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Title: Phantom by Susan Kay ISBN: 0-440-21169-7 Publisher: Dell Publishing Company Pub. Date: 01 January, 1993 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.81 (240 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: An excellent tale of the struggle between good and evil.
Comment: When I read this book it had been over 10 years since I had read the original Gaston Leroux novel of Phantom. I enjoyed Susan Kay's writing immensely. She does an incredible job of portraying a character's struggle between good and evil. The main character, Erik, has the potential to be either an angel or a demon. Because of his genetic disfigurement, he's usually treated as the latter. Nevertheless, he struggles. Susan Kay paints such an excellent portrait, that at the times when Erik's behaviour is most heinous, the reader feels most sympathetic toward him. We come to understand what drives him to the things he does. I really liked the way the author expanded the character of the Persian. Most adaptations of Phantom eliminate his character altogether. Kudos to Susan Kay for knowing when a character is worth keeping. Fans of the original novel should be warned: There are several discrepancies between this version and the original. However, one needs familiarity with the original story (or the Broadway show) in order to really appreciate this book. Susan Kay begins with the Phantom's birth and ends several years after his death. Where there is much detail in the events of Erik's life outside of the original story, she does a very abridged version of the events covered in the original story. I have two other disappointments with this book. (Thus, I could only give it four stars.) One, the author glosses over another four-year period of Erik's life. It is during that four-year period that he apparently mastered the garote and became a vicious killer. Although his later motivations for violence are explained in great detail, she fails to tell where he learned to kill without sensitivity. My only other criticism is that in an afterward to the book (which I read before purchasing the book), the author says that she wrote the book to answer questions leftover from the original. Two of my questions were never even addressed. First, who is the other Phantom with the widebrimmed hat? Second, who is the ratcatcher? However, those two criticisms aside, Phantom is an excellent book. I would love to read more of Susan Kay's literature.
Rating: 5
Summary: Incredibly Imaginative
Comment: For some time I've been interested in the story of "The Phantom of the Opera." When Gaston Leroux's "Le Phantom De L'Opera" was published in 1911, I doubt he knew that it would grow to the phenomenon it has become. Susan Kay plays on this phenomenon in her novel "Phantom," which provides us with an extraordinary overview of the life of Erik, the phantom himself. Her writing style lends to the romantic image (and indeed, the story is a romance, not only between Erik and Christine, but Erik and his music, as well as between the reader and Erik himself...who could help falling in love with his tragic figure?), that coupled with the european landscape creates the stage for a modern day fairy tale. The book exhibits incredible imagination with scenes that don't act as filler, but work to drive the plot...indeed the "gun" we see in act one returns in act three. Though not an "intellectual" read, we can't help but be aware of the research that must have gone into it, and that coupled with the ever lasting story makes for a highly entertaining novel.
Rating: 5
Summary: so wonderful and PHANTASTIC!!
Comment: Wow! I just finished the book for the second time in 4 days and it made me cry everytime. I checked out this book at the library and started crying in front of everone as I read a little of the first section! It takes alot for me to cry over a book in front of strangers, mind you. This book is now my favorite (more than lernox's PHANTOM or Les Miserables). I was on my way to appply for a job (im 14) and I was reading it in the car but when I was filling out a job applacation, I started crying!!! From his mother refusing him a single kiss to his morphine and opium addiction to his death, he (Erik) kept me under his spell and begged me to read onward. I know that sounds lame, but it felt like Erik was speaking through the pages and begging me to read onward. This is such a great PHANTASTIC book!!! Read it and cry, not for my review, but for our beloved Phantom, Erik.
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Title: The Complete Phantom of the Opera by George Perry ISBN: 0805017224 Publisher: Owl Books (NY) Pub. Date: 01 April, 1991 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title:The Phantom of the Opera (TV Miniseries) ASIN: 630560939X Publisher: Image Entertainment Pub. Date: 14 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.99 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $13.04 |
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Title: The Phantom of the Opera: The Original Novel by Gaston Leroux ISBN: 0060809248 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 12 January, 1988 List Price(USD): $7.00 |
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Title: Legacy by Susan Kay ISBN: 038070322X Publisher: Harper Mass Market Paperbacks (Mm) Pub. Date: 01 April, 1987 List Price(USD): $4.50 |
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Title: Progeny by Becky Meadows ISBN: 0595176208 Publisher: Writers Club Press Pub. Date: 01 March, 2001 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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