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A review by cjgwilliams
The Phantom of Manhattan by Frederick Forsyth
1.0
I was completely disappointed by this book. I'm in love with the original and the musical so I was super excited to read this. I was absolutely disappointed. I thought it was not true to the characters I loved from the book and the musical. The original leads you to believe that Christine, traumatized by everything that happened, is happy to marry Raoul and retire to quiet life in the country.
This book turns that all on its head. I absolutely hated the thought that Raoul became some bitter man who couldn't have kids (where did THAT come from?). I also really super hated that their son was actually the Phantom's son. Only in the original book is that even possible in the timeline. In the musical, of which this is supposedly the sequel, that would be utterly impossible! And, please explain to me how the son, having lived his entire life believing Raoul is his father, will simply abandon him after Christine's death and stay with the Phantom, whom he's only met for, like, five minutes?!?!
Oh and don't get me stared on Christine's death, really.
Don't get me wrong, I love the idea that Erik has a happy ending but this is just not it! Erik, as tragically wonderful a character as he is, is deeply flawed. He's and obsessive stalker who is willing to commit murder to have what he wanted. How could Christine have loved and pined for that for nearly 20 years? Really?
This book turns that all on its head. I absolutely hated the thought that Raoul became some bitter man who couldn't have kids (where did THAT come from?). I also really super hated that their son was actually the Phantom's son. Only in the original book is that even possible in the timeline. In the musical, of which this is supposedly the sequel, that would be utterly impossible! And, please explain to me how the son, having lived his entire life believing Raoul is his father, will simply abandon him after Christine's death and stay with the Phantom, whom he's only met for, like, five minutes?!?!
Oh and don't get me stared on Christine's death, really.
Don't get me wrong, I love the idea that Erik has a happy ending but this is just not it! Erik, as tragically wonderful a character as he is, is deeply flawed. He's and obsessive stalker who is willing to commit murder to have what he wanted. How could Christine have loved and pined for that for nearly 20 years? Really?