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Summary: Sure explains a lot....
Review: This book is extraordinarily written, and it succeeded in clearing up a lot of the confusion about the Phantom's past. Erik is such a tragic figure, and a truly tormented protagonist. Here he is finally depicted as the Phantom should be, and Susan Kay's portrayal is how I will always think of him. I really thought it was intriguing that Kay compared the Phantom to the Paris Opera House itself, just as the beauty of the inside of the Opera House eclipsed the outside, his face shrouded an intricate and dazzling soul. It also ended the way I wanted the play to! So big points for that. Seriously though, I adore this book.
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Summary: Phantom
Review: This book is one of the best I have read. Telling the story of "Erik" it holds the reader enthralled page after page. It covers the moment of his birth to his death. His lonely childhood,his travels as a young man, wanting to be needed,and facing humiliation time after time. Susan Kay really gets inside her character. If you like the Phantom of the Opera you'll love this book
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Summary: Phantom
Review: This is one of the most in depth stories about the infamous Phantom of the Opera that I have ever read. I really liked how Susan Kay answered a lot of questions like: Why did Erik's mother treat him horribly? What happened in Erik's previous life that made him act the way he did towards Christine? and the most intriguing, What happened between Christine and Erik during their lessons? A definite must read for those who enjoyed Gaston Leroux's novel, but still had unanswered questions.
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Summary: Phantom by Susan Kay; A complete history of Eric the Phantom
Review: Phantom by Susan Kay should be titled "A Complete History of Eric the Phantom of the Opera" It is without question one of the most imaginative, romantic, and complete re-tellings of Gaston Leroux's original novel. Ms. Kay has done her homework and done it well as evidenced by the meticulously thought out plot set against a historically correct as possible background. If you want the real story of the Phantom before, during and after "The Phantom of the Opera" skip the terrible "Phantom of Manhattan" and pick up a copy of "Phantom" by Susan Kay.
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Summary: Enthralling! A wonderful novel. Susan Kay must write another
Review: The was the most amazing novel I have had the privilage to read. Susan Kay kept me spellbound in the wonderful life of one of my favorite charcters, Erik, The Phantom Of The Opera. Learning more about this man in the most breathtaking way possiable, is what I did when I picked up this book. You will travel with Erik for the time of his birth through his journey of life and to the Paris Opera House. I now feel even more compassion for Erik then I ever have. This books requires a quiet place to read, your undivded a attention and a box of tissues. You will not be disappointed in this book. It is time well spent. After writing this review, I find myself wanting to read it agian......and again. Thank you Susan for the wonderful journey with Erik.
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Summary: excellent!
Review: A little over a year i went to Toronto and saw the Phantom of the Opera. I was mesmerized. Immediately after that I looked up everything on it. Not ust the romance story but the true story. One day while looking for Phantom books on Amazon.com I came across this. I had already read a few books that were quite horrible-cheap knock-offs hardly resembling the stroy I had grown to love. So....I took a chance on this one. I bought it in my next order. I loved this book. It made me laugh, cry, practically pull out my hair in aggravation sometimes. IT's quite a long book, but i finished it in 2 days. And I have read it several times since then. The way the author portrays Erik is just amazing. The reader doesn't see him as a deformed, obsessed man but as a beautiful, gifted child. This book moves you-seriously. But don't take my word for it, buy it and read it. You won't be diappointed.
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Summary: Great Read - A must for Leroux's Phantom readership
Review: If you read "The Phantom of the Opera" then you MUST read this! I first read Leroux then Kay - then bought the CD - then went to the Fox theatre in Atlanta, GA where I was awestruck. Absolutely beautiful! My Phantom experience became complete. Kay adds dimension to the Leroux masterpiece. We live and travel as Erik did and come to understand how he became the talented and eccentric genius that Leroux claims him to be. The piece flows well and is considered a seamless transition before, during and after Leroux. Simply a beautiful read.
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Summary: A good supplement
Review: Unlike some Phantom Phans, I began with the original novel. Leroux's magnificent love triangle and the incredible man who lives in the labyrinth at the bottom of the Opera. I've seen the musical, own the original novel and this one, I have all three CDs with the orignal cast, I have the Complete Phantom of the Opera (George Perry), and I've visited the Opera in Paris (and broke quite a few rules trying to get to the roof and to the basements). Kay's story is wonderful background not only for Erik, but lso a bit for Raoul. He's been misrepresented as just a rich, young, naive boy whose love is based on old memories and a pretty face. He's not. Roul is intelliegent and loving, and this book shows that side of him. Erik--how much more into the character could you get? Kay offers more reasons for his love than any others, who simply state that is was her voice. Her uncanny resemblance to his mother gives some interesting psychological aspects to the story. Christine, as always, is portrayed as weak and needy, with a lovely voice but no idea how to use it, and so shallow that her father's death is still overwhelming her to the point that she allows herself to be controlled by the "Angel of Music". I'd really like to see someone do a book like this for Christine, because she's so lifeless! In almost every representation her defining emotion is bewilderment. I enjoyed having all the background on Erik. It made the musical and the original book much more poigiant, however much it may clash with Leroux. The time period covering Erik and Christine gives fuller insight to the reasons Christine kept returning to him, and why she still couldn't fully let Raoul go. The part I enjoyed most, though, was Raoul's narrative of the events that came after, even if Charles wasn't their child, and even if Kay did completely make this up. It could be just a freak coincidence that Raoul and Christine's child inheirits all Erik's positive aspects and the looks of his namesake. Remember, "from time to time certain faces are reproduced without ties of blood." Some things I wondered about: Does Erik's mother's name have any significance or relation to the Madeline church close to the Opera? What happened to the Ratcatcher? And where is Mme. Giry? Maybe I just don't remember her, but in the Leroux story it is she that has most of the direct dealings with the Phantom. This story gives fuller insight into the center of the story, the love triangle. My only problem is that I don't like the sex at the end. Erik and Christine's love was not portrayed as the sort which would lead to a happy life together. It was too passionate, too strong, too combustable. I perfer to think, however unlikely, that Charles was Raoul's child. The book left me aching and quite in love with Erik. And despite its flaws, it's still a magnificent work of fiction with a hero who seems determined to live in our minds so vibrantly that he seems real.
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Summary: Body of a fallen angel, soul of the divine, intervened.
Review: From the first moment that I lifted Susan Kay's "Phantom", in my freshman year of high school, I found that I could not put that book down. I had been in the library, picked up a hardback, and started reading. It was "Phantom", and I was in love. There are others here that have touched on the emotion, but there are those that will not speak, that have felt the very emotions Erik feels, or Christine, or any of the range of characters in Susan's novel. It's not the sinking into the bedcovers with this novel, but the sliding into the characters themselves, that brings a reader to her knees. Erotic, and yet not so, cruel, sadistic in the needs that must be soothed, the life which Erik leads may well be the hardest life, but the most pleasurable, in that all who read "Phantom" would rather have lived his life, instead of their own.
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Summary: Better than the original!
Review: Anyone who has ever seen Phantom of the Opera, the musical, or read the original novel and wanted to know where Eric (the Phantom) learned all the things he knows; anyone who has yearned for the backstory should read Phantom. Susan Kay saw the musical Phantom of the Opera and like me wanted to know more, she read the original book and like me, still wanted to know more, so she wrote it. (I wish I could have come with as compelling a backstory! I have convinced 6 friends to read it and all of them loved it. It is a fantastic read. It will keep you up late reading, and is there any better endorsement than that?
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