October 26, 2004
The Phantom of the Opera (book)
I guess the winter weather has put me in the mood to do more reading; I read this one over the weekend. Apparently the version of the book I have is worth some money. Some people are selling it on abebooks.com for $250 plus (all the way to in the four hundred range!). I'll have to check and see if I have a first edition, but mine is definitely from 1911, hardback, with the image of the phantom pressed into the cover of the book.
I guess that's all beside the point: I need to give a review! What I enjoyed about The Phantom of the Opera is that its narrative operates on the premise that the entire story has been pieced together by Gaston Leroux by gathering police reports, interviewing people, and collecting the letters of the individuals who were involved. The story is almost woven together in a Tarantino-like manner, in which we see one segment happening at one time and told to completion, and then later read another segment that happened at the same time or BEFORE the original segment that helps explain what was happening. Did that make sense? It jumps a bit in time and each segment helps the reader understand the story more.
Apparently the story IS actually centered around fact, but is embellished for dramatic effect. I thought it was interesting from this article that the opera library never seems to have the historical documentation from the year 1896, in which the chandelier incident was supposed to have occured. All of this makes Phantom all the more interesting to me, and now I regret not having visited the opera the two times I was in Paris. I suppose I'll just have to return to Paris...
The story revolves around a young man who is in love with an opera singer, who is loved by the Opera Ghost, who wreaks havoc in every level of the opera. It's wildly dramatic, which makes it a fun and quick read, and it's also interesting in its picture of the opera house itself and the way it was run.
It ends a little bit too neatly and I wanted a few more details, but I guess the phenomenon of the story is the mystery that surrounds it.
Good times. Now I'm ready for the movie out in December!
Next up: either a Shakespeare play or continuing alphabetically in my collection by author to the Bronte sisters.
I saw the Webber musical once in LA but I don't know how close it is to the book. At any rate I think Joel Schumacher has finally found the movie that all of his cinematic vices and garish overproduction are perfectly suited for.
Posted by: Jonathan on October 27, 2004 11:27 AM