The Phantom of the Opera

After someone recommended this book to me I finally decided to check it out. It was a very well written book, and aside from being a horror/romance classical book, I found it to be a page-turner. It was written by Gaston Leroux and inspired the musical "The Phantom of the Opera", which was a play that Champlin Park put on at one point in time. The book is about three main characters: The beautiful, gentle, lovable opera understudy Christine Daae who seems to have lost her musical talent after the death of her father, but still is the back-up for the opera singer Carlotta. Then, there is the young M de Changy, who is Raoul. He is 21 and was Christine's play date when they were younger, and now he has fallen in love with her. Christine loves Raoul, but there is one person, if he may be called that, who is preventing an eminent announcement of their engagement. This being is known as the "Phantom of the Opera". At first, most dancers and audience members believe him to be a ghost, because he wears a white mask and is "as thin as death". However, he has a captivating voice and speaks to Christine without letting her see him. She believes that he is the "Angel of Music" that has come to help her regain her talents. Despite all of these identities given to him, the "Opera Ghost" is really a human by the name of Eric. He wears the mask to conceal a horrible dis figuration from birth. He lives on a lake under the Opera House where he sings and plays his organ, composing. He is an amazing singer, but despite all of his musical talent, not even his mother really loved him because of his face deformation. He falls for Christine as well, and takes her down to his house and plays the organ as she sings, inspiring her to redevelop some of her evasive talents. Eric then arranges for Carlotta to be "sick" to let Christine sing. She does, receiving a thunderous encore for her incredible singing. She becomes an illustrious opera singer. Eric, however, is driven mad with jealousy that she loves Raoul and kidnaps her. She has already seen his face; she tore off his mask while he had captivated her with his music, and he wants her to love him. When Raoul and a mysterious Persian come to save her, they are locked in a torture chamber of sorts, with hallucinations in a deadly hot desert forest mirage. Also, when Raoul's brother comes to try to save them, he dies "accidentally". Eric, with his cunning mind, set up rigged scorpion and grasshopper figurines- the scorpion symbolizing yes, the grasshopper no, for whether or not Christine would marry him. If she turned the grasshopper, the Opera House, with them in it, would blow up. She turns the scorpion to save everyone. However, Eric falls into remorse, and lets Christine go to marry Raoul. Sobbing, Eric watches her go after she cried with him in pity for him. He had one request: that she would take his dead body and bury it by the Opera House; he would die of a broken heart. And he did, within weeks. I felt so sad for him, despite the murders he committed, because no one ever really loved him. I found that to be something that would drive a person mad, which probably explains most of his actions. Although it is an old read, it is extremely well written (better than I described it), and I have heard some of the songs from the play and they are pretty awesome as well! I would recommend this book to anyone who does not mind a more challenging, classical read...or sad endings.