Reviews with content warning for Child death - Interview with the Vampire

Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

113 reviews

rwsmith's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I went into this book wanting a high-fantasy vampire tale, which wasn't quite the right expectation. The focus was more philosophical than I originally expected, but not necessarily in a bad way. If you are into discussion of life and the human condition, this is a great vampire read for you.
I think due to my mismatched expectations, I found some of the characters less "lovable", but I was no less interested in the characters. They ended up being slightly predictable towards the end, but the plot of the story kept things moving forward anyways.
As far as diversity, there is 1 female main character (who is literally a child, classic) and few, if any, non-white characters. There is at least one queer relationship, and the fact that it is queer does not have an effect on whether that relationship is good, bad, etc. which I appreciated. However, the child female character has a very complicated and vaguely problematic relationship with the main character, which is where all the reviews mentioning pedophilia comes from. The main character acknowledges this complexity, so it isn't an oblivious presentation, but it is still present.
Overall, I love vampires, and so I enjoyed this book, despite the mismatched expectations causing it to be a bit of a slog to finish. If I was reading a hard copy and not an audiobook, this likely would have been a DNF for me, simply for attention span reasons. I recommend it to other vampire people and philosophical peoplw though!

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eauderat's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

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nerdkitten's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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readerette's review against another edition

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adventurous dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The retrospective monologue gets a little tiresome after a while, particularly when the interviewer stops asking questions and it just becomes one long reflection, but this story captivated me. I felt immersed in Louis's experiences and the author's take on vampire lore.

I could not remember the ending from prior reading or the movie, so I was able to read it as if it were the first time and find myself pleasantly disturbed by the possibilities of how the story could unfold.

Despite the creativity with what vampirism means in th Anne Rice's world, I would definitely call this book classic horror, with the twist being that these vampires are not mindless monsters. They may be monsters, but the nuance of what makes each of them a monster is what makes them compelling.

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moreau's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

the only issues i have with this is louis's pretty underdeveloped and the series totally ditches him after this book, and anne rice loves to show off the fancy words she knows which means you get repetitive, abstract descriptions. constantly "armand is young and sexy" "claudia sounds like a silver bell" and she refuses to say chest. only bosom. loved it though

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gabriella_'s review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I felt a lot of things reading this book - parts of it are deeply problematic (re: Claudia), but if you go in the with a grain of salt and self care ready, I think this is a solid read

The yearning is so strong in this book. There are moments where Louis’ sorrow is so tangible it has a physicality. It drapes over the narrative of prose of the book like a curtain.

“I didn’t know I thought these things. I spoke them now as my thoughts. And they were my most profound feelings taking a shape they could never have taken had I not spoken them, had I not thought them out this way in conversation with another. I thought myself then possessed of a passive mind, in a sense. I mean that my mind could only pull itself together, formulate thought out of the muddle of longing and pain, when it was touched by another mind; fertilized by it; deeply excited by that other mind and driven to form conclusions. I felt now the rarest, most acute alleviation of loneliness. I could easily visualize and suffer the moment years before in another country, [. . .] and then that passionate and doomed affection for Claudia which made loneliness retreat behind the soft indulgence of the senses, the same senses that longed for the kill. [. . .] And it was as if the great feminine longing of my mind were being awakened again to be satisfied. And this I felt despite my own words: ‘But it’s that dark, that empty. And it is without consolation.’”

The entire time I felt like I was seeing through Louis’ eyes and was keenly aware of

Lestat’s watchful gaze

“But Louis, this is the very spirit of your age. Don’t you see that? Everyone else feels as you feel. Your fall from grace and faith has been the fall of a century.”

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