Product Description

When the new managers of the Paris Opera House ignore their predecessors' warnings about the hideous 'Opera ghost' stalking the theatre, it is a fatal mistake. Tortured by unrequited love for the beautiful young singer Christine Daae, the mysterious figure living in the depths beneath them has been awaiting his chance to strike. And when Christine suddenly disappears after a triumphant singing performance, it becomes clear that the phantom's time has come. Filled with colour and theatrical spectacle, this thrilling gothic tale has enthralled readers with its mystery, eerie suspense and tragic story of love turned into deadly obsession.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1877861 in Books
• Published on: 1996-09
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover

Customer Reviews

The Best Translation
French is a beautiful and romantic language and English translations of the Phantom of the Opera haven't always come through quite as beautifully and often times they sound military. This translation flows very well. I was very surprised when I found it. I had read about three or four versions of the book in English from different translators when I stumbled onto this one by accident at the local library. I prefer books in hardcover and searched for this translation in that format but was not able to find it. Now, I have only one classic French book in paperback. This is really the best translation of this book. It flows easily although not as perfectly as the French does. Who knew Bantam could pull this off successfully?

An absorbing, haunting love story that was not meant to be.
What I enjoyed most about this book was the simplicity of language and the direct truth of human needs. Erik was physically deformed and sickly. Mostly, he was unloved and cast out from society; he was bigger than just the Opera Ghost. He was society's shame -- a shame they felt that should be hidden and not acknowledged (either out of fear or because of it... you choose). That lack of positive acknowledgement is what makes this book so sad and frustrating. He had love to give, but it was not wanted; he was deemed a creature of horror. But it was really the general attitude of society that was the horror -- not him. The book really echoes the truth that it is what is on the inside that matters, for that is what lasts the longest, and that people should be more open-minded to the mental and physical flaws that either God or Nature or both created. Erik is a symbol not of darkness and the gothic motif, but of light and life and living. If anyone liked this book, they should read Susan Kay's Phantom; it is a good precursor to Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera.

Worth re-reading.
This story comes off as a pretty typical penny-dreadful sort of tale at first glance, but there are subtle themes that are not apparent on the first read. I won't bore with details, but it is an unusually rich, human story despite the somewhat fantastical setting and the exaggerations inherent in the character of Erik.

Speaking of Erik (that's "The Phantom" to those of you who don't know), he's one of the best villians I've encountered in a while, right up there with Darth Vader. he is capable of extreme wickedness, but is still sympathetic, and those are always the villians that you remember. While Andrew Lloyd Webber did a fair job of adapting this tale to the stage and eventually film, much changed in the process, particularly Erik. He is not so slick in this book as he is in the musical, and definitely a bit more crazy, but I actually prefer Leroux's original to the derivative. The 2004 film did not quite do justice to this complex story and those who have only seen the film and no other form of the Phantom story ought to do themselves a favor and read the book.

In reference to the specific edition I purchased, the Greg Hildebrandt illustrated one, it is not, as has been mentioned in some reviews above (probably due to the fact that Amazon has made an unholy mess by crossing reviews from the umpteen different versions of this book), an abridged version. There are distilled children's editions out there, one by Peter Neumeyer, and another in the Illustrated Classics series but this isn't a children's edition despite the illustrations. This is, as far as I can tell (at least by comparing it to the free Gutenberg Project version) a complete translation of the original French text. I bought this edition specifically for the illustrations, which I enjoy, but some people do not care for the Hildebrandt style. If you like this artist, though, it is worth having for the pictures alone.