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    The Phantom of the Opera
    The Phantom of the Opera
    The Phantom of the Opera
    Audiobook7 hours

    The Phantom of the Opera

    Written by Gaston Leroux

    Narrated by Alexander Adams

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    About this audiobook

    Under the Paris Opera House lives a disfigured musical genius who uses music to win the love of a beautiful opera singer.

    The actors, singers, and patrons of the Paris Opera House say that a ghost haunts the labyrinthine chambers beneath its stage. Those who laugh off such superstitions always do so nervously, in the bright light of day. Nearly everyone connected with the opera house in any way has felt the phantom's vague, troubling presence. But beautiful, talented young singer Christine Daae will soon experience a terror far more acute than any vague feeling of unease. For she is about to learn the secret of why the man who has made the tunnels beneath Paris his private domain must forever hide his face behind a mask.

    Part horror story, part historical romance, and part detective thriller, the timeless tale of a masked, disfigured musical genius who lives beneath the Paris Opera House is familiar to millions of readers, as well as to movie and theater-goers. At the heart of the story's long-standing popularity lies its questioning of a universal theme: the relationship between outward appearance and the beauty or darkness of the human soul.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateNov 17, 2008
    ISBN9781400178995
    Author

    Gaston Leroux

    Gaston Leroux was born in Paris in 1868. He grew up on the Normandy coast, where he developed a passion for fishing and sailing. Upon reaching adulthood, he qualified as a lawyer, but, upon his father's death, his received a large inheritance, and left the law to become a writer. He first found fame as an investigative reporter on L'Echo de Paris, and travelled the world in a variety of disguises, reporting on a wide range of topics from volcanic eruptions to palace revolutions. In 1907, he changed career once again, and started work as a novelist, finding critical and commercial success with works such as The Mystery of the Yellow Room (1907) and The Phantom of the Opera (1911). Leroux continued to be a prolific writer until his death in 1927 - the result of complications following an operation.

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    Reviews for The Phantom of the Opera

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    • 4/5
      [ Phantom of the Opera] by [Gaston Leroux] was a Gothic tale centering around the ghost of the Paris Opera House, Eric (as they call him). I have seen the musical twice and much prefer it over the book not because of the scenery, the costumes, or the music, but because of the tale, or the lack of it The book is very very detailed and we have a nice little wrapped up package in the end, where everybody ends up "happy", even Eric; who finds another opera house. I much prefer the "unknown" of the musical. The book also seemed to drag for about 4-5 chapters when telling about the dungeon. I read this and listened to it on audio while driving. The audio was very well done. A good read; not a great read.
    • 3/5
      This story was difficult to read for me.I thought if the phantom was not him, whether Christine love him or not?I thought he was so poor.
    • 4/5
      This is a book that inspired a whole trope - that is mystery ghost, killing people, demanding things, associated with basement of whatever venue he or she was haunting. And, like any book that inspires a trope, it has been adapted many times, from movies, stage plays, and a small Broadway musical that you might have heard of....Of course, this is the original. And it is well written. At the time, I suspect this was suppose to be a scary story. Because of how well known this story is, its hard to be scared when you know the story.As for the characters, Erik (the phantom) is a deeply trouble person. His deformity has led him to be rejected by humanity, which leads him to be a monster. The author is very clear on why Eric is the way he is. This makes the book weighty than it is on first glance. Its the monster versus the Angel.In most adaptations, Erik is written as a musical genius, but in the original book, Erik is a genius of traps - able to make tortuous clock work that slowly kills his enemies. The traps are bit over the top - I can't imagine a man building these trap doors and secret passages without someone knowing - This is a theater with thousands of personnel who know this building front and back. Christine is also interesting - she isn't just a damsel in distress whom the Phantom took an interest to. She is also smart - smart enough to know how to make Erik happy. She fears him, but also pities him. She knows what he is capable of. Christine's compassion of the Erik softens his image of the monster.The other characters are mostly generic stereotypes, although the Persian is described as having ebony skin, which is interesting. He is the "Daroga" , or police chief in a major city in Persia, given the task of killing Eric after he completed the Sultana's torture chamber. The Viscount is fairly standard - a perfect gentleman, who is living for love, and will do anything for the love of his life, Christine.The setting of this book, the Paris Opera House - is really well described. Leroux manages to show just how big this building is, how many people it employs - it is another major character. The book wouldn't be the same without it.This book isn't perfect - some things go on too long, others not enough. The ending is rather anti-climatic, to easy, to unexpected. But, it is well written - with interesting characters. And, it is the start of a whole type of mystery books.
    • 3/5
      2.5 StarsI saw (one of the many) movie[s] when I was a kid and the opera itself about 12 years ago and I have to say I enjoyed the opera better than the book. As a book, it is just strange and odd with lots of long descriptions and telling and few scenes with dialogue. Played out on stage this is amazing, but I struggled reading through it
    • 3/5
      I thought this was good in most parts yet at times I found it either dull or confusing. But the good outweighs the bad.I think the third-person narrator swapping over to first person - allowing the Persian character to take over - was a mistake. I would rather have 'seen' what was going on with the heroine and the villain, rather than 'listening' to what the Persian and the hero could hear. The novel features as much humour as it does Gothic horror, which I enjoyed. I had to smile at the amount of times the hero bursts into tears through his passionate love for the heroine - she seldom cries yet he's easily set off!
    • 3/5
      I found this hilariously over the top, for the most part, helped by the fact that in one of the versions I read, all emphasis was done by capitalisation. It just made me think of Erik as a troll on the internet, honestly...

