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on 5 September 2002
Several of my recent fiction purchases have been vampire related, such as Brian Lumley's Necroscope series, Richard Matheson's "I Am Legend", and of course, Anne Rice's vampire chronicles. Although the vampire concept works well in SF, as Matherson definitively demonstrated, it is refreshing to read vampires in a traditional setting. Anne Rice epitomises the classic style of vampires in her writing, with familiar idiosyncrasies, physical characteristics, and surroundings.
Rice maintains credibility throughout the novel in terms of the direction of the narrative, and seldom if ever are concepts introduced that seem 'unlikely' in the credible setting built up. Without speculating too specifically, I understand that Rice underwent some family tragedies not long before this novel was written, (in 5 weeks!), and her extreme sentimental openness in the novel is surely justified, and the novel actually benefits from this emotional release. It would be a comfort to be able to express your feelings as cogently as Rice if one was overcoming a tragedy.
There is only one possible loophole in the story, (although my identification of this is very questionable as it is subjective, and I could probably be proven wrong and convinced of the proof). This is when Louis seems to have only just met Armand, and although Louis has been searching for another civilised vampire, (civilised apart from the fact that he kills countless innocent mortals), for years, I felt that he would need to know Armand for longer to warrant exchanging words of love. It seemed as Louis virtually walked up to Armand and said, 'ah, hello.. I love you!'. As I said, that is a purely subjective observation; (please note that the previous dialogue is not a quote). The other interesting factor about this novel, in my opinion, is that Anne describes predominantly male thoughts, (the narrator is male: Louis), when she is female, so for any male readers it is intriguing to see her perspective.
To conclude, IwtV is a wonderful tragic vampire biography, and is not too immensly melancholy to be unbearable to read.
Rice maintains credibility throughout the novel in terms of the direction of the narrative, and seldom if ever are concepts introduced that seem 'unlikely' in the credible setting built up. Without speculating too specifically, I understand that Rice underwent some family tragedies not long before this novel was written, (in 5 weeks!), and her extreme sentimental openness in the novel is surely justified, and the novel actually benefits from this emotional release. It would be a comfort to be able to express your feelings as cogently as Rice if one was overcoming a tragedy.
There is only one possible loophole in the story, (although my identification of this is very questionable as it is subjective, and I could probably be proven wrong and convinced of the proof). This is when Louis seems to have only just met Armand, and although Louis has been searching for another civilised vampire, (civilised apart from the fact that he kills countless innocent mortals), for years, I felt that he would need to know Armand for longer to warrant exchanging words of love. It seemed as Louis virtually walked up to Armand and said, 'ah, hello.. I love you!'. As I said, that is a purely subjective observation; (please note that the previous dialogue is not a quote). The other interesting factor about this novel, in my opinion, is that Anne describes predominantly male thoughts, (the narrator is male: Louis), when she is female, so for any male readers it is intriguing to see her perspective.
To conclude, IwtV is a wonderful tragic vampire biography, and is not too immensly melancholy to be unbearable to read.
on 6 May 2017
another book from the serie of Anne Rice ...if you are into Vampire story my son assures me it is the best serie I have been getting them all 2 at a time and he still like them...the book itself is second hand but was clean and no writing in it...perfect!
VINE VOICEon 7 December 2002
Read this book and you will never want to put it down again.
It introduces a world of vampires - dark creatures of the night. Yet, the clever characterisation is such that at times one can't help feeling just a little bit sorry for even the vilest vamps!
The mood of New Orleans is captured in this wonderful novel.
It introduces a world of vampires - dark creatures of the night. Yet, the clever characterisation is such that at times one can't help feeling just a little bit sorry for even the vilest vamps!
The mood of New Orleans is captured in this wonderful novel.
on 22 January 2016
Book arrived without cover or dust jacket was very disappointed. Not as shown in the picture.
on 3 April 2016
Interview with the Vampire is about a young reporter who ends up with a scoop he could never imagined in his wildest dreams.
A young man with a tale to tell reveals to him, terrifyingly, that he is no longer human but a vampire. His skin is glisteningly white, his fingernails like glass and he can move with preternatural speed - and of course, there are the fangs. He is over two hundred years old and is therefore unfamiliar with modern slang. And so the stage is set for an eerie, macabre tale.
