Translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos
Originally serialised between 1909-10 by La Gaulois
My edition: the Vintage Classics paperback.
WHEN I Discovered This Classic
With the musical being as popular and long-running as it is, I feel like I’ve always known about The Phantom of the Opera - it opened about 12 years before I was even born!
WHY I Chose to Read It
I’m honestly not sure. I think I must have heard about it while watching booktube or something as I was suddenly desperate to read. I just went with it!
WHAT I Thought of This Classic
I was totally in love with the first third of Phantom. It had that melodramatic, silliness of the early Gothic, but with a brilliant Parisian flair and I was totally sold.
It was gloriously over-dramatic and full of secrets and mystery, but it didn’t take long until I started to lose interest. The story started going around in circles and no real answers were even drip-fed and I quickly lost my patience. The only way I didn’t DNF The Phantom of the Opera was because I listened to the audiobook, but that also may have been the reason I didn’t properly connect with the latter half of the book.
Unfortunately, I did end up drifting in and out quite a lot and ended up missing a few of the big reveals, but I wasn’t really bothered by that point - I just wanted to get to the end.
I’m glad I read this, but I won’t read it again. I do still want to see the musical, though!
WILL It Stay a Classic
As long as the musical keeps playing around the world and the film is beloved by so many people I can’t imagine Phantom is going anywhere.
WHO I’d Recommend it To
- Fans of early Gothic.
- Those who love the musical and the film
Sophie
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