My Phantom: The Memoir of Christine Daaé,

by Anstance Tamplin

The novel My Phantom is the memoir of Christine Daaé, the soprano immortalized in Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera. Christine’s memoir unmasks an enduring legend with the stories of a talented orphan struggling toward stardom and a throwaway boy who conquers opera’s greatest stage. My Phantom chronicles the collaboration of a musical master and his exceptional student who rescue each other from loneliness while striving to reach the pinnacle of their art only to find themselves trapped in a love triangle that destines one to remain forever alone. My Phantom unfolds in the world’s most intriguing opera house in Belle Époque Paris, where Impressionists inspire a freewheeling spirit and opera singers are the first global superstars.Christine and her lovers – the mysterious Phantom and the aristocrat Raoul – personify the élan of glittering era whose artistic ferment shapes their lives forever.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Romance, Historical

280 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2009

About the author

I wrote My Phantom as Anstance Tamplin, but my name is Beth Quinn Barnard. I've also published seven novels as Elizabeth Quinn. I've made my living writing news and novels, and teaching journalism, fiction, and composition since 1976. A graduate of Skidmore College and Boston University, I've lived in Grants Pass, Oregon, since 1983 with my husband, Jeff Barnard, a reporter with the Associated Press. Our children, Nate and Nellie, are grown,but we made sure they were Red Sox fans before we set them free. I like to read, travel, hike, cook, ski and raft. I sing alto in a local community chorus and am having a blast remodeling our home room-by-room.

Reviews

[A.G. Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed experiencing the Phantom's story through Christine's eyes. The writing was lovely, layered, and well-edited, and the costumes/settings vividly described. I dropped one star because the meticulous detailing of the operas being performed distracted from the story at times. Not a glaring flaw at all, and someone who's more familiar with operas will love that part of the book. It was just a personal stumbling block for me.

I think anyone who enjoyed Susan Kay's Phantom (which is my all time favorite Phantom adaptation) will be intrigued by this alternate POV.

[MAP · Rating 3 out of 5]

Certainly one of the better takes on the story, with more than competent writing (although a little too much showing off of how much opera research the author did.) However, the Phantom was kind of...bland. Yes. Somehow, the Phantom of the Opera was bland.

Also, why go whole hog Leroux in every other sense but refuse to name the Phantom Erik?

[DoS · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been a Phantom fan for a long time but the character of Christine has rarely had any appeal to me because of her actions towards Erik. I have always had mixed feelings concerning this character.

On a few rare occasions, I have read Erik/Christine related stories that made me like the character of Christine and "My Phantom: the Memoir of Christine Daaé" by Anstance Tamplin is exactly one of these stories.

Based on the original novel, Christine tells her own version of what Gaston Leroux has published by saying he was all wrong, that instead of being a monster, the Phantom is actually a mesmerizing man.

Christine tells her version of the facts and well, I find she becomes a very likeable character. She's just a normal girl who has a great relationship with her Angel as she sees him as a man, not a monster or a gargoyle. She is also reunited with Raoul, her childhood friend who had been away for many years.

The Phantom still lives under the opera house and always acts like a gentleman towards Christine. He does everything he can to help her become the prima donna of the Garnier. He is strict when it comes to music, teaching her how to use her voice, her emotions, to get in touch with the characters she is going to play. He is strict but he rewards her by going out with her for walks around Paris or taking her to café's, theatres or cabarets.

The Phantom is the genius behind all the costumes, sets, casting and opera schedule at the Garnier.

There is real chemistry between Christine and the Phantom and it touched me deeply. Christine is fascinated with the Phantom and you can feel she cares about him and would like to develop their relationship a bit more. As for the Phantom, he reveals himself slowly but surely to Christine. She accepts all of him. She gives him hope and you can feel he is grateful to be accepted like any man with no deformity.

On the other hand, Raoul is also likeable, which I find quite rare as in many stories, he tends to be annoying and feisty. He is a bit feisty as he is happy to be reunited with Christine but he is feisty in a good way. He understands Christine a bit more. He does not provoke the Phantom, he is respectful.

I give this book 5 stars because it brought me joy, laughter, love, a new vision on two well known and loved characters and last but not least, I felt I was there, witnessing the interaction between the characters. To that, I say :Brava! Brava! Bravissima!