He is made into a vampire by a callous and unscrupulous but charismatic character called Lestat, who appears to revel in killing and expects his sensitive fledgling to do the same. Louis, unfortunately, is unable to accept that his vampire nature now fates him to being a predator who like a cat, must kill in order to survive - or live a half-life. Or unlife.
Louis and Lestat both crave a family life, however and create a new vampire out of a six-year-old child, Claudia. What that means for this special new fledgling sets some unique challenges for her as she settles into her immortality, creating dangerous fault-lines of tensions within this 'family.' Louis and Claudia later set off to find out if there are other creatures like them.
In Paris they encounter an underground vampire society centred around a theatre group. The members of this troupe pretend to be humans acting as vampires, whilst taking victims in full view of unsuspecting audiences. They are led by another child vampire - made when he was 16. Perhaps because of this, he shows very little approval for Claudia.
The most interesting part of the novel though for me is that once again, Louis does not find the sense of community and understanding he craves among his own kind. What he encounters instead is what he calls a conformist club where the entire vampire troupe are expected to behave according to expected vampire norms. They have to sleep in coffins. They have to wear black. And of course they are expected to take pleasure in the kill. And thus too, from a style point f view at least is a whole subculture spawned - and this was written in the 1970's!
It is clear then that Louis sees his predicament as a terrible, lonely curse and somehow we might suspect that will be no happy ending in sight for him in the telling of his tale to reporter, no matter that he still possesses something many people may greatly desire - immortality. But at what cost.....
Later on of course, we are introduced to a character who takes a very different stance on what it means to be a vampire in the world of Anne Rice but that, of course, is literally another story. Interview with the Vampire is, however, a much purer vision and conception of what it must mean to be conscious, yet damned to be evil by its very nature.
A young man with a tale to tell reveals to him, terrifyingly, that he is no longer human but a vampire. His skin is glisteningly white, his fingernails like glass and he can move with preternatural speed - and of course, there are the fangs. He is over two hundred years old and is therefore unfamiliar with modern slang. And so the stage is set for an eerie, macabre tale.
He is made into a vampire by a callous and unscrupulous but charismatic character called Lestat, who appears to revel in killing and expects his sensitive fledgling to do the same. Louis, unfortunately, is unable to accept that his vampire nature now fates him to being a predator who like a cat, must kill in order to survive - or live a half-life. Or unlife.
Louis and Lestat both crave a family life, however and create a new vampire out of a six-year-old child, Claudia. What that means for this special new fledgling sets some unique challenges for her as she settles into her immortality, creating dangerous fault-lines of tensions within this 'family.' Louis and Claudia later set off to find out if there are other creatures like them.
In Paris they encounter an underground vampire society centred around a theatre group. The members of this troupe pretend to be humans acting as vampires, whilst taking victims in full view of unsuspecting audiences. They are led by another child vampire - made when he was 16. Perhaps because of this, he shows very little approval for Claudia.
The most interesting part of the novel though for me is that once again, Louis does not find the sense of community and understanding he craves among his own kind. What he encounters instead is what he calls a conformist club where the entire vampire troupe are expected to behave according to expected vampire norms. They have to sleep in coffins. They have to wear black. And of course they are expected to take pleasure in the kill. And thus too, from a style point f view at least is a whole subculture spawned - and this was written in the 1970's!
It is clear then that Louis sees his predicament as a terrible, lonely curse and somehow we might suspect that will be no happy ending in sight for him in the telling of his tale to reporter, no matter that he still possesses something many people may greatly desire - immortality. But at what cost.....
Later on of course, we are introduced to a character who takes a very different stance on what it means to be a vampire in the world of Anne Rice but that, of course, is literally another story. Interview with the Vampire is, however, a much purer vision and conception of what it must mean to be conscious, yet damned to be evil by its very nature.
on 11 March 2017
I don't know. I thought this book would be a little more exciting . It was philosophical, not what I expected.
on 12 June 2014
I have read many of Anne Rice Vampire Chronicles, though not always in order. I love the way time passes quickly once you have settled down with one of her books. Interview with the Vampire is the first in the series. This is the book that started it all, the craving for Lestat. Forget the film with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, the book is way better. I am only half way through yet I felt the need to write a review in the hope it makes others buy this amazing novel.
It starts in a darkened room with a young man sat at a table poised with finger on a tape recorder. By the window, a vampire is gazing out onto the street waiting to begin a tale of his life..
