Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

204 reviews

dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

i'm reading this as a result of my obsession with the tv show and needing to consume everything that is attached to it. so ofcourse i had to read this book and it really did not disappoint. anne's prose is truly something else this book did not have one dull moment for me, i read it as if it was already a series and i'm so grateful that we got one. this book makes me understand why the tv show is as good as it is, it can take the dark and gritty stuff from the book and give it even more weight and power. i never expected it to almost be a 5 star read for me but it surprised me in so many ways. i feel lucky i get to experience it through the eyes of the tv series though because it gives me more attachment to a character like louis, who is so different in the book and with seeing the show first is easier to root for and understand. i am so excited to read "the vampire lestat" to see his perspective and his story since he has become one of my favourite characters after watching the show. at the end of the day it was a really good and true experience reading this.  

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

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To give up humanity and mortality only to end up chasing it forever. 
I get IT, fully and finely.
And I thought I wouldn't like the book.

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Read the book because I love the show so much! It was fun to see where they got their inspiration from and the verbatim words they kept in. Overall, it’s a great book! I didn’t find it as slow and taxing as others described it but maybe that’s because I already love these characters. Louis’ catholic guilt is insane and at times so paralyzing. It’s exhausting to watch but his humanity despite his hunger and his senses are what make him such a compelling character. He doesn’t really paint Lestat in a great light at first, but his love for him is evident with the guilt of his murder. Claudia is such a tragic character, I found her the most macabre of all people. The way Louis describes her stillness as if she were just a doll is so eerie. I also noticed that Louis and Armand’s relationship really could have been something beautiful if not for their separate issues…..and that makes me sad. 

In conclusion, great book but I would recommend the television series more. They really take the essence of the book and make it better in my opinion.

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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dark emotional sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I did my best to keep an open mind, as this was never a book I was interested in. However, I wanted to give it a try since I love the TV show. Unfortunately, this format plus Rice's writing style made this incredibly boring for me. If I hadn't added this to a reading challenge on here, I would have DNFed long ago. Oh, well!

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challenging dark emotional 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: Complicated

My 5 stars don't come from the readability of the book. It is a bit of a slog at times, but it's a gorgeous slog.

My 5 stars comes from the story, the complex characters, the depth into topics that are very disturbing (mind the content warnings), and an existential look at what being immortal really means.

That very much outweighs the slow going for me.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Once again raised my rating after having read more Anne Rice. I under appreciated the feeling that she injected here, and the transgressive themes still DO bother me but I consider that as something you just have to deal with when reading her.

Copied from fable: 
The reason this gets 4 stars is the same reason it doesn’t get 4.5 or 5: Anne Rice. As much as I enjoyed her contemplative and descriptive prose and her conception of the vampire, she can’t help but introduce the problematic elements she’s come to be known for. Namely, the weirdly sexual relationship between Claudia and Louis unsettled me. Her description of enslaved people at the beginning of the novel was also notable in its seeming lack of empathy. There is definitely a reason this book revolutionized the genre, and I very much enjoyed it, but Rice’s penchant for the weird sometimes goes a bit too far for me. This is particularly because, unlike what I observed of Butler writing Fledgling, I believe she actually possessed some of these beliefs. Rice has said some concerning things regarding race and sexuality towards children that lead me to believe this aspect of her writing is not to make vampires seem more inhuman like Butler, but a reflection of her. Just something to chew on. The show is doing a wonderful job with the source material however!

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional reflective sad tense 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've been putting off reading this book my entire life because I grew up obsessing over the movie but now I'm also deeply in love with the show.

To be honest I actually like it a lot more than I thought i would? Yes, some key parts are obviously spoiled by having consumed other iterations of this story but this is so uniquely written and so particularly disturbing and unsettling at times that not even Kirsten Dunst's perfect Claudia could hold a candle to it. 

The dynamic between Lestat and Louis is something I wasn't expecting but really enjoyed. It's good to know that no matter how I consume this story, Armand is always my favorite character. Claudia was a lot better than I thought she would be, I was worried about how her character would come across in written but I feel like we got a good glimpse of what she is about. 
The interview parts were my favorite. Getting to see how different Louis was when everything was happening and how he carries himself in present day is always such a tone shift that I love and never gets old. 
 
I'm excited about continuing to read these books, however long it takes for me to do so. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense 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

[norm macdonald voice] and here's my review, not homoerotic enough

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