PHANTOM

Rating:
Summary: A literary Work of Art!
Review: I have read some of the other reviews that have critiqued Kay's work as not portraying Erik like in Leroux's novel. Who is to say that Leroux is right? What is wrong with Erik being sexual? He is a man. And anyone who has that much passion for music, must have sexual desires just like anyone else. Kay has wonderful insight into Erik's and Christine's souls. She portrays Erik not as a monster, but a man with a heart. Yet she is not afraid to show the darker side of Erik, which all of us have come to love and adore. However, one must come to one's own conclusions. Read it and Kay's words will run through you and thought of Erik and Christine will fill your head until you weep for the tragic story of Erik and the love that was never meant to be.

Rating:
Summary: A stragely affecting slice of mental pie
Review: This 'biography' of the man made famous by everyone from Carl Lammele to Andrew Lloyd Weber is unabashedly romantic, even a touch melodramatic. But that is only fitting considering the source material.

The great triumph of this book is how it weaves together such a variety of incident, from the provincial French town Eric's birth to Rome, Russia, and the court of a middle eastern potentate, and then inevitably back to the basement of the Paris Opera House, while making every step of the journey contribute to the climax that was imposed on the author by her sources. This could not have been easy, and it is quite something to see in action.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best interpretations of Leroux's work yet
Review: Phantom of the Opera has been remade at least a hundred thousand times now, from Gaston Leroux's original potboiler to be read by gaslight up to the monument to mediocrity forced upon the earth by Andrew Lloyd Weber. And they all deal with a few months in the life of what must be an enormously entertaining character; how on earth did this chap get to be the Phantom of the Opera? This is the question Susan Kay set out to answer when writing her novel Phantom, and she's done quite an admirable job of it. Sure, she gets a few minor marks against her for continuing the melodrama, but one feels, often, that those times when she slips a bit are more in homage to what has come before her novel than any failing on her part.

Erik, the person who later becomes the Phantom, is born to a young widow in France who debates the idea of killing him outright from day one. We cover the first nine years of Erik's life, until he runs away from home, and the rest of the book is given to us as impressions, giving us insight as to how the Phantom came to have the many talents he possesses in Leroux's original work. Along the way, if you throw out the small melodramas that play out, what we come up with in the end is a complex, fascinating man shunned by society due to his monstrous deformities. (And in all honesty, the deformities don't really sound all that monstrous, what little detail we get of them.) Once again we find ourselves with a book that probably could have used a slightly more zealous editor; those first nine years almost had me dustbunnying the book, which would have been a huge mistake. If you feel yourself lagging, persevere; give yourself at leats a hundred pages. It DOES pick up, and is definitely worth the effort. (If you get to Rome and you still haven't gotten into it, it is safely dustbunnyable.)

I wouldn't rightfully characterize this as a quick read, but then I may have just picked it up at the wrong time. (Nothing's a quick read during the weeks before the Breeders' Cup.) Still, it's definitely worth your while, and may even make Andrew Lloyd Weber's miasma of atonality worth watching.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful! Spectacular! Until the end, anyway...
Review: I never thought I could see a moving, well written, imaginative novel unravel into a pointless, unnessecary piece of fanfic within the course of a few pages. But, alas, this is exactly what Susan Kay's Phantom does. Let me elaborate.

From the beginning Kay's writing sucks us into the tragic story of Erik, answering questions about his past that always remained shrouded in mystery. We are moved by his wretched childhood, we understand his motivations to do the horrible things he did, and we feel his pain as he is continually denied a normal existance among other people. His bizarre relationship with the Persian and his metamorphisis from Erik to "O.G." are all illuminated with grace and sophistication.

Then we move into what is generally recognized as the story of POTO, and Kay totally blows it. How? Let's count the ways. Christine's character is never really developed beyond the fact that she's confused about her feelings. She's not confused in an interesting way, or an endearing way, she's just confused. We are lead to believe that Christine really does reciprocate Erik's feelings for her, even though every version of the story, from Leroux's to Llyod Webber's, agrees that she doesn't. This is what I meant when I called it "fanfic", I'm sure most of us would want to see poor Erik be loved by Christine, and this portion of the book reads exactly like a phan's self-indulgent 'what-if?'. The ending, in which Erik and Christine sleep together, is all wrong. The original story was all about Erik's unrequited love and moving spiritual redemption, this ending denies the reader both.

