The Phantom of the Opera

By: Gastón Leroux

Narrated by: Keith Wickham

In a Paris Opera House, Chorus singer Christine Daaé develops a relationship with a disfigured Phantom, who she believes to be the Angel of Music, promised to her by her late father.

The Phantom tutors Christine, but the relationship breaks down when the Phantom discovers Christine's love for her childhood sweetheart Raoul. Who will win Christine's heart and with what consequence?

Public Domain (P)2013 Aquarium Audio Books

One of my all-time favorite books!

Gaston Leroux's "The Phantom of the Opera" is one of my all-time favorite novels, seamlessly blending mystery, romance, horror, and suspense, so five stars for the story itself.

As to the performance, Keith Wickham is the best narrator of all the "Phantom" audiobooks available on Audible at present. He gives an energetic, emotive reading, which perfectly suits the breathless pace of the story, and carefully avoids either overacting or lapsing into monotone, as many other narrators do. He does an excellent job of creating unique voices and accents for each character, though I didn't care for those of the Persian and the Phantom/Erik, which is too bad, as a good portion of the story, particularly towards the end, is told in their voices. The Persian sounded more Hungarian or Russian than Middle Eastern to my ear, and the Phantom/Erik's gruff, growly baritone (which sounded like a combination of Claude Rains and Sydney Greenstreet) was at odds with the playful nature and angelic voice described by Leroux. I also found some of Wickham's pronunciations a bit annoying, such as rushing through "Daae" so that sounded like "Day."

While enjoyed this audiobook, I wouldn't call it the definitive interpretation, and would love to see someone like Dan Stevens try their hand at bringing this story to life.

Great Voice Acting, Terrible Volume Consistency

Any additional comments?

The narration was very well done, however the volume kept changing and it was very annoying. One minute, I have to turn the volume down because the narrator is screaming in my ear. The next, I'm turning it up, because he was whispering and I could barely hear it. Volume would go up and down even when he was speaking normally. Voice acting was very good, I appreciated the voice of each character.

a bit disappointed

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I guess in a way only because you get to know a few more details then you get during the play or the movie but no because it didn't have the kind of story telling I have come to expect I'm a big Phantom of the Opera fan and I was really expecting more of this then what I got I really wish I would have gotten and aspect from Christine instead of second hand from one of the police officers or the Persian it just left me wanting something that I never got

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I would have done more perspectives from Christine and the Phantom maybe even Raul but the way it was presented it kind of was lacking in a big way

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

I liked all the accents because I'm a big sucker for accents but I disliked the details concerning the phantom and Christine it was like this giant build up and you barely got any action between any of them you didn't really get any one on one play of what was going on there just hearing second hand from other sources I really would have loved to see from the source of maybe the Phantom or Christine or Raoul instead of hearing it from somebody else's perspective and they weren't even in the room half the time

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

they did make Phantom of the Opera Angel movie and I own it and I love it and I've watched it a gazillion times but if this particular version was turned into a movie now I probably won't see it maybe I would but if it was done the way it was done in the book I probably won't enjoy it as much

Any additional comments?

if your big Phantom of the Opera fan and you're thinking this will be a really cool book to read I was thinking that this was a different book and I know there's a lot of Phantom of the Opera books out therebut this one didn't have anything I was looking for so you may be very disappointed save your money

Wonderful!

The narrator was fantastic as usual, very creative and consistent. The story, which I expected to be far more arduous, was both humorous and heart-wrenching

Different but The Original.

I’ve seen the Webber musical a number times all over the world and the movie once...
But in these pages is where all the movies, major Motion picture and the beloved musical was adapted. It is what all based on this.

I consider myself to be a true Phantom follower growing up, now and for the rest of my life. The different stories that followed the book have some similarities and overtones to this original work and some and some never heard or listened to. This book is far more detailed from it’s “descendants”.

I feel that this book, written more than 100 years ago, will stand the test of time as a great literary work that stirs the soul as it is a beautiful and not so beautiful story unlike any other. It stirs the sole, the heart and the imagination.

Must read!!

Fun

Easy read, not a great work of literature but fun. The performance was solid and didn't bother me at all. Gaston Leroux seemed to think far too much of himself.

Hard to understand

I love this story but when I'm in the car I can't understand everything that the reader is saying because he lowers the voice too much in many places, and then is too loud. I got tired of it and stop listening.