Interview with the Vampire is a book to be savoured, not devoured in one sitting..take time with it. Allow it to seduce you into parting long moments in its company. You feel as though you are right there, seeing everything, hearing everything, all your senses coming together for the first time as one.
Pure escapism!!
Pure passion!!
Anne Rice has a way with words like no other author, bringing everything alive. Even the smallest details are noticed. Her language does make you slow life down alittle in a world were fastpaced is best. The Vampire Chronicles are the reason I am a huge fan of hers.
Looking forward to October 2014 when the eagerly awaited new book comes out with more tales of Lestat..
It starts in a darkened room with a young man sat at a table poised with finger on a tape recorder. By the window, a vampire is gazing out onto the street waiting to begin a tale of his life..
Interview with the Vampire is a book to be savoured, not devoured in one sitting..take time with it. Allow it to seduce you into parting long moments in its company. You feel as though you are right there, seeing everything, hearing everything, all your senses coming together for the first time as one.
Pure escapism!!
Pure passion!!
Anne Rice has a way with words like no other author, bringing everything alive. Even the smallest details are noticed. Her language does make you slow life down alittle in a world were fastpaced is best. The Vampire Chronicles are the reason I am a huge fan of hers.
Looking forward to October 2014 when the eagerly awaited new book comes out with more tales of Lestat..
HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWERon 31 December 2005
Anne Rice took the publishing world by storm in "Interview With the Vampire," a haunting book that turned the evil-bloodsucker cliche on its ear. Her lush prose and vivid characters turn the dramatic plot and strange scenarios into a chilling look at good and evil, thankfully without melodrama.
In modern times, a young man is interviewing a vampire on tape recorder. The vampire is Louis Pointe du Lac. In 1791, his ultra-religious brother died tragically after an argument, and Louis sank into remorse and despair. Enter Lestat de Lioncourt, a charming vampire who offers Louis a way out of his grief.
The two vampires wander the cities of the world, with Lestat teaching his reluctant pupil the ways of vampirism. In time Louis makes a "daughter": Claudia, a vampire child with the mind of a woman. Now, depressed and unhappy, Louis explains how he and Claudia fled Lestat, only to encounter new tragedies that still haunt him to this day...
Moral struggles are rarely present in vampire novels. Certainly not from the vampire's point of view. But that is exactly what Anne Rice attempts in this book. She wraps her dark story in lush prose and beautiful descriptions of Paris and her hometown of New Orleans, making this one of the best-written vampire stories since "Dracula."
No gore and grit here. Rice's writing is exceptionally beautiful, full of lush descriptions and intricate detail. Best of all, it has that rare quality of atmosphere -- no matter how enchanting the vampire, or beautiful the setting, a feeling of darkness and sorrow runs through it.
Rice also dips into one of the best examples of literary vampirism ever: Louis becomes a vampire out of his grief, but once the grief fades, he is left with the soul of a human, and the bloodthirst of a vampire -- things that can't be reconciled. They just can't fit together. His longing to remain as human as possible, in defiance of his curse, is a tragic twist in a dark storyline.
Louis is a bit of a whiner, but a deeper look reveals why. He struggles with morality and beliefs that -- unlike Lestat -- he never really let go of. Because he is a vampire, he is by his very nature a killer, yet the idea of murder is repulsive to him. Lestat is utterly charming and incredibly engaging, despite his amoral behavior. It's not hard to see why Louis would be drawn in by such an enchanting person, no matter how bad he is.
One of the greatest shaping influences on elegant vampire lore has been Anne Rice's "Interview with the Vampire." A beautiful and lush novel of darkness and beauty.
In modern times, a young man is interviewing a vampire on tape recorder. The vampire is Louis Pointe du Lac. In 1791, his ultra-religious brother died tragically after an argument, and Louis sank into remorse and despair. Enter Lestat de Lioncourt, a charming vampire who offers Louis a way out of his grief.
The two vampires wander the cities of the world, with Lestat teaching his reluctant pupil the ways of vampirism. In time Louis makes a "daughter": Claudia, a vampire child with the mind of a woman. Now, depressed and unhappy, Louis explains how he and Claudia fled Lestat, only to encounter new tragedies that still haunt him to this day...
Moral struggles are rarely present in vampire novels. Certainly not from the vampire's point of view. But that is exactly what Anne Rice attempts in this book. She wraps her dark story in lush prose and beautiful descriptions of Paris and her hometown of New Orleans, making this one of the best-written vampire stories since "Dracula."
