I came expecting music, maybe a little spooky romance with this book and discovered that the phantom, or opera ghost, is really a cross between a vampire and jigsaw. Armed with only dim memories of the musical, which I saw as a child and clearly didn't remember very well, I was surprised by how there is so much less singing in the novel than I expected and far more murderous sadism.
With the novel version of the Phantom, as my only point of reference, I don't get how people can sympathize with him to the point where they felt Christine should be with him. He's a genius, sure, but he's also psychotic and vicious. I get it. He's lonely, his deformity makes it hard for him to integrate into society, but you know what? He's also managed to hold down more than one steady-paying job, so clearly, he's figured out how to get by in society before. Why didn't he think to perfect that instead of building an opera house on top of a death maze/labyrinth? I don't know what I would have done exactly in his position, but I feel like: build an underground torture warren would be low on that list.
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