      It's interesting how much more popular I'm told the musical is, than the book. And the book did badly originally, if I remember that rightly. There is something very dramatic about the book that might be best dealt with on the stage. And, of course, you can't hear the enchantment of Erik's singing, in the book.

      It's also interesting how devoid of a hero this book is, at least from my perspective. Christine is central, in that it's her that Erik fixates on, and who Raoul loves. Erik is central, in that he's probably the most fascinating figure of the book, but he's also self-centered and murderous and more like a villain. Raoul is important, but doesn't take much action. The Persian, with his ideas of saving Christine, is perhaps the most heroic, but rather in the background for most of the book. There's not much to hang onto and care about, in terms of characters.
    • 5/5
      A movie. Based on an opera. Based on a novel. Based on what may or may not be slightly true events. Always interesting. And it involves music, another passion of mine. Just a painfully beautiful book about the masks we all wear.
    • 4/5
      This story is love story.But this is sad story also.I think Phantom wanted to be loved by someone.So his mind was crazy.He was crazy man.But I don't hate him.He may be pure man also.
    • 1/5
      Back when I bought the book, I do remember that I hadn't seen the movie so that I wouldn't ruin any images that I might formulate, but on second thought, perhaps it would've been better if I had had watched the movie before start reading it. I think I had to stop reading two or three times because it is too boring. Since the beginning my favorite character was the phantom and, for some reason, I hated Christine's childhood friend. Maybe that helped for me not liking the book.

      Ok, I know that judging the book in favor of a certain character is not cool, but I just couldn't help it. I thought that the Phantom was such a well-elaborated character, but the main romance was just too sugarish for my own taste.