No gore and grit here. Rice's writing is exceptionally beautiful, full of lush descriptions and intricate detail. Best of all, it has that rare quality of atmosphere -- no matter how enchanting the vampire, or beautiful the setting, a feeling of darkness and sorrow runs through it.
Rice also dips into one of the best examples of literary vampirism ever: Louis becomes a vampire out of his grief, but once the grief fades, he is left with the soul of a human, and the bloodthirst of a vampire -- things that can't be reconciled. They just can't fit together. His longing to remain as human as possible, in defiance of his curse, is a tragic twist in a dark storyline.
Louis is a bit of a whiner, but a deeper look reveals why. He struggles with morality and beliefs that -- unlike Lestat -- he never really let go of. Because he is a vampire, he is by his very nature a killer, yet the idea of murder is repulsive to him. Lestat is utterly charming and incredibly engaging, despite his amoral behavior. It's not hard to see why Louis would be drawn in by such an enchanting person, no matter how bad he is.
One of the greatest shaping influences on elegant vampire lore has been Anne Rice's "Interview with the Vampire." A beautiful and lush novel of darkness and beauty.
on 29 June 2010
It's been over a week since I finished this book and I still don't feel like I have a handle on it. Normally a couple of days is all I need to digest a volume and start to make connections that I hadn't noticed straight away. This time, however, despite being trapped in 200-odd pages of firmly printed text, I'm finding this tale as enigmatic and hard to pin down as any vampire.
`Interview with a Vampire' begins with the brilliant conceit of a young man tape-recording an interview with Louis, a two-hundred year old vampire. Louis tells the story of his life and loves, starting in New Orleans with how he met and was transformed by the self-serving Lestat. Tormented by his inherent evil but driven by his hunger for human blood, Louis attacks a young girl, Claudia, in the back streets of the city. In a complex act of cruelty and desperation, Lestat also makes Claudia a vampire, establishing the characters as the strangest of families. The story explores the relationships that these three vampires have with each other and with themselves, visiting some very dark places and sometimes taking the reader to places they never sought to go.
I neither liked nor disliked this book, but I was certainly intrigued by it. Louis philosophical ponderings on what being a vampire means offered a genuinely different perspective on a myth that permeates modern culture. However, I can see why it has retained its cult status in the last 40 years. The more brutal, visceral and sexual aspects of the vampire's existence, along with the subtle hints at what could be construed as paedophilia, could be alienating for some audiences. For me, they just sat awkwardly with what I found newer and more interesting, the more thoughtful start to the book. It's probably important however that we don't forget that vampires are supposed to be human predators rather than the damaged pretty boys so often seen on screen today.
Overall, although I'm not sure I would recommend this novel to anyone, it captured my interest enough to make me want to read the sequel, `The Vampire Lestat'. Hopefully this will be less ambiguous than its predecessor.
`Interview with a Vampire' begins with the brilliant conceit of a young man tape-recording an interview with Louis, a two-hundred year old vampire. Louis tells the story of his life and loves, starting in New Orleans with how he met and was transformed by the self-serving Lestat. Tormented by his inherent evil but driven by his hunger for human blood, Louis attacks a young girl, Claudia, in the back streets of the city. In a complex act of cruelty and desperation, Lestat also makes Claudia a vampire, establishing the characters as the strangest of families. The story explores the relationships that these three vampires have with each other and with themselves, visiting some very dark places and sometimes taking the reader to places they never sought to go.
I neither liked nor disliked this book, but I was certainly intrigued by it. Louis philosophical ponderings on what being a vampire means offered a genuinely different perspective on a myth that permeates modern culture. However, I can see why it has retained its cult status in the last 40 years. The more brutal, visceral and sexual aspects of the vampire's existence, along with the subtle hints at what could be construed as paedophilia, could be alienating for some audiences. For me, they just sat awkwardly with what I found newer and more interesting, the more thoughtful start to the book. It's probably important however that we don't forget that vampires are supposed to be human predators rather than the damaged pretty boys so often seen on screen today.
Overall, although I'm not sure I would recommend this novel to anyone, it captured my interest enough to make me want to read the sequel, `The Vampire Lestat'. Hopefully this will be less ambiguous than its predecessor.
