Reviews with content warning for Death - Interview with the vampire

Reviews tagging 'Death'

Interview with the vampire by Anne Rice

217 reviews

miw4everaly's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I've been meaning to read this book for years, but I never got around to it till now. I regret waiting this long. The movie pulled from this book beautifully. I have even more love for the movie now thanks to this book. I'll be listening to this book every year for Spooky Season from now on.

Content Warnings

es1265's review against another edition

3.5

dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Such a complex book with a hell of a lot of flaws but Rice's writing is so engaging and sensual that it's clear why it's such a classic. First off, I really dislike Louis in this, I get it's Gothic fiction but did he really have to be a plantation owner?? Mostly I just really missed Jacob Anderson. Most of the criticism surrounding this book centres around Louis' Lolita-esque descriptions of Claudia which I agree are really icky and made me cringe several times but it really made me interested in what a book from Claudia's POV would be like as she is such an interesting, tragic and enigmatic character and I feel like Louis' unreliable narration doesn't really do her justice. At times I struggled a little bit with the pacing as it seemed to kind of gloss over the parts between the main events which made me glad that I'd watched both adaptations so I could fill in the gaps. Speaking of the adaptations, I was kind of underwhelmed by Louis' and Lestat's relationship and Lestat as a character in comparison to how these are portrayed on screen but I'm hoping The Vampire Lestat will make me view him a lot differently. In contrast I was really surprised by how intense Louis' relationship with Armand was depicted in the book, personally I find Armand to be the most compelling/interesting character of the novel. Overall I would recommend this, but I wouldn't recommend going in blind as it is quite a heavy book and I can see how some would consider it quite disturbing at times.

Content Warnings

nigrumcattus's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

clovetra's review against another edition

3.0

it only took me 48 days to read a 350-ish-page book but i did it!! now from how long it took me to read this you'd think i hated this but i didnt.... slow-paced books just take me a While.
i gotta say the characters are really the only good parts of this book. everything else blowed. shout out gay people as well.
louis is my pookie. i think he was a great mc. he was also so funny. why does nobody talk about how mf funny louis is. bro is out here calling lestat a gay vampire... pot calling kettle sweetie. plus claudia is all "pookie pls dont go i'm literally gonna kms if u do" and theres a line break and then louis goes. louis is a comedian. i kind of had no attachment to his moral drama around being mortal. his long tangents about crashing out over the smallest things kinda bored me by the end but yet again it was kinda funny how melodramatic my boy was.
lestat can fuck off. moving on.
claudia! baby girl! im gonna be honest even tho every mention of claudia features her blonde ringlets, idc im picturing her like the show adaptation. she was also quite funny. most of the times tho i pictured a lot older than 5 y/o so my ass was confused. but this is because im a dumbass this is not miss rice's fault. i felt so bad for her a lot of the time because bro i would be pissed too if i was eternally a 5 y/o. by the end of the story homegirl is like at least 70 years old i'd be fuming too.
and on that note... hey what the fuck. why is there randomly incest subtext between louis and claudia. i was expecting some wholesome daddy daughter vampire murder yay! instead i got... Yuck! bro louis what the Fuck. every time louis called her his paramour i wanted to blow up the moon. anne rice what were u thinking. honestly by the end i pretended it didnt exist and was head-cannoning claudia as a lesbian so i could block this subplot out of my mind.
every other character was surface level and boring. did not care a lick.
the plot.... Ehhhhhh. nothing going on was ever engaging until the climax of each part. i seriously was PUSHING to read this until some wacky shit was going down and then i was sat. and then right after i was bored out of my brains again. anne rice pookie what was this. walking simulator book 101 /j (i hate that criticism but tbh this book was moreso a philosophy simulator book).
what else can i say? there really is nothing more to this book. seeing a GAY CHARACTER be canon in a book from the 70s(?) eats. the three main characters eat. thats kind of it. if i did not feel a bond with louis because hes so fucking pathetic i wouldve given this a 3-star. also i almost cried at the end of part 3 because i was so distraught. this book was Perfectly Average.
will i continue this series? sure! i would rather blow my brains out than read a book with lestat as the main character but also i need to read the queen of the damned so i can see aliyah in all her glory on the big screen.

Content Warnings

bigmamahughes's review against another edition

3.5

dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I first read this book in 1991 or 1992. I read it again around 2000 or 2001. Saw the movie in the theatre when it came out (and was as scandalized as everyone else by the casting). Watched the new series when it was newly streaming… And every time after the first read, I forgot - and was rudely reminded - that Louis is an emotionally immature whiny manchild. Maybe this time I won’t block it out, because I could barely finish the book at this point and it took me comparatively forever to slog through it. Honestly I kept on because I love Anne Rice’s descriptions of New Orleans, Paris, architecture, interiors, and clothes. (I’m not sure that I’ll re-read The Vampire Lestat, because I remember being bored reading it as a teenager, but that really means nothing.)

I’d forgotten how young Claudia was, and had a difficult time reading many of her scenes.

This book presents me with one of the few times that I prefer the screen adaptation to the novel. And even then it’s the tv series that I prefer (I’ll take the angry Louis over the whiny one any day - and the modern Lestat blows the movie Lestat outta the water).

Content Warnings

catt_j's review against another edition

3.0

challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The structure of the story is interesting as a concept (the entire book being a recollection & acknowledging that’s what it is). At times the story would be so immersed in emotions of Louis that it was jarring to be back in scene with the other characters. Some sections felt like they existed only to have a reveal later in the story. Strange moments of child/adult interactions; it’s not quite pedophilia, not quite incest, but an a weird & creepy in between. Overall it’s a solid book & interesting take on vampires.

Content Warnings

britslampe's review against another edition

2.5

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

While the last quarter of the book was packed with plot twists and emotion, it was not enough to offset the disturbing themes and tropes of the rest of the it.

Content Warnings