A review by alyssalizarraga
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux, Fiction, Classics, by Gaston Leroux
5.0
Now THIS is gothic horror! In a world gilded with music and glamor, lovers Raoul and Christine test the patience and sanity of the Phantom of the Opera, a man dedicated to claiming Christine for his own. Each character experiences their own spiral into dizzying madness during this twisting, desperate journey through the depths of the Paris Opera House…and the lovers’ hearts. Cliché. Sorry.
Finding a copy of the book from the 60s at an antique market one day before seeing the musical on Broadway felt like an irrefutable sign that I needed to read it. While the general auras of the book and the musical are similar, their perspectives and developments are quite different. What the book cannot deliver in visual and symphonic spectacle it more than makes up for in genuine horror and despair in a way that the musical doesn’t or can’t quite commit to. The book was much less forgiving to the Phantom, whose entire character dripped with depravity and wickedness rather than the sensuality and pity evoked by the stage version. The true horror: men who believe they are entitled to anyone who gives them attention and won’t take no for an answer. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to fear every mirror that they look into for the rest of their lives, but also loves witnessing quirked up white boys in love going mad.
Finding a copy of the book from the 60s at an antique market one day before seeing the musical on Broadway felt like an irrefutable sign that I needed to read it. While the general auras of the book and the musical are similar, their perspectives and developments are quite different. What the book cannot deliver in visual and symphonic spectacle it more than makes up for in genuine horror and despair in a way that the musical doesn’t or can’t quite commit to. The book was much less forgiving to the Phantom, whose entire character dripped with depravity and wickedness rather than the sensuality and pity evoked by the stage version. The true horror: men who believe they are entitled to anyone who gives them attention and won’t take no for an answer. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to fear every mirror that they look into for the rest of their lives, but also loves witnessing quirked up white boys in love going mad.