| | Like This Store? Don't forget a Gift Card For Your Favorite Person ! | |
|
|
| 
 enlarge | Author: Gaston Leroux
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Category: Book
List Price: $7.00
Buy Used: $0.01
You Save: $6.99 (100%)
New (36) Used (95) Collectible (2) from $0.01
Rating:  217 reviews
Sales Rank: 8045
Media: Paperback
Edition: New edition
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7 x 4.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 0060809248
Dewey Decimal Number: 843.912
EAN: 9780060809249
ASIN: 0060809248
Publication Date: January 12, 1988
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Some wear on book from reading, some spine creases, wear on binding and pages, we guarantee all purchases and ship all items via USPS mail.
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Phantom of the Opera original novel February 13, 2008
Fantastic condition, NEW. Halfway through the book, enjoying it immensely.
Perfect purchase, great seller.
 No one ever sees the Angel February 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The mask, the music, the dark mysteries, and the tortured, deformed genius who just wants love. "The Phantom of the Opera" is so well known that its story needs no explanation.
But Gaston Leroux's novel is still a spellbinding experience, full of atmospheric horror, a sense of gothic mystery, and lushly evocative language. But its crown jewel is Erik: a magnificently tortured anti-hero who inspires more horror, pity and sympathy than the rather flat hero and heroine.
The Paris opera house is said to be haunted by a ghost with a "death's head," who demands a small salary and a reserved box. Despite the sightings and fears of ballerinas and stagehands, the new managers are determined to stamp out this ridiculous story -- despite threatening letters and increasing accidents that happen around them.
Meanwhile, budding diva Christine Daae is taking Paris by storm, although nobody quite knows who taught her how to sing. And when her childhood friend Viscount Raoul de Chagny pays her a visit, he hears a passionate exchange between her and a man -- but there's no man there. She credits her new vocal abilities to the Angel of Music, but of course, that self-same Angel is the opera ghost.
As the Phantom becomes even more attached to Christine, Raoul soon finds that the ghost is actually a half-mad, horribly deformed musical genius named Erik -- and that after Christine saw his true face, he made her become engaged to him. The young lovers plan to run away together, but the "Angel of Music" isn't about to allow his beloved Christine to leave him...
Apparently there actually were some odd events -- including rumours of an opera ghost -- happening when Gaston Leroux began writing "The Phantom of the Opera." And it's a credit to his imgination that he was able to spin a some odd facts into a harrowing, heartbreaking love triangle that's based on music, obsession, adoration, and a bit of pity. And, of course, a frighteningly sympathetic "villain."
Admittedly the style is very "penny dreadful": melodramatic and overloaded on prose. But Leroux's talent shines through -- he drapes the book in a haunted atmosphere, full of snowy graveyards, dark opera backstages and underground labyrinths, all with Erik's presence hovering over it. The plot is mostly a slow, satiny procession toward the inevitable blowup, but Leroux does tinge it with scenes of romantic drama, a feeling of dread, one shocking action scene, and even some quirky humour at times.
And Leroux's writing is simply astounding as he describes the corpselike appearance of Erik ("... tore his terrible dead flesh with my nails") and his "death's" head appearance at the party. But he also excels at the more poignant moments -- Erik's final, rambling monologue to Christine after she kisses him is heartbreakingly clumsy and saddening.
Though Christine and Raoul are the hero and heroine of the book, they're actually kind of flat. Erik is the real star -- an arrogant genius who is also pitifully lonely. And insane. Despite his crazed behavior -- which results in at least two deaths -- it's hard not to feel sympathy for someone cursed with such a ghastly appearance, and so starved for human contact that a single kiss changes his life ("... he tried to catch my eye, like a dog sitting by its master").
Despite being a bit overblown in the style of its time, "The Phantom of the Opera" is a triumph of atmosphere, horror, and one of the most memorably sympathetic "villains" that you can find on the shelves. Magnificent.
excellent January 23, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Well written book my 14 year old daughter and I enjoyed reading this one always left you wanting to keep reading.One of them books you never want to put down.
Thanks
PHANTOM BOOK GREAT READING December 28, 2007
This was a Christmas gift. The person loved it. I had read it previously and loved it. She can't wait to read it so she can compare it to all the movies made based on the story line. I have told her the one made by Lon Chaney all those years ago is the closest I have ever seen until Lloyd-Webber created his musical. If you have enjoyed either of these you will love reading the original book.
 Wow. This is really a bad book. April 9, 2007
3 out of 9 found this review helpful
No seriously.
I had the highest expectation for this experience. But the story is a mess.
It's episodic to the point of distraction. The point of view changes randomly. At one point it's a confession, or a "verbal account". Then it is a written account from a character hardly seen in the first 70% of the story. To say the characters are weakly developed is an insult to...uh...weak people. The language is occasionally witty, but often repetitive and uninteresting.
The best part of the novel is the epilogue, which gives details of the Phantom's origins, all of which are FAR more interesting than the contents of the book. I also loved a bit about the real Opera House that came with my Easton Press copy.
I loved the stage musical, I loved the old films, I liked the new film...this was extremely disappointing.
|
|
|
 | |
