"The Phantom of the Opera" is a beautiful story: well-conceived, inspiring, overwhelming, original images. It starts off in a great way, and the ending is a tear-jerker. There were too much details in the middle ,however, describing The Persian's and Raoul's attempts to reach the abducted Chrisitine. These "boring: details also stray the reader from the heart of the story, and you couldn't help wondering sometimes if you are reading a boyish adventure book, or a deep novel about human struggle. Although all the events of the movie and the musicals were derived from the novel, they were able to do what Leroux missed: focus on the characters and deeply explore their emotional turmoil. The Phantom of the Opera is a great story, that could've been better written and handled (however the movie and musical well-compensated this deficiency).