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Reader discussion: The Phantom of the Opera
Public reader discussion about The Phantom of the Opera in the WeRead Catalog by Gaston Leroux.
I like Gaston Leroux's "The Phantom of the Opera".
By Thunder-Justly29
I just wanted to read this book. Nothing more than that.
In the story, Raoul runs into Kristina at the opera house, even though he hasn’t seen her in years, and he’s really hoping to meet her. But when he shows up, she’s talking to this “Angel” — or maybe it’s the Phantom of the Opera, terrorizing the place.
If you’ve seen the musical, you probably know it mostly focuses on Kristina and the Phantom. This book is different though. The Phantom is basically still a mystery to you as you read, and the author keeps the suspense going pretty well. Still, a few things don’t fully click for me. Like… why would the usher already know the Ghost? And what’s with the weird mystical powers?
About the Phantom himself: I can’t stand him. The book tries to get you to feel bad for him at the end, but honestly he’s awful the whole time. He plays mind games with Kristina by showing up as an “Angel,” he kills people, tries to force her into becoming his wife, threatens Raoul at the end, and then after Kristina finally takes off his mask he freaks out and pulls her hair because he’s angry. I get that the mask thing matters to him, but come on. And he even makes some kind of torture device. The only decent side I can see is that he actually loves Kristina (at least in his own messed up way) and he sings amazingly. Other than that, he’s a creep inside and out. Raoul isn’t some saint, but he’s still better than the Phantom.
The writing style is interesting, too. It’s told like a documentary — like everything already happened and the author is putting it back together for you. I did like one moment where the author zooms in on this tiny, accidental voice crack by a singer and makes it sound dramatic, even though it’s basically just a second. What I didn’t like: there are way too many exclamation marks. Maybe it’s just a French thing, but it felt like everyone was yelling.
Overall though, I did like the book. It was intense, and the “documentary” vibe kept it pretty engaging.
Is there a version of The phantom of the opera that is not musical?
By Hidden-Cougar
Honestly, I’m weirdly picky about musicals. I’m fine with movies that mix songs and actual dialogue (like Mamma Mia or the older Barbie movies), but if there’s basically no dialogue and the actors sing through everything (like Les Mis 2012 or Phantom of the Opera 2004), I just can’t get into it. I know that sounds odd, but it feels like it drags instead of moving faster, and some of the “dialogue” ends up feeling a little goofy to me.
Still, I really like the original Phantom book, and I like the whole dark gothic mystery vibe this movie seems like it’ll have. Does anyone know if there’s a film or a show that sticks closer to that mood from the book?
10 Nights of Halloween #10: “Our lives are one masked ball.”― Gaston Leroux, The Phantom of the Opera [1080 x 1080]
By Narrow_Horse50
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What are your thoughts on The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux?
By zenithValley
I just started going through some of the “classic” free books on Amazon and saw that The Phantom of the Opera is there. If anyone’s read it, what’d you think? Is it actually good on its own, or is it mostly famous because of the later musical? So far I’ve read (or gotten into) Jekyll and Hyde, Monte Cristo, and some of The Scarlet Pimpernel—so I’m curious if Phantom holds up compared to those.
Phantom of the Opera is the timeless classic of two edgelords simping over the same streamer who lives for likes [spoilers]
By marten-bright
Happy Spooktober!
So yeah, *The Phantom of the Opera* by Gaston Leroux—this is one of those “classic” stories that’s been turned into a ton of movies and stage productions forever. Basically, the “original” Opera Ghost is causing mostly harmless chaos in the Paris Opera House, messing with the new managers, being creepy, doing spooky pranks… until he locks in on Christine.
Christine is like the young understudy for the big star, Carlotta. One night she’s gotta step in, and suddenly she’s amazing—like, sings better than everyone. And it turns out she’s been getting voice help from the OG himself (the one and only Erik), who lives in the basement. Of course he does.
Raoul ends up being “important” because he’s tied to some big shot title, and he also manages to get Christine’s scarf back from the ocean. Then he shows up to her dressing room and she doesn’t recognize him, so he basically introduces himself with this whole dramatic thing like he’s the “little boy” who went into the sea for her scarf. And everyone acts like it’s adorable, and she’s just like… no, go away, she needs time alone (with the OG, her platinum-level patron).
