The Phantom of the Opera (Fast Track Classics) Review
I love the musical but had never read this book before. So I downloaded it to my Kindle for free. The formatting was okay on the Kindle version; chapter starts were a bit hard to see and there were some formatting errors. All of the color plates were missing with an insert stating (color plate here). Overall the story itself was wonderful and really added to my understanding of the musical.
I think just about everyone should be familiar with this story. It is the story of an Opera Ghost who is mentoring Christine Daae to become a great opera singer. Of course when the Opera Ghost's wishes are not met by the new managers who run the opera house a series of disasters befall the opera company. Christine becomes increasingly entangled with the Opera Ghost and her childhood sweetheart, Raoul, tries his best to save her.
The book starts out a bit slow. It is told from the point of view of an investigator who is trying to piece together the whole story behind the Phantom of the Opera. Things really pick up as the Opera Ghost starts to torment people and Christine and Raoul start their false engagement.
My favorite part was the last third of the book when Raoul and the Persian are trying to navigate the area beneath the theater.
This book fills out some major parts of the story that you don't get in the musical. There is a lot more background on Raoul and Christine's childhood. More time is spent explaining the past of the Opera Ghost, Eric, and what made him the way he is. At the very end the investigator details how all of the ghostly things that happened in the story were done. Also the scenes under the opera house are much more vicious, involving a incredibly unique torture chamber, threats to flatten a few blocks of Paris, and more.
I was surprised at how engaging the writing style was. This was not a tough book to read at all, it was incredibly engaging and easy to read. There is a sly sense of humor in parts of the book and I found myself laughing out loud a couple times. I really enjoyed it.
My only complaint (and my husband's complaint) is that I kept humming parts of the musical as I read the book! If you are a fan of The Phantom and the Opera musical definitely check out this book; it makes parts of the musical make a lot more sense. It is much more interesting and creative and engaging than the musical too! The first third of the book is kind of slow but if you can make it though that, the rest of the book is definitely worth it!
The Phantom of the Opera (Fast Track Classics) Overview
The Fast Track Classics series enables students to experience the pleasure of reading well-known classic novels.
These shortened classic novels cater for every taste whether it is the delightful story of Little Women, the gripping adventure of Kidnapped, the compelling and poignant Phantom of the Opera, or the dark and mysterious drama of Jane Eyre.
Each book is a manageable size, with short chapters and helpful illustrations. The introduction gives a synopsis of the plot and a short biography of the author.
Carefully designed with lexical structures and vocabulary to match the ability of the student, Fast Track Classics still convey the essence of these powerful stories and lose none of their characterisation.
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Customer Reviews
The Dark side - John R. Mckridge -
Not as good as the play, this film nvbertheless is mostly well done. The music is excellent, Bulter needs to work on his singing but the point is how we treat people who look different then most of us and the tragic need for love that goes unforfulled. The legths one can and will go to get love only to watch it go away. We can relate to this film and all the characters, yet I think most relate to the Phantom most often. We all, in our wa, face what he faces in our lives, we kno how he feels. I wish they has left the music as they did it in the play as it added so much more to the play then the movie.
Friends - -
My friend had said I should read this book.She had seen the movie and loved it .So I had had seen the movie and loveeeeeeeedddddddd it!And Im not joking.
Wonderful read! - Jude G. Barnes - WNY
Great story and a tempting read! Could not put it down! Loved it!
*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Aug 23, 2010 09:09:20
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