The Phantom of the Opera

I just finished reading The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux, and I must say, it wasn't quite what I was expecting. The original novel was published back in 1910, and was based in a then functioning opera house in Paris, complete with labyrinthine passages and a fatal chandelier accident in its history. From this grand old place Leroux concocted his famous story.

Set in the latter 19th century, the Phantom follows the characters of a young opera singer turned starlet, her childhood friend turned suitor, and the mysterious Phantom who seems to control every goings on within the walls of the opera house. Having been given singing lessons by a mysterious entity known as the Angel of Music, young singer Christine Daae' is catapulted into stardom, only to find the awful price for trusting in the disembodied genius whose voice floats about the halls of the Paris Opera House.

Being all too flesh and blood, the sinister Phantom courts Christine in his own peculiar way from his dwelling beneath the building, beyond an underground lake and surrounded by terrible traps and torture chambers concocted by the Phantom's twisted intellect. As Raoul, Christine's love interest, grapples with the reality of this Phantom's presence and intentions, he dares to follow after her when the diva is kidnapped by the Phantom and taken where no one else dared to venture: the passages below the opera house where the Phantom rules.

The story is peculiar, and quite unlike any movie rendition adapted from it that I have ever watched. The Phantom in Leroux's book is less to be pitied and more to be simply feared; he is sinister, malicious, devious, clever, and without pity. Christine is his young, impressionable, and superstitious charge, while Raoul is a gentle spirited aristocrat whose manners often prevent him from doing what ought to be done. The story presents something of a mood where the villain dominates, and no hero is found to challenge his reign. Simply put, the oppressive air of the story never abates, as the Phantom usurps total control from beginning to bitter end.

Despite that, I found the characters difficult to relate to and often times quite annoying. The story is engaging and the atmosphere compelling, but I failed to find a character that I truly enjoyed hearing from. Primarily for this reason, I give the Phantom of the Opera two and a half dragons out of five.