"The Phantom Of The Opera" by Gaston Leroux 5/5
I am sure you have heard of that book. The musical is legendary, the character has been used for so many stories, everyone has heard about "The Phantom Of The Opera" - even if it's because of the Animaniacs or the Duck Tales or Sherlock Holmes.
But have you read the book?
Yes? Fine! Did you like it? I guess...
No? Then read it! No matter if you like the musical or not - I love both but many people like only one of them.
Do you like to read on long afternoons or evening, watching the storm, rain or snow on the other side of the window, drinking tea, coffee, hot chocolate or wine and eating bisquits or other treats? Well, I personally do, so that book is just perfect for me.
It is interesting. It shoes happenings (both fact and fiction) from different points of view. Most of the characters are a little silly, yet still lovable. Christine is kind of my idol. The persian is fascinating. And Erik, poor, poor Erik...
I know, I should hate him, but I can't. I have mixed feelings about him in the musical (depending on the actor, mostly), but I mainly like him there. But book Erik... oh my poor, Erik. He is even a bit more evil there - but he is a thousand times more pitiful! I'm not like "Aaaah, Gerard Butler is so smexy, Erik is kewl", not at all (by the way, I can't stand the 2004 movie),. I like him as a character.
Characters: Really good. It's an old novel, so don't expect the trendy, modern [insert random number here] dimensionality, you might be used to. But the characters are not flat at all.
Writing style: Very beautiful. Very rational at some points, pretending it was real. At other points very flowery and poetic.
Lenght: Not a big book, but also not thin. Long enough, but not too long. Between 300 and 400 pages, I think.
Plot: Well, we know most of it right? But it's rather different from the musical and has some unexpected twists. Not many, but they are there.
It will follow you. Some bits of it are actually unforgettable.
And it has some unbelievably lovely quotes. I won't tell them - I don't want to spoiler. And I only have a German copy of it, I don't want to search all of the English quotes on the internet.
My rating:
five stars out of five.
