Are you sure a small jar could contain me, madame? -- Erik
Little was known of that romantic Gothic novel by French journalist and writer Gaston Leroux until Lon Chaney brought it on screen to become one of the greatest horror films of all time. He was even branded as a 'Man of a Thousand Faces' because of such portrayals. Then, after 61 years of becoming a household name and having many different film adaptations based on the then infamous Gothic novel, Leroux's Erik the Phantom became a worldwide character sensation through Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical The Phantom of the Opera. From then on, it's hard to find someone who doesn't recognise the story of that deformed genius and his search for earthly love.
No doubt that through Lloyd Webber's adaptation and Michael Crawford's stage portrayal of the character Erik, The Phantom of the Opera's fame spread like a plague. Obviously, I was infected and became obsessed, permanently.
Now, after the original novel, the films, and the musical, another adaptation, Susan Kay's Phantom, published in 1990, proved to be equally remarkable.
What did I feel after reading this novel?
1. Pity, sympathy 2. Sadness 3. Understanding of human nature especially humans who were crazed by their bitter past, unlawful treatment by the world, and a lot of awful things. 4. Fascination of Kay's perspective of telling the story of Erik's life from the day he was about to be born to how he met and fall in love with Christine, how he found love at last, and died in her loving arms.
A must read for all drama/romance/tragedy novel fanatics out there. It tells the tragic story of Erik the Phantom of the Opera, his struggle to be loved, to be like everybody else despite the hideousness of his appearance, which drove him to live a life somewhat not knowing the difference between good and evil. Unlike the Leroux version, this one presented a detailed story written like a diary, in which Erik and the other people whom he met gave their own accounts of their encounter with the master magician, architect, musician out of the Phantom himself.
Kay filled the gaps that are missing in Leroux’s account of Erik's life. Once you read this best-selling version, I doubt that you'll never shed tears. Touching scenes including the "can-I-have-a-kiss-as-a-birthday-present" by Erik to his mother, the story about the nightingale and the rose, the "I'll-never-have-a-kiss-as-a-birthday-gift" and "invite-me-to-your-wedding" scenes at the end part of the novel are absolute tear-jerking experiences.
One would fall in love with this novel, with the character Erik himself even if you believe that "the Opera Ghost really existed" or not...
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