After that, it turns into Raoul trying to convince Christine to choose him because he rescued the scarf once, while OG is basically threatening the whole world if Christine doesn’t pick him. And Christine keeps picking whichever guy is most recently professing love for her. Which is… a choice.
Honestly, I don’t think the story lasts just because it’s “romantic horror” or whatever. It sticks around because it’s really about two desperate men doing extreme stuff to win over a pretty girl they barely understand—one is loaded and one is intense and ugly and living in the basement, with violence on the table. And unfortunately, that kind of desperation feels too familiar.
P.S. Also, the book has some casual racism that really messes with the vibe for me, including a “foreign-sounding” punjab lasso thing (like, Leroux basically invents the term to make it sound more exotic).
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
By tender-badger
My copy’s pretty banged up since I picked it up second-hand, but the book itself is still amazing. I like how it’s written like you’re seeing everything through a journalist or detective’s eyes. I only knew it from the movie and stage versions before, so I wasn’t expecting it to be more mystery/detective than horror or that dark romance thing people usually associate it with.
I really don’t know what else to say—it's a classic. Give it a read!
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
By SwiftCell2965
The Phantom of the Opera is one of those super well-known titles, and there are so many versions of it in plays and movies. I’m really partial to the 1925 film with Lon Chaney. To me, the Phantom is basically a guy who gets judged on his looks his whole life because he’s ugly, but he’s also got this amazing musical genius and he’s just desperate to be loved for what he can do.
Erik’s voice is incredible—he really feels like Christine’s “Angel of Music.” At first he comes off as this terrifying monster who abducts Christine Daaé, but later you start seeing the human side. He’s brilliant, but he has to keep himself hidden and rely on all sorts of tricks to use his talent, all because he’s disfigured and deformed. The opera is his whole world, and he has control over it. Since he’s hurt and scarred, he stays tucked away in the back of the opera house, kind of unraveling—going back and forth between being scary and being oddly fascinating. It’s like he never just gets the love he wants, and you can feel that turning into obsessive passion and this really unhealthy jealousy toward Christine.
This book makes it pretty clear what happens when someone doesn’t have love, and how it messes with their choices. And yeah, unlike Gwynplaine in The Man Who Laughs, who at least had love returned by Dea, Erik is more like Quasimodo—alone, stuck in his own head.
The Angel of The Opera or The Phantom of Manhattan?
By Jar
I’m kind of at the point where I’m just binging POTO retellings, good or bad—I’m mainly doing it for fun 😂
Next up on my “have to pick” list is either *Angel of the Opera* (the Holmes x POTO crossover by Sam Siciliano) or *Phantom of Manhatten*, which I think is basically the book version vibe of *Love Never Dies*.
I’ve seen some not-great reviews for both, so yeah, I’m not really expecting quality. I just want something entertaining.
But I can’t exactly “get both,” because I buy my books physically and I try to stick to one purchase per paycheck. So I’m making this a real decision.
Can I get your input? Which one should I grab?
details on the first edition of the phantom of the opera
By jardistant
Hi everyone,
I’m a Belgian student and I’m working on an essay about first editions. I need to find a picture of the first page of the first English edition of *The Phantom of the Opera* by Gaston Leroux (1910), and I also need the book block dimensions (width x height). By “first page,” I mean the first page where the actual story starts.
I’ve looked online and in libraries, but I can’t find anything at all, so I’m really hoping someone here might know where to get it.
Thanks in advance!
A book about a ghost at a theater that falls in love with one of the woman actresses.
By sharpRough1645
I read it (and also watched the movie) in chorus class back when I was in middle school. I’m pretty sure it was about a ghost who basically got ignored as a kid because he was deformed. He kept his face covered with a mask.
There’s one part I still remember where people ended up stuck in some kind of mirror maze in a basement that kept getting hotter, and it felt like it cooked a few of them alive.
Edit: Okay, I think I figured it out—the book was *Phantom of the Opera*.
The Phantom of the Opera (1987) - Animated adaptation of the Gaston Leroux book.
By midnight-lynx47
Man, the late ’80s/early ’90s felt like nonstop Phantom adaptations, all trying to cash in on the musical’s popularity. It was kinda like, “Here, have a Phantom… and you too… and you…” lol
[Spoilers] The Phantom of the Opera just dissappointed me...
