did christine love erik in the novel?

[RDraconis]

Please. I desperately pity your POV. Uh..."Say you love him and my life is over"? I thought it was, "Say you love ME and my life is over." [sarcasm]Yup. Sounds like blackmail to me...[/sarcasm]
...And now you hate me. But I will die happy knowing that I defended Raoul.

1. "Raoul: Say you love him, and my life is over! " -http://imdb.com/title/tt0293508/quotes
Just do a ctrl-F for it. He did mean "Say you love him and I have no reason to live".
And I don't think anyone hates you. Although it minorly annoys me that you insult all about that stuff. Yeah, that guy was annoying as heck- but I think it's sweet to think of this great musician who was shunned by everyone, even his own mother, finding love in a diva who can share his passion for music.
It's ridiculous, but it appeals to the romantic in us. I agree whole heartedly that in every version but the musical Raoul and Christine belonged together. But in the '04 version... sorry, I saw no chemistry and Raoul wasn't that great in terms of showing he really cared about her... or had common sense. Who runs into the monster's lair without anything to defend yourself? Though, Christine was worse. All she had to do was get her dress wet to keep Raoul from getting trapped in the first place and she just stood there the entire time.

Raoul is a crap character, with girly hair and whiny way about him, he whines continiously in the novel, almost forcing Christine to love him, he is as big an manipulator as Erik ever was.

Remember in the movie version "Say you love him and my life is over?" hmm blackmail much another point where was the man with shampoo commercial hair when christine was orphaned, did he care what had happened to her? No he didnt give it another thought in that pretty little emptyheaded brain of his!

Raoul should have died in the torture chamber and done everyone a favour

Erm... Your only defenses come from the movie.
1- in the novel, he never said that- he never had the chance to say anything, he just rushed in to save his love like an idiot in love, which he was.
2- Her mother died when she was 6, but I think her dad only died less then a year before the novel started- and he spent months trying to get her attention, but Christine kept ignoring him.
3- Actually, the only thing he was guilty of isn't "blackmail" but being young and in love. He really cared about Christine and when he found out what Erik had done to her he wanted to leap to her defense. How is that blackmail?

On a side note- what's wrong with girly hair? Half the guys around here are pretty and I think it's nice to see that mix of pretty and male.

[Wandering_Child]

1. "Raoul: Say you love him, and my life is over! " -http://imdb.com/title/tt0293508/quotes
Just do a ctrl-F for it. He did mean "Say you love him and I have no reason to live".
And I don't think anyone hates you. Although it minorly annoys me that you insult all about that stuff. Yeah, that guy was annoying as heck- but I think it's sweet to think of this great musician who was shunned by everyone, even his own mother, finding love in a diva who can share his passion for music.
It's ridiculous, but it appeals to the romantic in us. I agree whole heartedly that in every version but the musical Raoul and Christine belonged together. But in the '04 version... sorry, I saw no chemistry and Raoul wasn't that great in terms of showing he really cared about her... or had common sense. Who runs into the monster's lair without anything to defend yourself? Though, Christine was worse. All she had to do was get her dress wet to keep Raoul from getting trapped in the first place and she just stood there the entire time.

Really? I thought that the '04 movie showed much more chemistry than, say, the musical. Raoul was not one of the main characters in the musical, but played a much larger role in the movie. I really liked that. It's useless to argue on this, because once again it's all a matter of opinions and tastes. But I don't think I would waste time trying to find a piece of wood in a burning building full of screaming people when my fiancee has been kidnapped by an insane, homicidal near-rapist...*tee-hee* Poor Erik.

Anyways, it just makes me really angry when people have no real opinion, and I can't help but be rather rude to them (rather rude...especially rude, I suppose). If there opinion is something like, "I don't like Raoul very much. He seems rather whiney and it doesn't appear to me that he and Christine have very much in common," I would say good for you and leave them alone (but I would make a comment on my opinion). But if their opinion is, "OMG! LYKE RAUL IZ SOOOOO STOOPID! I HTE HIM SOOO BAD! ND>LYKE HE NEEDS 2 DRWN N ERICK"S LAKE!!!!! "

Uh, no. I'm sorry. I despise stupid people. It's not something I can change in a blink of an eye, so nobody expect me to be kind and have an intelligent conversation w/ sum1 who types lyk dis.

[Phangirl7]

I think that she did love Erik, just it was more of an obsessive, deep, dark passion-type love and not a sweet, childhood love like she has with Raoul.
P.G.7.

[irukandji]

Christine never loved Erik in the book. She loved Raoul. Erik himself confirmed proof of this when he said to Christine, "I know you love the boy". If Christine had loved Erik, that would have been the perfect time to contradict him and tell him her feelings. Instead, however, when she was given her freedom, she hurried away with Raoul. Not slowly walked away or acted like she wanted to stay, she hurried away. She loved Raoul and not Erik.