      Perhaps I read this book with the wrong mood and now that I've seen the movie, maybe I start thinking differently if I ever decide to read it once again. It's a book for those who appreciate the classical romances, but it's just not the book for me.
    • 3/5
      Love triangle with a ghost. Kept me occupied
    • 3/5
      I'm a huge fan of the musical, so it seemed about time that I read the book. The first half I found very enjoyable and very readable, especially for a classic. But the ending is literally the entire second half of the book, and it gets a little boring. I could almost see Gaston Leroux's fingers wiggling at me as he went "Ooooooo!" in a spooky voice. Overall, I'm glad I read it, especially loving the musical so much, but I think I prefer the musical still...
    • 4/5
      Coming as a person who has seen and loves the movie/musical, The Phantom of the Opera was not at all what I was expecting. First of all, Gaston Leroux has an interesting style of writing, making this book seem almost more like a documentary than a novel. He makes you feel like these people were real and he's just the one telling their story. Secondly, the characters were so different from the movie... and I hate to say this about a classic, but I like how they were portrayed in the movie better. Raoul seemed almost ridiculously emotional and apt to do just about anything and Christine was even more naive than she was in the movie. The Phantom's character was a little bit more explained, but I still had a hard time feeling sorry for him. He's a very talented individual, yet he feels he has the right to kill people just because he's disfigured? All in all, considering it was free on my Kindle and was fairly short (Not much over 200 pages, I'd say), it was a worthwhile read, if only to add a bit more background to the story.
    • 4/5
      An iconic love/ghost story... a deformed man haunts the Paris Opera House and mentors/ensnares a gifted, beautiful soprano. Tough sledding for non-readers but still worth reading. The Broadway musical will heighten its appeal.
    • 5/5
      Delightful. I was a fan of the play first, of course, but the book adds so much more dimension to a story that is already beautiful and tragic. I loved learning more about Eric (the phantom), where he came from and how terrifyingly clever he was. Much more frightening than the musical. I'm trying to re-read it in French, but I keep getting side-tracked.
    • 4/5
      I really had no prior knowledge of The Phantom of the Opera beyond the Lon Chaney film version and the Broadway production. The film version always had that wonderful, macabre feel to it and still felt like I was missing something, and I left the Broadway feeling not entirely fulfilled (Honestly, it was the chandelier scene that ruined the whole thing for me. Everybody kept going on and on about how fantastic and unbelievable the chandelier falling was, and all I could think when the scene finally happened was that the chandelier was falling so slowly that my 89 year old grandmother could have gotten out of the way of it. To me, there was nothing spectacular about that scene.) When the film version of the Broadway production was released, I enjoyed that a little more, but I still felt like there needed to be something more to the story. Perhaps I should have read the original a little sooner and I could have had that void filled.Gaston Leroux's story is filled with all the elements that I felt the story was missing; the mystery and the Gothic flavor that I felt had been lacking in the other versions of this story that I had seen before. And, for something that was written almost 100 years ago, the story held up very well and didn't really feel all that dated to me. The background details of the Opera ghost's early life also helped me to understand his passions better than any other previous version, as well. I don't know really what else to say; I'm sure most are familiar with the story: the Opera ghost, who is horribly disfigured, lives in the sub-levels of the Paris Opera House and has fallen in love with Christine Daaé, whom he has been secretly teaching to sing. Christine is enthralled with him, thinking him to be the Angel of Music, as she has never seen the Opera ghost herself, just heard his voice. She is in love with the Viscount Raoul de Chagny, and when the Opera ghost discovers this, he kidnaps her and takes her to his home underneath the Opera House, but Raoul comes to her rescue. The stage production ends a little more dramatically than the book does, but I think I liked the ending to the book better, actually. It seems to fit the tone of the rest of the book a little better, in my opinion. Overall, an enjoyable read.
    • 3/5
      lucky for you, Mr. Leroux, Andrew Lloyd Webber came along and made your bad writing into a world-phenomenon musical. his phantom is way more likeable, his raoul is less dorky, and all the stupid subplots disappear! i give this an extra star just because your story did spawn the most amazing, beloved musical of all time.
    • 4/5
      “I want to have a wife like everybody else and to take her out on Sundays. I have invented a mask that makes me look like anybody. People will not even turn round in the streets. You will be the happiest of women. And we will sing, all by ourselves, till we swoon away with delight. You are crying! You are afraid of me! And yet I am not really wicked. Love me and you shall see! All I wanted was to be loved for myself. If you loved me I should be as gentle as a lamb; and you could do anything with me that you pleased.”

      Poor, unhappy Erik.

      As many people know, the Phantom of the Opera's plot is like the fairytale Beauty and the Beast with tragic ending instead of a happy one. The beast, the Opera Ghost, named Erik lived under a Opera House. He haunted it with his craftsmanship of trickery and illusions. Christine Daae, on the other hand, was an opera singer who were lured by the Opera Ghost; she believed that Erik was the Angel of Music. Raoul de Chagny was her lover.

      The author succeeded in interlocking his story to the real facts and events in real life. At the beginning, for a moment there, I was beginning to believe the story was real. But, I remember this book is under fiction. haha. I had a lull moment in the middle part which caused me to do something else and not finish this book at once. I picked the momentum again by reading ChapterXX (That's why I do not easily give up on books). I like the part of the Persian until the end of the book.
    • 3/5
      This was worth reading. I enjoyed comparing this version to the movies & Broadway version. While I enjoyed the story and found it so much more believable than the latest movie's version, what I gained mostly out of reading this was a deeper understanding of some of the elements of the most recent movie. For example, the director's choice in having a white horse in the basement of the opera house seemed outright stupid and random, but the book had a scene in which he stole Christine's boyfriend's horse so that he could offer her the same... Not an important detail, but I'm just trying to show that the book provides insight into the other versions.