For a story that's supposed to be all about The Phantom, the book leaves his last days awfully unclear. We never learn what his feelings are like at this point, or whether his views towards God and men have changed. It's all terribly unsatisfying.

So should you read this book? If you want to read one author's interpretation of Erik's earlier life, I'd reccomend it. But if you're looking for something that's true to the story's characters and its underlying tragedy, then you may want to keep searching.

Rating:
Summary: Tantalizing, Haunting, Unforgettable, And So Much More!
Review: I first read Phantom by Susan Kay in July of last year, since then I have read this book four times unable to put it done and feeling as though I was reading a completely different story each time I start it over again. I feel as if I am in the story and when ever I finish, I always seem to say to myself, "Poor, poor Erik." The style Susan depicts the Phantom and his life is absolutely stunning and graphic but wonderful. If you like The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux (highly recommended) or Andrew Lloyd Webber's broadway musical, then you should deffinately read this book. I love this story of Erik's life so much more than any other version that I has seen or read before. It is so GREAT that it should be made into a movie. Just an idea.

Rating:
Summary: Spellbinding
Review: This is one of the most heartbreakingly beautiful books I have ever read. It's the perfect companion to Michael Crawford's interpretation of a Erik as a beautiful soul trapped in a horrific body. It shows how the actions and prejudices of others can warp someone. (BTW - Break out the hankies. I've read this book several times & I cry in the same four places every time.) Its not all tragedy though, Erik's wicked sense of humor had me laughing out loud at times. If you like the story of the Phantom of the Opera you must read this book.

Rating:
Summary: Forever Love
Review: When I began reading Phantom by Susan Kay I felt truly heartbroken. A disfigured child born to a young woman who knew no love. She, his mother offered hatred and disgust instead. A dog was the only one that showed affection. A baby placed in the attic instead of in his mother's arms knew the dog as his mother, for it was the only one that had loved him. How could Erik know love when his own mother abhored him. I loved how Phantom told the whole life of Erik from escaping the hatred of his mother, being caged by the Gypsies, becoming an apprentice and so on until he found the woman who he would forever love. He was her creater for he taught her not only how to sing, but the beauty of music. His angelic voice would guide her in her career and for that she owed him compassion. My overall view on the Phantom was love. I fell in love with Erik regardless of his beastly appearance. He was a person whose actions came about from hatred, hatred that he had known from his own creater and the world. A world of greed and malice. In the end, he would know love as well. Christine Daae would be his love. I do have to give much credit to Ms. Kay because throughout the book she offered detail after detail, thus making this novel a book I could not place down. The conclusion was saddening, but in the end Erik showed that in life nothing is perfect, but that love can make a person sacrifice himself. Even though Christine did not stay with Erik, he would forever be in her.

Rating:
Summary: WONDERFUL
Review: I've always been a fan of the Phantom of the Opera and Susan Kay brought it to life for me. From the very first page this book captures you and you can't put it down. This is one of the few books that I've actually read more than once. This book even impacted the way I view the broadway musical. After reading the book I felt even more effected by the musical b/c I felt as I truly knew Erik and his emotions. I highly recommend this to anyone even remotely interested in the Phantom of the Opera. You will not be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: This novel is very well written!
Review: Everyone has a childhood. Even a Phantom of the Opera. Hiss childhood days were filled with rejection from his mother,his only companion his dog Sasha. Learn how he lived the first few years of his life,to his final days at the Paris Opera House. I recommend this book for anyone.!

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: This story is brilliant! It breathes a whole new life into the legend. By the end of the book, you are crying with sorrow and joy for Erik. And you wish the story didn't have to end. As you get to the end of the book, there's disappointment that the story is over. Brilliant is all I can say.