By plasmaolive8
I went into this with pretty high expectations. I was honestly expecting something more romance-y, but it turned out to be totally different. That part didn’t even bother me as much as other things did. I keep wondering if it was the translation I read (it might’ve been bad), or maybe I just missed the point, but I’m still open to the idea that I’m wrong.
At the beginning I was really into it. The mystery was handled well, and I liked how the opera stuff was shown—especially the way everyone reacted to the events.
Then I started paying more attention to Raoul and… he just got on my nerves. He’s supposed to be shy, has “fair skin” (sorry, I read it in another language so the details might be off), and even brave, but after that it feels like his whole personality is basically just chasing Christine. He mostly cried, screamed, and didn’t do much, at least not in a way that worked for me.
Christine was interesting at first too. She felt strong and kind of complex. But around halfway through, all that potential just disappeared for me. She turned into this trembling, naive kid.
I ended up caring way more about the side characters—like Giry and the Persian. Their interactions felt more natural than what Raoul and Daae had going on.
I do like Erik, but he wasn’t explored as much as I wanted, and once he finally gets revealed I felt like there was less of him than there should’ve been.
The parts about the music and his singing were amazing, and I liked the descriptions of the underground areas. But I was also disappointed by the big “he moves along the walls” reveal, because I’d already assumed something like that would be the case.
So yeah—what did you all think? Did I completely misunderstand it? Should I read it again and give it another shot? And how did you see the characters?
The Story of the Phantom - a Phantom of the Opera-inspired song from the Goosebumps musical. Just discovered this and can't stop listening to it.
By rainAmber1995
Just to clear up the names in case anyone’s wondering: the Goosebumps one this is based on (“Phantom of the Auditorium”) has the kids putting on a play called “The Phantom,” but it’s its own version—same general vibe, but the details are different and everyone’s name gets changed (Christine → Esmerlada, and Roaul → Eric). Also, in that book there’s nothing saying “Phantom of the Opera” is a real musical/book in that universe, so I’m guessing they didn’t want to step on copyright issues or something.
But in the musical universe, they straight-up say the play “The Phantom” is an adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera. And they did change Christine’s name, but Raoul stays Raoul, which is kind of weird compared to how the other one handled it.
Phantom of the Opera isn't talked about enough
By meadowverse1998
I basically tore through this book over the last few days. I grabbed it because I’m going to see the musical soon and I wanted to actually know what’s going on. I honestly had no clue what to expect since nobody really talks about the book—everything is always the musical and the movie. But wow, it was super action-y and way easier to follow than I thought.
I do wish I had gotten more of the P. of the O.’s backstory, but it was still so fun that I didn’t even mind too much. It felt like the energy and thrill of *Count of Monte Cristo*, just kind of crammed into the Paris Opera. Has anyone else read it? Did you like it?
Is there any information on the plot of Return of the Phantom (proposed sequel to the 1925 film)?
By deer_dune
I heard Universal was talking about doing a follow-up to the 1925 Phantom (Return of the Phantom). Supposedly Gaston Leroux might’ve had a hand in it, but then Lon Chaney was still tied up with MGM, and they apparently wouldn’t let him go to do the Universal movie. So instead they ended up making that 1929 sound remake of the first one.
But I’m really curious—what was the actual plot supposed to be? Like, how did Erik survive getting beaten and tossed into the Seine? I doubt it was something like him running an amusement park on Coney Island or anything.
Just finished Phantom of the Opera. Great read.
By Lake_Frog
I’ve never actually seen the musical, so I went into this with pretty much zero expectations. I figured it might be one of those classics that drags on, but nope—this one was easy to fly through. It just kept pulling me along, and the whole story felt really well put together. There’s suspense the entire way, and I honestly didn’t know what the ending was going to look like until I got there. The characters were interesting, the setting is really cool and different, and the whole premise is intriguing. It’s probably not “fun” exactly since it’s pretty sad, but I still thought it was a great read. I wanted a classic and I definitely got one—would recommend.
Also, I listened to it on audiobook and it worked out well. The narrator pronounced the French names correctly, and that made it way more immersive than I probably would’ve managed if I’d been reading it myself.