: Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

hauntedantiqueshop's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

all could have been avoided if ableism wasn’t so prevalent 🙄 above all else, I am an Erik apologist. I love that problematic Angel of Music

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Gaslighting

exclipse's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Gun violence, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

wuthrinheights's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I've watched the musical years back, so I thought I would know how the story would go but the more I read, the more I realised how different they were. The book is much, much better than the play (although the music score was also brilliant).

I was pleasantly surprised to learn how fast paced the book was, and it was captivating from the start. It only took me more or less 6 hours to read it, and by the last 100 pages or so, I had the musical soundtracks to accompany me. 

It was spooky, intoxicating, yet somehow humorous at times. Occasionally I would find myself to snicker or giggle at what the character said or did. I did not have a favourite character exactly, but I enjoyed reading the storyline; it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time.

Love was a huge theme of the book. In the end, people just want to be loved.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

giulianalb99's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• 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

Tenía bastantes ganas de leer este libro ya que me propuse a principios de año leer unos cuantos clásicos.
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).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Stalking, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting

Minor: Death of parent and Fire/Fire injury

linnylionheart's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Torture, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Bullying, Mental illness, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Classism

Minor: Child abuse, Misogyny, Blood, and Death of parent

smithreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny informative reflective tense medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, and Suicide attempt

maeverose's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

Whelp. That sure was a book.

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 :/

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, and Murder

Minor: Fatphobia and Xenophobia

incel behavior, controlling behavior, manipulation

natgoe's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death