General Sources

I fear I was not impressed.

My problems with the story were many. I came to the tale expecting the promised "What if Christine chose to stay with Erik?" image of domesticity. This Christine did not choose; she was blackmailed, just as Leroux's Christine was blackmailed, at the expense of Raoul's life. Charnas' Christine's "triumph" is to negotiate a time of imprisonment with Erik, where even Leroux's doll had managed to extricate herself utterly.

I did not find her a very sympathetic character. Christine, in voice and action, seemed too old. She has all the answers, and strange answers they are. (She tells us that it's a good thing she calls Erik disgusting names during their sexual encounters, as Erik would beat her if she lied. Speaking as someone for whom esteem is a problem, I do not find this at all a realistic image.) Next, we have Erik, who is Leroux's Erik gone bad. He's now torturing animals and sailing out to executions for the fun of it. Both of these characters left me with a maddening array of unanswered questions on my hands and the feeling of a huge rift between Charnas' and Leroux's stories; I could not find any reason for these revisioned characters doing what they allegedly had done in the Leroux story.

My main objection to the text, though, was the absolutely sickening depiction of sex between these characters. Christine says she is not a prude, but goes on to graphically detail in words of hate and revulsion her encounters with Erik. Frankly, this aura of mutual hatred, lurking beneath their "love," turned my stomach.

Despite these and the many other difficulties I had with the story, "Beauty and the Opera" has its good points. The Erik does take his bearings very obviously from Leroux's model and shows some potentially loveable traits (if one ignores the disgusting dog stunt); the Christine is stronger and a more likely character for lower-class Parisian life than would be Leroux's virginal maiden. The writing is vivid, if too modern-feeling in style. Historical research has clearly been poured into the text, and the fleeting scenes of a real home life for our favorite couple were appreciated. Whether you'll appreciate this story is probably a matter of your interpretation of the original story, and the strength of your stomach.