English Teacher Musings

It baffled me and left sour taste of impending catastrophe for the characters’ future life. Camilla never asks him to remove the mask, and she seems to forgive everything bad he’s done in his life. Even when she has an opportunity to see his face for real, she refuses it. Sound good, right? But the thing is – when she hears Erik’s wondrous voice for the first time, she immediately creates ‘the face of his voice’, as she calls it, in her head. A handsome face. A normal face. Later we have love scenes in the dark, when she can’t see him, but she touches his face, maps it. I don’t believe she could fail to notice he lacks a nose, or that she didn’t feel his sharp skull-like features. In the very end they both leave Paris, he feels calm that she didn’t refuse him, didn’t react the way Christine did (btw, Camilla takes Christine down in her thoughts not once and not twice, as if emphasizing that she, Camilla, loves Erik for real, not like stupid hen Christine). But the truth is – basically Camilla extremely crossed her eyes when Erik’s face was naked (so she couldn’t see anything in front of her), and she LIED to him about it, acting as if she’s seen him. So he’s calm and happy now, and she thinks she was right to do so.

But my very first thought was – they are going to live together, and of course Erik would like to walk around his home without the mask. So what happens when Erik, absolutely sure in Camilla’s calm upon seeing him, takes off the mask the moment they’re at home alone? When she doesn’t expect it to happen and doesn’t manage to cross her eyes again? How loud would she scream?

The author inserts a moment into the book – Erik and Camilla visit some bar for low-lifes, Erik tells the reader about his experience with perverts, and points out only a pervert would like to fuck him. Sounds kinda logical, and it’s clear that Camilla isn’t one of those. But I’m really torn between realism and romanticism – I haven’t seen any POTO fic where the issue isn’t solved with the ‘Power of Love’ (with the varying degree of realism), which enables Christine (or whoever stands for a love interest) to continue loving and wanting him, physically including, even after face revelation. My romantic heart is broken apart with Andrianova’s idea – however realistic it is, but I want to believe in smth stronger than physicality.

So no, I don’t believe in a real happy ending of a book – a relationship built on a lie upon a lie, and the liar here isn’t Erik.

Masha is 17, all she thinks about is snuggling with hot men (not even boys – adult men). Her love interests grope her, kiss her – and they all are adult men. Why couldn’t the authors age the heroine up – at least to 18, esp considering that she studies at uni?

Lots of rape jokes, which – I get it – work as synonyms of passionate sex, and many more jokes about seduction of a minor. The book was written in 2016! I thought these jokes were left long in the past! Nowadays it’s at least deeply distasteful, at most – offensive.

There are moments when the heroine says to her kinda-boyfriend (she likes him, he likes her, but they are not True Loves) to stay friends, but he still kisses her and treats her as his girlfriend – touches her borderline inappropriately and flirts a lot. Later in the plot he kisses her while she’s drunk, they almost have sex, but in the morning she’s only offended they didn’t manage to, and she doesn’t have any qualms with him having kissed her while she was intoxicated.

All the other guys in the book (the heroine’s colleagues) joke with her inappropriately and ogle her while her being in lingerie – she doesn’t mind (let me remind you again, she’s 17, they’re adult men). In the end she suddenly falls in love with one of these guys, the one who hated her from the beginning, but now it’s True Love.

Frankly speaking, the nicest man in the book is a skeleton Count (who is also in love with the main heroine, of course) – he defends her honour and gives her flowers, and listens to her when she complains about her feelings being hurt (while the other guys, her colleagues, only judge her).

The Phantom Saga by Jessica Mason

A good romantic and spicy rendering of the POTO book plus continuation of the story, romance and adventures – everything POTO fans and specifically Erik\Christine fans would wish for. I love Christine’s character – not a naïve quiet transparent as a tear girl, but with a complicated character and even hardness. I absolutely adored light BDSM moments with sub!Erik and dom!Christine – it’s the only time I could ever find such disposition of powers, everyone else goes old boring ‘sub!Christine and dom!Erik’. The books are very worth reading. They are 5 in the saga for now – 4 novels and 1 novella, expecting the 5th book this summer.

‘The Angel of the Opera’ by Sam Siciliano

First it seemed like a retelling of the original POTO book with some OC Sherlock’s cousin instead of Watson. The plot moves on without Sherlock at all, his presence doesn’t change events, which I find dissatisfying, but the ending (a happy Erik ending!) turns everything right in my eyes. I adored the fact that Sherlock unexpectedly, instead of being an adversary, believes in Erik’s goodness and gives him his friendship and help when no one does, which in the end saves Erik’s life and soul. Also I enjoyed Christine’s bitchiness and calculation in her choice of the husband – well, the girl has to survive in the man’s world...

‘The Canary Trainer’ by Nicholas Meyer

Some pages in, and it seemed like Sherlock brings plot changes to the POTO’s detective storyline, but he ends all the way wrong about Erik’s backstory. For real, the great Sherlock Holmes fails to find out the truth about the Phantom’s personality? Also it irked me how Erik is described as just a madman. Yes, I know he acts wrong in many ways, but the reasons why he became as he was (and which make him such a relatable character) are all missing. He doesn’t get any sympathy from the author. Meh.

‘The Phantom’ by Susan Kay

It’s considered as ‘almost canon’ in POTO circles, and I see the appeal, but… The storyline seemed ok, but Erik’s drug addiction and the fact he gives a child to Christine while Raoul takes the child as his own… It iffed me, really. Also I kinda dislike how Erik is described as a devilish child – not my headcanon. I get it, he’s a genius with restless mind, prone to mischief, but come on! There was no need to make him evil towards his mother. Mixed feelings – there are good ideas in the book, too.