Welcome to Gaia! ::

Well, actually there are a difference between the affects of a hallucinatory relaxant drug as opposed to wrapping oneself in their work.

As I said, those drugs have the effect to make thought irrational or devoid depending on dosage. Morphine is a relaxant drug. Opium I believe does the same thing, but has a little more harsh effects.

Becoming engulfed in a hobby or work does not deter one from having rational thought. It infact increases the thought process because you have to do this, that, and the other and sooner or later another topic will come up in your mind and cause you to think on that instead. Yes, it's a good escape, but is not a complete escape from reality because you can still comprehend thoughts and anything else rationally.

But I'm not going to go any further on that since I've made my point already.

Garrison, I completely agree with you. It makes sense to say that drugs would have dulled and slowed Erik's mind, and he really did need to be a very fast thinker. Way to put it into words.

*nods sadly* I'm the only one who put no becuase it sucked and I hated it gonk I mean, I loved the first half of the book where she gaves juicy little details of the phantom's past that were not at all told in Leroux's version but once it started getting into the part with the daroga...I choked through, but it was alright. But then the clincher was the whole way she handled the Erik and Christine confrontation I mean screw being upset with him using drugs I got why she might get the funny idea of throwing them in their but an illigetimate child between the phantom and Christine WTF? That just made me...GAAAHHH!!! *strangles Kay* damnit O.< so....yeah that ruined it for me...ruined the magic...*sigh* and that's my opinion even though it's definite must read for any phan there is one phan out there (namely me) who did not enjoy sad (and when I finished it, I threw the book back in the face of the friend who initially bought it for me)

Well, Eric, I brought up the subject of disliking Ms. Kay's book either in the general PotO discussion thread or the book discussion thread. Naturally, you aren't alone in your dislike of it. I'm part of a phan forum where a good number of the members hate the book for various reasons.

While I myself enjoyed the book in various spots, I do admit there were some areas I kinda skimmed through. What I didn't like (and this is the same reason I dislike another book series in its entirety) is that everywhere Erik went, some woman was in love with him. While it's cute romantic idealism, Erik is a cadaver head to toe. I think women would rather have their ovaries shrivel up and fall out of them than dream of being ravished by him. Then again, it depends on if they're all necropheliacs (such was the case in some fanfic on DA that I read with the pairing ErikxThe khanum of Persia).

And I agree the whole illegitimate child between Erik and Christine is quite far-fetched. But, it's her version and she carried such a cliche "happy" ending well.

I LOVED the first half of the Susan Kay book, where she tried to piece Erik's past together. I found that extremely interesting and all, but... xd Once we got to the part with Ayesha, I was like... "D: Erik would not pick up a kitty in the middle of the street and twirl around happily with it. Wtf? ..." I never would think Erik to get so emotionally attached to an animal. e.e; I was half expecting it to say that he brought her home and ate her.


...and... yah. I did like it, though. Ayesha and the drugs were the only things that irritate me at all.


And... The whole... thing with like... Christine looking like Erik's mother, and Christine never knowing her mother, and Erik's mother dying around the time Chritine was born (I think) and Christine's child looking like Erik's father, and having the same name...

That just all made me go, " gonk " and think of several situations in which incest was possible. e_______________e;;; That just... freaked me out. Badly.

My thoughts exactly. Although in the early parts of the book, ehen he was still living with his mother, I thought his temper tantrums were a bit out of character. Resembling the ALW!Erik more than Leroux!Erik. It's not that bad per se, but still. And later on he just got more and more out of character. It wasn't a bad book though. I mean, I'm glad I ordered it and all. It was just kinda disappointing in some parts. Like the ALW movie.

Actually I enjoyed the part where she sort of fell in love with the seraphic angel, it made you believe the dream-like world that Erik was capable of creating as well as the fact that his mother wanted to escape reality of Erik so badly I could see her sort of..you know, talking to it, and then cuddling it, and then giving it the care she never gave Erik, the seraphim was sort of an outlet to all the motherly insticts she could never give towards Erik. I think it also reflects how easily Erik could create this same dream world with Christine who also dreadfully wanted to escape reality.

But his mother was definitly on my hate list, I mean at first yes I could see someone being thoroughly disgusted with the child but living with him for...over five years then for his fifth birthday and not even being able to kiss him? That woman deserved to be punjabbed, but it was a rather intresting twist of ironic fate when she "suddenly" decides to give him the love he deserves and then he runs away....that just made me chuckle in irony. Of course I was also overwhelmed with pity when I found out she exiled herself to the house afterwards, I'd almost expected her to actually go off and marry the doctor after that.

But I really think the best part of Erik's childhood was the part where his mother just snapped and screamed "I hate you!" and Erik just realizes..."I hate you too." Even though that scene screams cliche, although in truth, Kay's style really seems to be that modern, short concluding sentence that's supposed to make a profound impact, and she used it way too much in my opinon. Kay's novel is quite addicting to read becuase of that style...but if you ever stop and think about what she's saying it's like "wait...what? gah! cliche o.<" That's probably what bugs me over all, the style it was written in. It definantly was written as a factual biography becuase it lacked the poetic liscense it needed in some parts to make the phantom's life truly seemed magical instead of this "This is what happened, and this is what I said." And if she had used that uppity poetic style, she probably could hhave gotten away with some of the scenes she through in there. OR maybe that's just me O.o

(And my apoligies Utakan if this was supposed to be in the book section, I was merely surfing about becuase I haven't been on for awhile and found this...and the felt the urge to exclaim my disgust)