The Paris Opera House had been haunted for years. The Opera Ghost kept mostly to himself as long as his few demands were met. Christine Daae is a young chorus girl who has caught the eye of the ghost and he begins to teach her how to sing. When the previous managers of the Opera are replaced by two new and less forthcoming managers and an old friend from Christine’s path emerges everything begins to go downhill. Christine is in love with Raoul de Chagny and the Opera Ghost cannot allow her to love anyone but him. The Vicomte de Chagny and his young love dance back and forth as they try to appease the phantom and love each other the same. Even when they think they’re safe there are always eyes watching them. The two can never be safe from the trapdoor-lover and his tricks. Christine must make a decision between life and love and the phantom or the vicomte.

The Phantom of the Opera has spurred numerous retellings in various forms. It was adapted into movie format multiple times and was presented as a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber. After reading the book I’m a little unsure why. Sure I very much enjoyed the musical and hope to one day have the opportunity to see it live, but the book was nothing to be marveled at. The book was never well received critically when it was published but it became incredibly popular regardless.

The concept is intriguing: a love story between a psychopath and a young woman that has the ability to maybe change him. The mask that he hides behind in order to feel almost normal. The only problem was that I just couldn’t get interested in the book. It was written as if the story was nonfiction. The author writes like he is a reporter trying to uncover the truth of the events at the Paris Opera. It is also an interesting way to go about telling the story but in execution it fails miserably. Leroux’s writing style is bland and sometimes confusing. Interesting sections are bogged down by strange descriptions. Not to say that the entire story is a miss, there are some very good sections, but it could have been much better. The story drags on until I was sure it would never get interesting and the characters are completely unable to relate to.

The new managers have no substance except for the fact that they are unwilling to accept that the Opera Ghost is real, even when presented with irrefutable evidence. Madame Giry, who had an important role in the musical, was next to useless in the novel. Christine Daae is incredibly emotional and flips between two moods like switching on and off a light. Sometimes she is devoted to Raoul but in the next sentence she could be condemning him. She is the prototypical damsel in distress half the time and strong and independent the other half. Raoul is a childish crybaby. He is always running after Christine and if she won’t love him he just seems to be crying. He is completely useless except to drive the story along and he’s the main character. The Phantom is supposed to be a sympathetic villain but the story fails at making you care about him. Christine and the Persian both sympathize with him but the reader is unaware of why they would do that. In fact I still don’t understand why the Persian did after completing the book.
I had been warned that this book might not meet my expectations but I loved the musical so I picked it up anyway. Some people really love this book but I couldn’t handle it. I just couldn’t wait for it to end:
I can’t really recommend this to anyone. If you are a fan of the musical and have not read the book it really isn’t worth picking up. I’d never thought an adaptation was better than the original novelization until I read this book.