I've seen the movie and the play (not voluntarily) and found the plot confusing or nonexistent. So, I tend to not be a big fan. But after some a discussion of how the book compared (and truly, isn't the book almost always better) I decided to give it a read to see if it made more sense.

I was told that the Bair translation was probably a better version to read, but my library only had an unattributed translation which means it was very likely de Mattos and also abridged. It seems de Mattos translated by cutting out stuff for some reason. (I'm sure that's every writer's nightmare about having their work translated.)

The story makes a lot more sense in the book. There are two plots to follow - the managers of the opera as they struggle with whether they believe in the Opera Ghost and the seemingly supernatural things that keep happening, and the love triangle between Raoul, Christine, and Erik.

The novel is a look into how the environment (the Opera House) and emotions can affect our interpretations of events. Some people are more susceptible to music or visual experiences or sleight of hand. Some accept the world as it comes to them, while others search for more practical or more fantastical explanations.

..spoiler alert..

The study of the character of Erik, the Phantom is interesting. Perhaps the movie encourages this, but there seems to be a desire to see him sympathetically. Christine and even the Persian refer to him as poor Erik and seem to pity him in the novel. While it is described a bit in the book, his attraction and allure is difficult for me to see. I'm with Raoul - let's flee right now, why wait until tomorrow night to break his heart.

It is tragic that his ugliness prevented him from receiving love and affection as a child. I do think it is natural for him to desire a normal life, and feel it unfair to be denied that only because of his looks. And that the desire to have someone else love us can create a strong fear and even anger when it appears the love is not being given to us.

I do no think, unlike Erik, that deceiving Christine and forcing her to love him will change him or his circumstances greatly. He is the sum of all his experiences and decisions, which included some very nasty business. Having a beautiful wife will not allow him to suddenly exist in normal society with no repercussions. His methods to coerce Christine into agreeing to marry him show that he is not changed by his love for her. His actions at the end seem to show he is beginning to understand what true love is, and I think Christine has some strong character to be able to show him the kindness and pity that she does. I wonder if Christine and Raoul fared well together. ( )

Warning: Plotspoiler!

This is supposed to be a supernatural thriller which turns out not to be supernatural. But I don't think it works unless you really get into the supposedly haunting parts at the start. Probably need to be a horror fiction fan to enjoy this. If you're more of a science person like me, you'll probably take the logical ending as a given rather than a piece of brilliance. ( )

The book is better than the movie(s) or, to be more precise, it is excellent in print and the second movie with Andrew Lloyd Weber's score in it was excellent as in that art form. In this book, we see excellent development of the phantom, opeera ghost, or Erik, and fairly good development of the dahomey and some other secondary figurfesk, but the hero and heroine (the count and christine) are flat, picture-like characters and act mostly as a foil to Erik's jekyl and hyde personality.
Of course, it was written in French and the publishers didn't bother to give us the name of the translator. This is a pity as I believe he or she did a marvelous job. ( )

This book is a wonderful example of the gothic horror genre. The atmosphere is moody and oppressive, the villian has a deformed exterior to match his deformed soul, the heroine is virginal and chaste, and there is a definite hint of social commentary mixed in for good measure.

I enjoyed the humor in the novel, mainly in the behaviors of the two sets of managers and the Opera Ghosts box keeper. I thought the action was well plotted, and the gothic device of framing the story as a true account, with multiple "sources" - is employed to good effect.

The main flaw I found here is in the characters. Erik and the Deroga seemed well drawn and developed but I found myself unable to really connect with either Raoul or Christine. The characters are not fully fleshed out and therefore hard to relate to. I found the love story between Raoul and Chrisitne to be bloodless, but Erik's passion is on full display.

I recommend this to any fans of the gothic form, fans of the musical and television adaptations, and literature types in general, but the casual reader looking for a romance, horror or adventure story may not find great enjoyment in it.

PS -
I have read in many of the comments here that Erik should be pitied and that he was not really bad. While he was hideously deformed at birth, and that is indeed pitiable, let us not forget that he was an assassin, a torturer, a spy, an intriguer, and a generally unsavory character for most of his life before coming to Paris. ( )

I like this book very much. I watched the movie of this. And I am going to watch the musical play of this in next spring. I think the phantom is not a bad man. I feel he is pity because he is scared by people because of his face and character. I think he is actually a kind man. But people around him make him dangerous. ( )