"The Paris Opera is haunted—everyone knows it. Everyone, that is, except for the new managers, who spark a violent dispute with the Opera Ghost when they refuse to acknowledge his existence or submit to his demands. Sometimes surfacing as a disembodied voice in Box Five or appearing as a gentleman in evening dress with a death’s-head, the phantom is obsessed with Christine Daaé, a lovely and enigmatic novice singer endowed with an amazing voice. But impetuous Viscount Raoul de Chagny is in love with Christine, and he and his brother, Count Philippe, are swept into the phantom’s deadly illusion with horrifying consequences." (Blurb from B&N)
I'm going to be honest. I never read this when I was younger, mostly due to concerns that it would be inappropriate. Fun fact: It's not. It is written with the same class and care of other classic novels. (Which I'm hitting my classics era again. Thank you, Christina!) Is it dark? Ummm... yes. So very dark, but also light at the same time. It did take me a couple of chapters to get into it, but I thoroughly enjoyed it throughout. Christine, Raoul, and Erik were a phenomenal cast of characters, but honestly, the Persian might be my actual favorite, and I'm not even sure I could pin-point it and tell you why. What does surprise me is that I someone, like Christine, came to view Erik as a monster, but also as someone to be pitied. I don't know how Leroux did it, but he did. I sure felt some sort of way at the ending. It was an all-around fascinating tale of love and obsession and sweet sincerity and deranged madmen. There was suspense (I actually jumped out of my skin once when a sound from the real world penetrated into my very tuned out reading world.) There was humor. There was curiosity. (And praise the Lord, they gave answers instead of making me wonder till it drove me mad!) For fans of classics, for fans of gothic novels, for fans of music even, I would recommend this book.
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