    • 3/5
      The part with the Indian princess is my favourite.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book. It is more a melodramatic love story than the horror story it is made out to be and it's neither the musical nor the black and white silent so it should not be judged based on them. It is dark and passionate and surprisingly very funny.
    • 5/5
      Very exciting!
    • 4/5
      I felt this book was a little disappointing. I wasn't really interested in any of the characters until the end of the novel and even at that point I only really liked Raoul and the Persian. Christine was just so stupid and the Phantom was so annoying with his whole "I'm ugly; pity me!" There wasn't any point in the book where I really wanted to read it until the end as it was building up towards the climax. Then just I was starting to feel like this book was actually going to be great, Gaston Leroux gave it an awful ending. I'm only going to give this book 3.5 stars and I would only recommend to fans of Gothic Literature or movie.
    • 5/5
      This book gives us an insight into the depravities and, conversly the beauties of humanity. The ugliness of the phantom is contrasted with the beauty of his music and understandably, Christine feels an undeniably pity for him, whereas the naive Raoul only feels anger towards him. One of the best characters that was left out of the musical version was the Persian, who presents important background into the phantom's life. This book totally made me cry at the end!
    • 3/5
      Book on CD narrated by Alexander AdamsIs there anyone left on the planet who doesn’t know this storyline? Christine Daaé is elevated from the ranks of the chorus to opera star, thanks to the private lessons by and the patronage of The Opera Ghost. “OG” (as he signs his notes to management) also sees to it that anyone standing in the way of his protégé meets with an accident or is otherwise persuaded to stand aside. But when Raoul, the Vicomte de Chagny, sees Christine at the Paris Opera House, he remembers the little girl whose scarf he rescued. Now he wants nothing more than to rekindle their relationship. Christine is drawn to Raoul, but still tightly in the grasp of the phantom she believes is the Angel of Music her father promised to send her when he was on his death bed.The passion of the story, as well as the horror, mystery and danger, have kept it a favorite for over a century. It’s been adapted to film several times, and of course made into the hit musical by Andrew Lloyd Weber, but the novel does much more to explain The Phantom’s underlying psychology and twisted motivations.I enjoyed the story, but it’s not really to my taste, and I found it hard to believe the characters. I think this may be partly due to Adams’s reading; he has a voice with an annoying tone. (Remember hearing those OLD news reels circa 1930s or 1940s? He sounds like those announcers.) At times I felt he was just reading words, without any feeling behind it. Other times I felt the emotion was just forced.
    • 3/5
      Die Geschichte um das Phantom der Oper ist natürlich ein Klassiker und auch zu Recht oftmals adaptiert worden. Allerdings ist das originale Buch schwerfällig und nicht allzu einfach zu lesen. Der Stoff ist eigentlich in den Adaptionen besser behandelt worden.
    • 4/5
      Much darker and more exciting than the play. An excellent book.
    • 4/5
      Gaston creates a wonderful and dark, fascinating world in the Phantom of the Opera. This book is a quick read, and the story flows with each word. This is the story of Christine, who is a beautiful singer. The Phantom, Erik, falls in love with Christine. He would do anything for her. With Raoul de Chagny in the picture, comes a love triangle. Who will Christine choose to be with? Will she make the right choice when the lives of others depend on her choice? I liked the bond that Raoul and Christine had. The mystery of the whole novel was very intriguing. I wish I could go visit the opera house, and see for myself what Gaston was talking about. Who wouldn't want to go underground and go through a maze of tunnels.The managers were skeptical of the opera ghost, and the things they did added a little bit of comedy. As for the Phantom, he grows on you. He may have had a terrible past but he wants to redeem himself and be happy with someone that loves him. We all want to feel wanted and loved, and this is why I felt sympathetic towards him. There is also a message that goes along the book, but it might give away the entire book so I'll let you figure it out yourself.Four Stars!
    • 4/5
      sat unread for years.this translation ( or prose style ) is not the easiest or most engaging to read. but after slogging it through it's a little bit better than expected/anticipated
    • 5/5
      I had always been a big fan of The Phantom of the Opera (both the play and the movies) hadn't read the book until recently. I thought I knew everything there was to know, but the book blew me away. Nothing like I expected, and I loved every moment. I loved the story before, and I grew to love it even more.
    • 3/5
      I consider The Phantom of the Opera to be a retelling of the "Beauty and the Beast" fairy tale. The phantom in this version is kind of a creepy stalker guy. We get depth in some aspects missing in the musical (although we do not have the depth of feeling that the musical conveys), but really, if you want a good retelling of this story, read Susan Kay's Phantom. Leroux gets credit for the story line, but his writing is just as boring as that of other authors whose works have been turned into really awesome musicals- Victor Hugo and Charles Dickens. Were men of that general period just completely incapable of writing?