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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I read this in the early 90's and absolutely loved it! I adored the haunted Louis and despised the cruel Lestat and fell in love with Rice's seemingly poetic and philosophical ramblings, some of which at that time seemed like the truth to me. Now, it seems to me that I was so innocent way back then…
Not so fond of Louis and hateful of Lestat this time around, and not just because I have "heard" Lestat's version of the events. Probably because I am older now and have gained more life experience, I can read so much more into the many different relationships (i e, Lestat - Louis, Lestat - Louis - Claudia, Louis - Claudia, Lestat - Claudia, Madeleine - Louis - Claudia, Louis - Armand, et al). It gave the novel a whole new meaning!
In this review, let’s just focus on the central relationship, Lestat - Louis: It seems to me that although Lestat certainly is not a very good tutor to newborn vampire Louis, on the contrary, the latter is pretty quick to judge him as brutal and insensitive, simply because they are so different from each other. None of them makes the even simplest attempt at understanding each other. Yet, I think, they love each other and are stuck in a hopeless love/hate relationship, that seem to go on forever.
Enter Claudia, the vampire child, the abomination (a vampire woman forever trapped in a child’s helpless and fragile body), who is “born” out of Louis’ instant love, when he finds her dying and helpless over her mother’s dead body, and Lestat’s desperate need (or so you would think, this is Louis’ story, after all) to keep Louis by his side.
Enter, implacably, a bitter and twisted ménage à trois, doomed from the very beginning. Knowing what would happen, and somehow understanding the reasons behind it, I still found myself hoping that it would not end in pain and destruction!
Still, the main relationship in this novel is between Louis and Lestat. And like I said, this time around, I actually like *and* dislike both of them. I tire very quickly of Louis' endless ramblings about good and bad and the beauty of a world where he is (by his own account) a monster. But in a way I find it very touching and understandable, too. The story is told from his perspective, and so it is probably because I *have* read Lestat's take on the story too that I don't judge him as hard as the first time around. Still, the last few scenes in the book with Lestat move me in a way it did not do back then. And no matter how interesting the Claudia contribution is to the relationship, these two still remain my main interest and what keeps me reading on.
Could it be that the notion of a vampire child is horrifying, yet in the end not very interesting, no matter how contradictory that might seem?
Anne Rice, then, well she lost me after the 4th installment of the vampire saga. After that, well I think I just got bored. One cannot deny her influence omn the modern vampire genre, though, and after fictional vampires like Bill, Eric, Edward, Stephan, Damon, Henry Fitzroy, Sonja Blue et al, I felt it was time to re-read “the beginnings”. I cannot say that I am disappointed, on the contrary. I feel that the vampires in the Rice world and me have grown older and (hopefully) wiser together. I might have some objections to some of Rice's ramblings... er I mean prose, but still, it was nice to get back into her world.
"You became my mother, and my father, and so I'm yours forever. But now it's time to end it, Louis."
(Claudia to Louis)
Not so fond of Louis and hateful of Lestat this time around, and not just because I have "heard" Lestat's version of the events. Probably because I am older now and have gained more life experience, I can read so much more into the many different relationships (i e, Lestat - Louis, Lestat - Louis - Claudia, Louis - Claudia, Lestat - Claudia, Madeleine - Louis - Claudia, Louis - Armand, et al). It gave the novel a whole new meaning!
In this review, let’s just focus on the central relationship, Lestat - Louis: It seems to me that although Lestat certainly is not a very good tutor to newborn vampire Louis, on the contrary, the latter is pretty quick to judge him as brutal and insensitive, simply because they are so different from each other. None of them makes the even simplest attempt at understanding each other. Yet, I think, they love each other and are stuck in a hopeless love/hate relationship, that seem to go on forever.
Enter Claudia, the vampire child, the abomination (a vampire woman forever trapped in a child’s helpless and fragile body), who is “born” out of Louis’ instant love, when he finds her dying and helpless over her mother’s dead body, and Lestat’s desperate need (or so you would think, this is Louis’ story, after all) to keep Louis by his side.
Enter, implacably, a bitter and twisted ménage à trois, doomed from the very beginning. Knowing what would happen, and somehow understanding the reasons behind it, I still found myself hoping that it would not end in pain and destruction!
Still, the main relationship in this novel is between Louis and Lestat. And like I said, this time around, I actually like *and* dislike both of them. I tire very quickly of Louis' endless ramblings about good and bad and the beauty of a world where he is (by his own account) a monster. But in a way I find it very touching and understandable, too. The story is told from his perspective, and so it is probably because I *have* read Lestat's take on the story too that I don't judge him as hard as the first time around. Still, the last few scenes in the book with Lestat move me in a way it did not do back then. And no matter how interesting the Claudia contribution is to the relationship, these two still remain my main interest and what keeps me reading on.
Could it be that the notion of a vampire child is horrifying, yet in the end not very interesting, no matter how contradictory that might seem?
Anne Rice, then, well she lost me after the 4th installment of the vampire saga. After that, well I think I just got bored. One cannot deny her influence omn the modern vampire genre, though, and after fictional vampires like Bill, Eric, Edward, Stephan, Damon, Henry Fitzroy, Sonja Blue et al, I felt it was time to re-read “the beginnings”. I cannot say that I am disappointed, on the contrary. I feel that the vampires in the Rice world and me have grown older and (hopefully) wiser together. I might have some objections to some of Rice's ramblings... er I mean prose, but still, it was nice to get back into her world.
"You became my mother, and my father, and so I'm yours forever. But now it's time to end it, Louis."
(Claudia to Louis)
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
I’m not sure which number reread this is. I opted to listen to the audiobook this time as I was on a trip to visit New Orleans again.
This story is about humanizing the monstrous and about the shared human need for both belonging and for knowing where we came from.
This story is about humanizing the monstrous and about the shared human need for both belonging and for knowing where we came from.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes