The Phantom of the Opera Book Review

I’m not sure what to think of this book, to be honest. It is an intriguing tale but it lacks the depth and moral questions that most other classics have. It is a story of darkness, fear, love and manipulation. I both love it and hate it.

(Just a note, this whole review is filled with spoilers. Proceed with caution.)

Just before Christine Daae’s father died, he told her that he would send her the Angel of Music who would teach her to sing. When a mysterious voice begins coaching her on her singing, she believes it is the messenger from heaven that she’s so long awaited. She has no idea the darkness that lies ahead.

The Characters

*sighs* I disliked almost everyone in the story. Raoul is a selfish, weeping little man, barely more than a boy. Every decision he makes is based off of his shifting emotions. He has very little faith in Christine’s love for him. One minute he is in passions of love for her, the next he is hoping that she’ll die because he thinks she loves the Phantom instead of him. He is very jealous and controlling.

“You are frightened…but do you love me? If Erik were good looking, would you love me, Christine?”

Did I mention how whiny he is? He is constantly bursting into tears, constantly falling apart, unable to make rational decisions or think clearly. I found it hilarious how many times he fainted. XD

The viscount put his head under his hands and wept.

ALSO

Raoul, behind the curtain of his hands that veiled his boyish tears, thought only of the letter which he received on his return to Paris[.]

AND AGAIN

And he burst into tears.

MORE

Then, worn out, beaten, empty-brained, he sat down on the chair which Christine had just left. Like her, he let his head fall into his hands. When he raised it, the tears were streaming down his young cheeks, real, heavy tears like those which jealous children shed, tears that wept for a sorrow which was in no way fanciful, but which is common to all the lovers on earth and which he expressed aloud:

“Who is this Erik?”

I didn’t love Christine either. She was shallow (theme of this book), uninteresting and unable to think for herself. I think the most interesting part about her is how much she pities and cares for the Phantom while hating and fearing him at the same time. At first she cares for him because she thinks that he is the Angle of Music. But once she sees his face, his hideous face, she decides that she can’t possibly love him.

“Christine! Christine! Something tells me that we are wrong to wait till tomorrow evening and that we ought to fly at once.”

“I tell you that, if he does not hear me sing tomorrow, it will cause him infinite pain.”

“It is difficult not to cause him pain and yet to escape from him for good.”

“You are right in that, Raoul, for certainly he will die of my flight.” And she added in a dull voice. “But then it counts both ways…for we risk his killing us.”

Erik (the Phantom)…he is an interesting character for sure. I liked him a lot better in the movie because there you got to see his backstory. That reminded me a lot of Frankenstein’s monster – he was hated and despised because of how he looked. The world showed him no pity, no love, no care and because of that he was driven to the darkness. However, in the book, it isn’t really like that. Yes, he was despised. His own parents didn’t want him. But he was born cruel, it seems.

“My mother, daroga, my poor, unhappy mother would never…let me kiss her…she used to run away…and throw me my mask!”

He became a monster. A complete and horrible monster who delighted in death and cruelty. He created elaborate rooms with various tortures to kill people. He loved darkness and death and destruction. Throughout the novel, he kills several people and shows no remorse for it. He enjoys it.

He is incredibly manipulative and cruel. He kidnaps Christine and makes her to stay in the darkness with him for weeks at a time. In the end he forces her to choose between the death of herself, her lover and everyone in the opera, or marriage to him. He took her mind and made her attached to him for most of the book – she had several opportunities to run away and leave him for good, but she never took them because she had pity on Erik and didn’t want to hurt him.

With Frankenstein’s creature, you feel a lot of pity and understanding for him. Not so with Erik. He is a despicable character. However, at the end, his final speech before he dies…I love it so much and it gives one a lot of pity for the phantom.

“I felt her tears flow on my forehead…on mine, mine! They were soft…they were sweet! They trickled under my mask…they mingled with my tears in my eyes…yes…they flowed between my lips…Listen, daroga, listen to what I did…I tore off my mask so as not to lose one of her tears…and she did not run away! And she did not die! She remained alive, weeping over me, with me. We cried together! I have tasted all the happiness the world can offer!”

There were only three characters I liked. Richard and Moncharmin: they were the new managers of the opera. They are comical and hilarious in their disbelief of the Opera Ghost and how they go out of their way to prove that he doesn’t exist. They had me in stitches! I loved the scene where they are trying to figure out how the Phantom managed to steal their money right from under their noses.

“Look here, I’m thinking of this, I’M THINKING OF WHAT I MIGHT THINK if, like last time, after spending the evening alone with you, you brought me home and if, at the moment of parting, I perceive that twenty-thousand francs had disappeared from my coat pocket…like last time.”

“And what might you think?” asked Moncharmin, crimson with rage.

“I might think that, as you hadn’t left me by a foot’s breadth and as, by your own wish, you were the only one to approach me, like last time, I might think that, if that twenty-thousand francs was no longer in my pocket, it stood a very good chance of being in yours!”

The other character that I enjoyed was the Persian. It was interesting to hear several chapters from his point of view and it was also interesting to see his relationship to Erik and the strange friendship that existed between them (STILL ERIK ALMOST KILLED HIM AND WOULD HAVE IF CHRISTINE HADN’T STOPPED HIM). He is the only masculine man in the story and one of the only characters with a shred of bravery.

The Story

The story itself was very engaging. It moved quickly and kept my attention well. This is my second time reading it and I enjoyed it both times. The descriptions of everything are clear and conscience.

The thing that bothered me, as mentioned before, was the lack of a moral. Should every book have one? In my personal opinion, yes. If I’m going to read something, I want to gain from it. I’ve been wracking my brain, trying to find some scrap of moral in this story. Don’t fall in love with random voices in the mirror? Don’t hate people based off of their physical appearance or they’ll turn into monsters and go around murdering? Don’t become managers of an opera? All in all, it is a shallow story that lacks depth. It is, however, an interesting tale and if you want a glimpse into a mind of evil and manipulation, enjoy.

CW: death, murder, suicide attempt, manipulation, (wimpy characters, lol)