[Cen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I immensely enjoyed this book. It wasn't stunning, but the writing was well-done and the interpretation unique. I especially enjoyed the way the author handled the characterization of Christine. Despite being a huge Phan, most of the time Christine frustrates me. She is either portrayed as being too petty and insincere or too passive and innocent. Not so with this book! Finally Christine comes to life with a voice of her own, whose growth we can clearly see and whose sincere love for two very different men can be believed and understood.

There are two reasons why I'm not rating this book 5 stars. The first reason is a bit petty of me, but there are several grammar and spelling errors throughout this story. Not enough to make reading impossible but enough to be distracting. Also, I found the ending moderately unsatisfying. Christine and Raoul's storyline is completed wonderfully, but I'm left with burning need to know WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PHANTOM? His choice at the end was true to character but a bit abrupt, and then he just vanishes! I think it would be more satisfying if the book had closed with his thoughts... but all in all this was brilliant.

[cobwebbing]

Ghhhh DNF for now, might give it another shake in the future and decide on a rating then. I really want it to turn things around.

It's not terrible, as a matter of fact it has some cute moments, like a scene where Erik trained Christine on how to use her breath when singing with a candle. That was nice! The unresolved sexual tension between them is really good, too.

The real hook of this story, at least for me, is that Christine's name is in the title and she narrates the thing. I feel like she gets a bad rep sometimes, but I really love Christine and think she has a lot of potential. That said, I thought that this book did an... okayish job with her. She's sweet but a teeny bit bland. Think less Leroux more ALW and then water it down a bit more.

There's also the kind of grating trend that some POTO retellings have where the narrator condescendingly says that Leroux had it all wrong and "this is what REALLY happened." In this case what REALLY happened is that Erik is a pretty chilled out hottie who did nothing wrong in his life, ever. Ew.

This book's greatest crime is that, particularly by making Erik so unproblematic, it plays things so safe it's boring. I'm 17% of the way in and nothing of real note has happened. Perhaps I'm totally making the wrong call and if I get a bit further in it'll suddenly kick into gear. Maybe I'll find out someday, but today is not that day.

[Jowy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read many retellings/sequels of The Phantom of the Opera, and the vast majority of them suck. There are only a few that are really worthwhile. This one, I'm happy to say, is the minority.

I enjoyed that it was told from Christine's point of view, because the original novel doesn't really do much character development to Christine. Most of the events in this version work with the events of the original, and when they do not, the author states that Leroux was being dramatic. I thought that was cute.

I really loved the characterization of Christine, and I even liked the characterization of Raoul. The only thing I had problems with was the characterization of the Phantom. For one, he's not given a name, which really irked me. I think the author was going for something by not naming him (since in Leroux, you find out his name quite early on), but it wasn't really played out as I think it should have been. The other issue was that he wasn't tortured enough. He acted more or less like a normal man, who just happened to live underground and wear a mask (that you sometimes didn't even notice, and was said wasn't too uncommon after the war). I'm all for softening Erik (the Phantom, as he should have been named), but he wasn't nearly as brilliant of a character as he was before. I think the author was trying to make him and his motives more mysterious, but it just doesn't really work. I would have liked to see him a bit more tortured, a bit more brilliant, and a bit more troubled about having to leave Christine, because it really felt like she was more in love with him than he was with her, and that just didn't work for me. I realize I have predispositions about this story, but every phan does, so I'm definitely not the minority.

All in all, though, I thought it was a great story. Not nearly as good as Susan Kay (the queen of the Phantom retellings), but nowhere near as bad as some I've read. I was glad to see that this was an already published author (working under a pseudonym) and not just some crappy published "phanfiction" like some.

[Odette Swan · Rating 5 out of 5]

These book provides the story of The Phantom of the Opera from Christine’s point of view, which I have to say intrigued me. I felt like this book gave me a better understanding of Christine, and what went on within her mind. It also gives you a better understanding of her relationship with both the Phantom and Raoul. I have personally always wanted her to end up with the Phantom, and I feel like this book solidified that for me.

I don’t want to give anything about this book away, but the way Tamplin brings the reader into the Phantom world, it is done in such an amazing way that you don’t lose the essence of the original story. You will be razzled and dazzled with this new take on a classic love story. If you loved The Phantom of the Opera, than you don’t need to let this amazing story pass you by!